Kurt Koehler
Kurt Köhler (born May 20, 1911 in Chemnitz ; † May 29, 1990 ) was a German communist resistance fighter against National Socialism , prisoner in Buchenwald concentration camp , colonel of the MfS , chairman of the Buchenwald-Dora camp work group and member of the Buchenwald-Dora international committee and Commands .
Life
After attending elementary school, Köhler completed vocational training as a typesetter from 1925 to 1929 . He became a member of the Socialist Workers' Youth (SAJ) in 1925 and switched to the Communist Youth Association of Germany (KJVD) in 1928 . In 1929 he became a member of the Red Front Fighters Association (RFB) and in 1930 of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and was involved against the emerging National Socialism . After the transfer of power to the Nazis , he was in " protective custody taken" and to several years imprisonment convicted he in prison Zwickau spent. He was then sent to the Sachsenburg concentration camp and in 1938 to the Buchenwald concentration camp, where he was assigned to the prisoner infirmary. There he participated in the illegal prisoner resistance and was a member of the German military section of the International Military Organization (IMO). Köhler played a leading role in training illegal fighters to train weapons. Ingenuously, he hid weapons like a carbine in a tree trunk. He was also active in the procurement of materials for the manufacture of incendiary bottles .
When the Nazi regime was eliminated, he took part in the remembrance work of the former Buchenwald prisoners. He provided information about various resistance activities in the satellite camps . In 1957, for example, he wrote a report “The resistance in the external commandos”. He also became chairman of the Buchenwald-Dora camp working group and worked on the international Buchenwald-Dora and commandos committee.
Since 1945 he was in responsible positions in the German People's Police . Since 1949 he was jointly responsible for the prison system in the Ministry of the Interior of the GDR . In 1957 he moved to the MfS and was Colonel Head of Department XV (HVA) in the MfS district administration in Erfurt. Most recently he lived in Berlin and was a member of the central management of the committee of anti-fascist resistance fighters in the GDR.
literature
- Emil Carlebach / Willy Schmidt / Ulrich Schneider (eds.): Buchenwald a concentration camp. Reports - Pictures - Documents , Bonn 2000, ISBN 3-89144-271-8 .
- Author collective: Buchenwald. Reminder and obligation. Documents and reports , Berlin 1983, p. 755.
- Falco Werkentin : Political criminal justice in the Ulbricht era - From avowed terror to hidden repression, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-86153-150-X .
- Peter-Ferdinand Koch : The hostile brothers: GDR versus FRG, Scherz, 1994, p. 250.
- Karin Hartewig , Harry Stein , Leonie Wannenmacher : The "cleaned up" anti-fascism , Akademie-Verlag, 1994 - page 143.
- Gotthold Schramm : Attack Defense: the German secret services after 1945 , Edition Ost, 2007, ISBN 3360010825 , p. 370.
Individual evidence
- ^ Obituary notice in Neues Deutschland from June 26, 1990
- ↑ Author collective: Buchenwald. Reminder and obligation. Documents and reports , Berlin 1983, p. 581
- ↑ Author collective: Buchenwald. Reminder and obligation. Documents and reports , Berlin 1983, p. 582
- ↑ Author collective: Buchenwald. Reminder and obligation. Documents and reports , Berlin 1983, p. 590
- ↑ Author collective: Buchenwald. Reminder and obligation. Documents and reports , Berlin 1983, p. 469
- ↑ Congratulations on your 75th birthday in Neues Deutschland on May 20, 1986
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Koehler, Kurt |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German resistance fighter and colonel in the NVA |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 20, 1911 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chemnitz |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 29, 1990 |