Karl Zinn

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Karl Zinn (born July 22, 1906 in Frankfurt am Main , † August 24, 1943 in Berlin ) was a German resistance fighter . He was one of the founding members and outstanding actors of the Red Strike Troop .

Life

Karl Zinn attended the Realgymnasium in Kassel up to primary school and then became a banker. At the same time he did his Abitur at an evening school. In November 1927 he joined the SPD . He was also active in the migratory birds . In May 1931 he joined the socialist student body and began studying economics in Berlin . In the socialist student body he was cashier and board member. He also worked at Commerzbank until his dismissal in 1933 for political reasons. He started his own business as a mortgage broker .

He was a co-founder and was part of the command staff of the Red Shock Troop. There he was active in all areas. He had extensive knowledge and archived everything from draft articles to encrypted membership lists as well as correspondence with other resistance groups. This ended fatally for the Red Assault Troop, because at the end of 1933 the Gestapo fell into their hands during a house search, in addition to a typewriter and a hand printing machine as well as the motorboat that Zinn used to transport material. Zinn was arrested on November 28, 1933 and tortured by the Gestapo. He tried to take all of the guilt on himself. On May 15, 1934, charges of high treason were opened against him. He has been to seven years in prison convicted. He had to serve his sentence in Luckau until 1939 and later in Brandenburg-Görden. To a limited extent, he continued to offer resistance from the prison library together with Rudolf Küstermeier .

Several requests for clemency from his fiancée Martha Wolfram initially failed. However, Zinn fell seriously ill while in custody and was released on February 4, 1939 by the Fuehrer's decree . He married on April 22, 1939. He then worked as an authorized signatory in civil engineering . He continued his resistance activity to a limited extent. He was in contact with Julius Leber .

On August 24, 1943, he was killed while cleaning up after an Allied bombing raid in Berlin-Steglitz when a bomb fitted with a time fuse exploded.

His brother was Georg-August Zinn , also active in the resistance and later Prime Minister of Hesse.

literature

  • Dennis Egginger-Gonzalez: The Red Shock Squad. An early left-wing socialist resistance group against National Socialism . Lukas Verlag, 2018, ISBN 978-3-86732-274-4 , pp. 527 f .
  • Annedore Leber (Ed.): The conscience decides. Reports of the German resistance from 1933 to 1945 in life pictures. Berlin and Frankfurt am Main, 1962, pp. 46–48.
  • Siegfried Mielke (Ed.) With the collaboration of Marion Goers, Stefan Heinz, Matthias Oden, Sebastian Bödecker: Unique - Lecturers, students and representatives of the German University of Politics (1920-1933) in the resistance against National Socialism. Lukas-Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86732-032-0 , p. 172ff. (Short biography).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Dennis Egginger-Gonzalez: Der Rote Stosstrupp: an early left-wing socialist resistance group against National Socialism . Lukas Verlag, 2018, ISBN 978-3-86732-274-4 , pp. 527 f .
  2. ↑ Ursula Adam: Lexicon of Resistance, 1933-1945 . CH Beck, 1998, ISBN 978-3-406-43861-5 , pp. 166 ( google.de [accessed on October 3, 2018]).
  3. ^ Hans-Rainer Sandvoss: The "other" Reich capital: Resistance from the workers' movement in Berlin from 1933 to 1945 . Lukas Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-936872-94-1 , p. 84 ( google.de [accessed on October 3, 2018]).
personal data
SURNAME Tin, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH July 22, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH August 24, 1943
Place of death Berlin