Ludwig Knickmann

Ludwig Knickmann (born August 24, 1897 in Buer , † June 21, 1923 in Marl ) was the leader of a shock troop that was used to sabotage the defensive battle against the French and Belgian occupation troops that had moved into the Ruhr area. He was shot in a collision with a Belgian patrol on June 21, 1923. He drowned while escaping through the lip. The Nazi propaganda stylized it a "martyr of the movement" .

Photo by Ludwig Knickmann

Life

Ludwig Knickmann was born in Buer - a current district of Gelsenkirchen - in Westphalia , who took part in the First World War since 1916 . After Germany's defeat in World War I, he fought against the rulers in Buer with a small, armed group of friends from 1918, before the formation of the Freikorps. Until 1920 he was a member of voluntary and self-protection associations. In November 1922 he became a member of the NSDAP.

During the time of the occupation of the Ruhr , Ludwig Knickmann was the founder and leader of the "Buer Striker". Ludwig Knickmann, like Albert Leo Schlageter, participated in acts of sabotage against the French and Belgian occupation troops that had moved into the Ruhr area.

In the office he was a loyal colleague of his brother Heinrich August, called Heinz, in the organization of active defense against the enemy occupation forces.

death

On the Lippe near Marl, Ludwig Knickmann and his partner tried to get Karl Jackstien to illegally cross the border between occupied and unoccupied territory. It could have been a case of food smuggling, which was quite lucrative because of the difficult economic situation in the occupied territory. The kidnapping of the forest ranger Plantiko from the occupied zone was planned on June 21, 1923.

On June 21, 1923, around 8:15 a.m., a Belgian patrol checked in Sickingmühle on Chaussee Hamm-Bossendorf at the intersection of the road that leads from Hüls to Lippe, at kilometer stone 22.3, about 120 meters from the Johann inn Baumeister removed the papers of Ludwig Knickmann and his partner, Karl Jackstien. After the patrol had checked the passports, the corporal wanted to search the pockets for weapons and immediately touched the pocket in which Knickmann was carrying the pistol. Afraid he would be mistreated and punished, he drew the pistol and shot two of the soldiers down and seriously wounded a third. The fourth soldier fled into the nearby forest, where he returned fire. Ludwig Knickmann and Karl Jackstien then fled in the direction of Lippe. Ludwig Knickmann was hit in the shoulder while on the run, so that he had to be supported by his comrade Karl Jackstien. He dragged the wounded man up to his lip.

On the Lippe, very close to the Ostendorf house in Lippramsdorf, both undressed and left behind all their belongings, clothing, passports and a pistol. Then Jackstien tried to pull the Knickman, who could no longer swim, through his lip with a suspender that he had tied around his shoulder. After swimming about three-quarters of the river, the tie came loose and Knickmann, who was very weak, drowned. Jackstien was unable to help him as he was exhausted from the excessive exertion himself. The flood-bearing Lippe had become a torrent and tore the wounded Ludwig Knickmann down into the depths.

Belgian soldiers who found the clothes after about an hour took them away. That same afternoon the perpetrators were reported to the German criminal police by a Belgian court officer. On behalf of the police authority, criminal assistant Elfering, criminal assistant Zimmermann and criminal operations assistant Frey from Buer began to pursue the perpetrators. On June 22, 1923 the detectives went to Lippramsdorf together. There they found that only one of the perpetrators had escaped through the lip. Ludwig Knickmann, who was shot, drowned in the lip. They also found out that the other perpetrator, Karl Jackstien, had fled to Dülmen. Jackstien was arrested one day later in Dülmen.

The National Socialists used Ludwig Knickmann's death for propaganda purposes. They stylized him as a “martyr”. Annual Knickmann commemorations were even held in Gelsenkirchen-Buer .

Renaming of streets and facilities after Ludwig-Knickmann during the National Socialism

Streets were named after Ludwig Knickmann during the Nazi era:

• In Düsseldorf, the Breite Strasse in the city center was renamed Ludwig-Knickmann-Strasse, parallel to the west side of today's and former Königsallee, which was then called Albert-Leo-Schlageter-Allee and north of Adolf-Hitler-Strasse, crossed by Hermann-Göring -Straße (today Benrather Straße).
• In the Gelsenkirchen district of Buer, today's Horster Strasse between Vinckestrasse and Goldbergstrasse was called Ludwig-Knickmann-Strasse.
• In Troisdorf, the street between Kirchstrasse and Kennemich-Platz was called Ludwig-Knickmann-Strasse from 1933 to 1945.
• In Bonn , Lievelingsweg was called Ludwig-Knickmann-Straße from 1935 to 1945.
• In Hilden , Schützenstrasse was renamed Knickmannstrasse from 1939 to 1945 .
• In Duisburg, Karl-Jarres-Strasse was sometimes called Ludwig-Knickmann-Strasse
• There was a Ludwig-Knickmann-Strasse in Bottrop .
• In Solingen , today's Eichenstrasse was called Ludwig-Knickmann-Strasse.
• The Gelsenkirchen NSDAP party headquarters was named Ludwig-Knickmann-Haus in 1932.
• A memorial was inaugurated on May 13, 1934 where Knickmann drowned in his lip.
• SA Standard 137 in Westphalia was given the name "Standard Knickmann" on February 1, 1933 in Gelsenkirchen.
• The Reichsarbeitsdienstlager (RAD) 6/165 in Wulfen also bore his name. The camp was set up on today's B 58 between Wulfen and Deuten for 300 men and was officially opened in April 1934. At first it was called “Main camp Wulfen of the labor service of the NSDAP from 201/6 Wulfen i. W. "- later" Ludwig-Knickmann-Lager ".
• In Marl there was a memorial in his honor and a school named after him.
• The Reichsluftschutzbund (RLB) regional air protection school in Bad Godesberg was named Ludwig-Knickmann-Haus.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Ludwig Knickmann
2. ↑ Karl Jackstien
3. ↑ Photo by Ludwig Knickmann ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Nazi martyrs ( memento of the original from March 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ^ ^{A b c d} Leon Rossmüller: Ludwig Knickmann In: Hildener Jahrbuch 2012 pp. 94–95, Verlag Stadtarchiv Hilden, ISBN 978-3-940710-37-6
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Renaming of streets in Westphalia during National Socialism
7. ↑ ^{a b} The death of Ludwig Knickmann
8. ^ Gelsenkirchen, Ludwig-Knickmann-Strasse
9. ^ Troisdorf, Ludwig-Knickmann-Strasse
10. ^ Entry in the Bonn street cadastre
11. ^ Duisburg, Ludwig-Knickmann-Strasse
12. ↑ Gelsenkirchen, Ludwig Knickmann House
13. ^ Gelsenkirchen, Brown Ludwig Knickmann House
14. ↑ Reich labor camp in Wulfen-Deuten

Web links

• Gelsenkirchen, Brown House
• Ruhrkampf 1923 - Occupied Gelsenkirchen
• List of Nationalist Martyrs

literature

• Fritz Sell, Ludwig Knickmann, Adjudant of the SA, written by young Germans Hardcover edition - 1933 by SA - Group Niederrhein / Fritz Sell
• Anton Winter: Der Ruhrkampf in the district of Marl, in: Vestischer Kalender 1987, 58th year, p. 76 ff.
• Hans-Jürgen Priamus: Heroes and funeral celebrations - standardized commemoration of the dead as a holiday In: Hans-Jürgen Priamus / Stefan Goch (eds.): Power of propaganda or propaganda of power? Staging of National Socialist politics in the “Third Reich” using the example of the city of Gelsenkirchen. Essen 1993, pp. 21-41, 26-29.