Kurt Piehl

Kurt Piehl (born January 6, 1928 in Dortmund ; † January 2, 2001 in Stockelsdorf near Lübeck ) was one of the Dortmund edelweiss pirates who had survived the persecution and who dared share their experiences in the resistance against National Socialism and their continued criminalization in the post-war period to make it public.

In 1980, Kurt Piehl, a citizen of the neighboring town of Bergkamen, published the authentic story of part of this spontaneous anti-authoritarian movement, the “Edelweißgruppe Brügmannplatz”, in the fight against the Hitler Youth and his time in the Dortmund Gestapo cellar “ Steinwache ”. The novel ends with the words: “There was never any official recognition of their struggle, neither as resistance nor as persecution.” He had already completed the manuscript for “Latscher, Pimpfe and Gestapo” between 1961 and 1967. But it wasn't until the Dortmund history professor Hans Müller became aware of Kurt Piehl that he dared to publish it.

Edelweiss pirates and Latscher in Dortmund

The origin of the word edelweiss pirates is hardly known. Kurt Piehl tried to explain the name of his group in the appendix to his first novel.

Afterwards, young workers in the Ruhr area wore edelweiss badges, especially when they wore their driving gear. Above all, this included the “ Bavarian crockery ”, a pair of braces with leather trousers embossed with edelweiss. The badge was worn as a protest symbol in various forms against the compulsory membership in the Hitler Youth , which had been established by law since 1938 . The term edelweiss pirates originated among young people in Dortmund in March 1943, when the rumor got around that an edelweiss group had formed at a southern German university, the founders of which were arrested and murdered immediately afterwards. In fact, in February 1943, members of the " White Rose " were arrested after a leaflet campaign .

To the best of his knowledge, Latscher, Navajos, Fahrtstenzen and other young people who were opposed to the Hitler Youth did not call themselves Edelweiß pirates until 1943. Synonymous with the term edelweiss pirates were the terms in Dortmund: "Epis, Epi-Latscher, Latscher and (self-deprecating) tin flower pirates and tin flower ladders". According to his mother, an anarcho-syndicalist , the term "Latscher" was before 1933 a "swear word that the philistines shouted after the migrant working-class youth" . The swear word was accepted by those abused and reinterpreted as a positive term. Later, during the Nazi era, the Latschers and their attitude inevitably became the antithesis of the “marchers” of the Third Reich.

The self-image of the Dortmund Edelweiss Pirates

Piehl writes: In our self-image at the time, when we had no knowledge of the "White Rose",

• We considered edelweiss as a symbolic figure: small, beautiful, valuable, rare, resistant and capable of surviving against mighty forces of nature
• fought pirates ( corsairs , flibustiers, buccaneers ) in west Indian waters against the Spanish colonial empire
• Edelweiss pirates were thus small groups of freedom fighters who could not be destroyed even by the seemingly all-powerful Gestapo.

Meeting point at Brügmannplatz

For a long time, Brügmannplatz was a vacant and wildly overgrown public area in Dortmund-Nord, where rival young people from various streets met and fought. Kurt Piehl: But this is where the boys got to know each other, from a larger spatial district ... These boys later formed the core of one of the most important Dortmund Edelweiss pirate groups ... Despite their differences, they had two things in common: They were all the sons of workers and consequently not blessed with earthly goods; besides, none of them belonged to the Hitler Youth ... First they came alone, later they brought their girls and friends with them. They stopped fighting each other even if they lived on different streets. They started to show solidarity. The constant gatherings of the young people were anything but secret at first. Since there was no other purpose than to practice harmless and cheerful sociability ... So it was not surprising that the State Police and Hitler Youth learned of the existence of the group. However, it was mistakenly believed in these institutions that treason and rioting were being planned under the guise of social gatherings. A group of young people who met regularly, had no ties to any Nazi organization and was free from bourgeois elements, of course, had to appear extremely suspicious. ... In the summer of 1942 the terror began. As a rule, the meeting place for the young people was surrounded by the Hitler Youth after dark. Those who couldn't escape were mercilessly beaten up. The girls were insulted and insulted as whores. The identity cards of those affected were confiscated and had to be picked up the next day from the police or a HJ office. Most of the time this resulted in repeated abuse. ... Understandably, these acts of terror caused horror and perplexity at the beginning. It took a long time for the boys to regain their strength and take countermeasures. At first there were only spontaneous brawls with the Hitler Youth. Later the resistance became more planned. More and more often the boys appeared as aggressors and pushed their enemies into the defense. Police officers were provoked and more than one patrol officer got to know the other side of the beating ... It goes without saying that in this fighting situation the meetings of the young people had to lose their public character. The boys called themselves edelweiss pirates and wore the forbidden edelweiss badge under their lapels.

After 1945

From 1949 to 1982 Kurt Piehl lived and worked as an iron weaver and concrete worker in Bergkamen . During this time he wrote down his experiences without first finding a publisher.
Kurt Piehl first described his end and post-war experiences in Rebels with the Edelweiss - From the Nazis to the Yankees and pushers, tramps, normal consumers. After they barely survived their persecution and broke up in 1945, they occasionally try to continue their lives as tramps and come into conflict with Americans because of their “inappropriate behavior”. The charge is no longer “Bündische activity”, but they have to find out that the same Gestapo officers who had previously tortured them were now back in the old places and testified against the Edelweiss pirates as witnesses.

Honors

In 2009 a street in Bergkamen was named after Kurt Piehl.

Works

• Kurt Piehl: Latscher, Pimpfe and Gestapo . In: Hans Müller (Hrsg.): History of an edelweiss pirate . tape 1 . Brandes & Apsel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-925798-87-0 .
• Kurt Piehl: Rebels with the edelweiss . In: Hans Müller (Hrsg.): History of an edelweiss pirate . tape 2 . Brandes & Apsel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-925798-88-9 .
• Kurt Piehl: Sliders, tramps, normal consumers: out and about in post-war Germany . Brandes & Apsel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-925798-89-7 .
• Kurt Piehl: Crime scene construction site: Economic miracle novel . Brandes & Apsel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1994, ISBN 3-86099-434-4 .

literature

• Lukas Peuckmann: The edelweiss pirate and writer Kurt Piehl . In: District of Unna (ed.): Schools on the Ruhr and Lippe. Art + culture. Country + people . 1st edition. DruckVerlag Kettler, Unna 2003, ISBN 3-935019-95-5 , p. 73 f .

Web links

• Literature by and about Kurt Piehl in the catalog of the German National Library
• Kurt Piehl in the Lexicon of Westphalian Authors
• Michael Lichte: Kids in the Nazi regime. Youth resistance against National Socialism.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Neue Straße commemorates Nazi opponent Kurt Piehl. Accessed : July 5, 2009