Ludwig Löhlein
Ludwig Löhlein senior (* October 8, 1898 in Künzelsau ; † July 2, 1967 ibid) was a brick manufacturer in Künzelsau-Garnberg , who was particularly distinguished by his courageous willingness to help and humanity . He was one of the men who at the end of the Second World War prevented the destruction of the city of Künzelsau at personal risk.
Life
Ludwig Löhlein senior was born the youngest of 13 children. His parents were the brickyard owner Josef Löhlein and his wife Marie Löhlein nee. Weber. On August 20, 1930 Löhlein married Klara Müller from Nagelsberg , with whom he had eight children. Löhlein was a member of the Garnberger Gesangverein and Spielkreis. The hunting and Hege was his particular passion. Ludwig Löhlein died surprisingly early after a brief serious illness on July 2, 1967, his wife Klara died in 2001 shortly before her 99th birthday.
Brick factory
Löhlein's grandfather Georg Caspar Löhlein (born March 27, 1792) from Apfelbach near Bad Mergentheim acquired the brickworks in Künzelsau-Garnberg on March 14, 1848, which was first mentioned in 1676 and which passed to Josef Löhlein after his death in 1863. In 1919 his sons Franz, Ludwig and Karl took over the brickworks, which from then on was called Gebr. Löhlein. Karl had a fatal accident in 1925, Franz died in 1942. Ludwig Löhlein then ran the company alone, from 1959 together with his son Rudolf and nephews Erich, Josef and Ludwig Löhlein junior. until shortly before his death.
In the 1920s Ludwig Löhlein spent several years as a bricklayer in Hermannstadt (Rum. Sibiu) in Transylvania to get to know progressive brick production processes there.
In 1925/26 a cable car was built, which connected the clay pit with the brick factory over a length of 700 m. In 1937 the new brickworks was built on the outskirts of Garnberg for 300,000 RM. After the end of the war in 1945 , production was resumed after a break of only 4 weeks.
In 1956 the branch was established in Berlichingen , and in 1959 the brick factory in Ilshofen was taken over. In 1965, new tunnel kilns were put into operation in Garnberg and Berlichingen and operations in the old Garnberg brickworks were discontinued. The brick factory Gbr. At that time Löhlein was one of the most progressive brick factories in Germany.
Now in the 4th generation, the company had to file for bankruptcy on January 31, 1985 . Albert Berner Deutschland GmbH took over the grounds of the Neue Ziegelei and set up their headquarters there.
During the reign of the National Socialists
Ludwig Löhlein was a staunch Catholic and an opponent of National Socialism . He never made a secret of it. He often publicly warned against National Socialism and was always open to the public in Künzelsau. To be
"Where should all this end?"
Contemporary witnesses still remember today. The Gestapo made several attempts to arrest Löhlein. This could only be prevented thanks to influential advocates.
Löhlein's daughters Melitta and Gisela report that when they were children they were regularly sent with a milk can to secretly hand over to the married couple Sigbert and Luise (née Lindenberger) Baer ("Jud Baer"). One child was not suspect. The Baers house stood on the edge of the core town of Künzelsau when you came down the steep path from the Garnberg district on the edge of the plateau. Around the house was a high wall with a door through which the girls could get into the Baers' property without being seen.
Sigbert Baer was the only Jew from Künzelsau who survived the period of National Socialism in the village, probably also because his wife was non-Jewish. He died on April 12, 1966 in Künzelsau. Since April 25, 2017, a so-called stumbling stone in front of the building at Langenburger Straße 5, access to Kapellenweg, has been a reminder of the Künzelsau grain wholesaler Sigbert Baer, who lived here.
During National Socialism there were some courageous people in Künzelsau who supported Jewish families.
Soldier in both world wars
Ludwig Löhlein took part in the First World War as a soldier from 1916 to 1918.
With the beginning of the Second World War in 1939 he was drafted again immediately, although he was already 41 years old. It was a return coach from the National Socialists, against which he always spoke openly. He had to report to Langenburg , came to the front and had to take part in the attack on Poland . Then he was allowed to return to the management of the brickworks, which was classified as important to the war effort and which his seriously ill brother Franz had to run alone for a while.
Saving the city of Künzelsau from destruction
At the beginning of April 1945 the American troops advanced in an arc on Künzelsau. On April 9, 1945, they occupied Nagelsberg to the north and from there came from Kochertal to the eastern plateau of the Hohenlohe plain , where the Künzelsau district of Garnberg is located. Before Garnberg, the plain drops steeply into Künzelsau in the Kocher Valley, which is why extensive artillery was deployed there. German troops had holed up in Künzelsau.
On April 10, 1945, the Americans opened the first artillery fire and dropped bombs .
On 11 April 1945, the Garnberger negotiated mayor and lawyer Heinrich Schneider and Garnberger producer Ludwig Löhlein with the Americans a cease-fire from moving to the German troops for noncombat withdrawal from Künzelsau. Risking their lives, they hurried down into the valley, organized a rubber dinghy to be crossed over the stove from the Künzelsau doctor Dr. Fraas - the National Socialists had blown up the Kocher Bridge two days earlier - and got to the local troop commander. He referred to them as
"Traitors that he would like to put on the wall."
Nevertheless, together with the Künzelsau teacher Dr. Friedrich Schütz, who had previously negotiated with the mayor of Künzelsau , Pflüger, local councils and the army command to get the German troops to withdraw. The less than 2 hours given to them by the Americans had already passed by the time she and Dr. Schütz separately - they had lost each other in Künzelsau - who hurried almost 200 meters in altitude to Garnberg, waving a white flag and a white doctor's coat as a substitute for the flag. The Americans had already started bombarding Künzelsau and the first bomber squadron had dropped their bombs when the other bomber squadrons were recalled and the bombardment stopped. The American commander O'Brien was angry, however, that the German troops did not want to leave Künzelsau that evening, but rather by the next morning, and wanted to break off the negotiation. However, he managed to change his mind. This includes the wearing cousin Löhleins, Elisabeth (Lisi) Birkenmaier Löhlein at that spoke English and had recently been bombed in Heilbronn. When Löhlein came home to his family afterwards, he greeted them with the words:
"The Lissi has achieved it."
On April 12, 1945, after the last German soldiers had left Künzelsau, a white flag was hoisted on the church tower and the Americans marched in peacefully. The contemporary witness Wilhelm Gros, who saw the end of the war in Künzelsau as a child, remembered in 2010 that the Americans attacked the city from Garnberg. There were dead and injured.
"It owes the city not to be completely destroyed by Garnbergers, who risk their lives by coming to Künzelsau and achieving the handover of the city in tough negotiations."
The eyewitness Margarete Limbach remembered in the Hohenloher Zeitung of April 8, 2005. The documented under the title Those with the white flag were heroes :
The tailor and the Löhlein saved Künzelsau from destruction. "She speaks of Heinrich Schneider and Ludwig Löhlein. Two Garnberg men, too old to be drafted, but young enough to act when the Americans came. They beat then went down the Garnberger slope, secretly crossed the (river) Kocher, and with two other men they made sure that the white flag was hung in the Künzelsau town hall. "That is when the shooting stopped." ... "It was a difficult time with the baby (which she gave birth two days earlier), "said Margarete Limbach. That she ended up happily anyway, she thanks her two Garnberg heroes:" They shouldn't be forgotten. "
Help after the end of the war for displaced persons and those in need
After the end of the war, Löhlein initially accepted many expellees in the new brickworks in Garnberg. During the war he had built bedrooms and sanitary rooms for prisoners of war there, which were in good condition. He then built apartments in the old brickworks by first converting the old brickworks house and the dryer building into apartments. A new extension was added later. The apartments were used until the 1970s. Many expellees found decent accommodation and work in the brickworks.
The war damage had made many people needy. Every day people came together in front of the Löhlein house to ask for help. Most people asked about building materials to repair the damage to the houses. Ludwig Löhlein always gave, rather more than less, according to his daughter Melitta.
His reputation as a helping person was well known. In February 1947, Hildegart Heinrich (née Böhnisch) set out on foot through snow and ice to Künzelsau-Garnberg, 18 km away, to talk to Löhlein. She and her family had been driven from their farm in Sedlnitz in Moravia by the Beneš decrees . The family was assigned to a farmer in Hollenbach who treated them badly, which often happened to displaced persons at the time. Löhlein promised her that they could come. Like many others, they got an apartment and the family man Emil Heinrich got work in the brickworks.
Democracy building
Löhlein was a staunch democrat . He was a founding member of the Künzelsau CDU , which was founded in 1945 on the basis of the Cologne guidelines.
For him, possession was synonymous with social responsibility. He lived and acted according to Catholic social ethics .
From 1945 until shortly before his death he worked tirelessly as a councilor, district councilor and in the association of the brick industry in building democratic structures. He was always a man of balance who always found the right words for seemingly irreconcilable differences so that in the end an amicable solution could be found. In doing so, he put his person aside and the cause and humanity in the foreground.
Awards
Ludwig Löhlein distinguished himself as a democrat with great willingness to help and humanity. For this he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by the Federal President Theodor Heuss in 1951 .
Individual evidence
- ^ University of Hohenheim: Löhlein: WIRTSCHAFTSARCHIV BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG. Retrieved September 20, 2018 .
- ↑ Company brochure of the brick factory Gebr. Löhlein from 1973
- ^ The synagogue in Künzelsau (Hohenlohekreis). Retrieved September 21, 2018 .
- ↑ Heilbronn Voice: Table of Contents Heilbronn Voice from April 27, 2017, page 1. Accessed on September 21, 2018 .
- ^ Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Department State Archives Ludwigsburg - Findbuch FL 20/10 Bü 210 :. Historical work "Invasion of the Americans and French in northern Württemberg in April 1945" by Dr. Blumenstock: Contains: Diary entries (reproduced) from the arrival of the Americans to the handover of Künzelsau for the period from Thursday, April 5 to Thursday, April 12, 1945, recorded by Ludwig Löhlein, Heinrich Schneider and Dr. Schütz (Künzelsau, December 12, 1946). Retrieved September 20, 2018 .
- ^ First bombs, then chewing gum - STIMME.de. Retrieved September 21, 2018 .
- ^ Hohenloher Zeitung, April 8, 2005: Those with the white flag were heroes
- ^ CDU Künzelsau: 70 years of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Künzelsau, Karl Wunderlich. Retrieved on September 21, 2018 (German).
- ↑ COLOGNE GUIDELINE (PDF) Christian Democrats in Cologne. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Löhlein, Ludwig |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Löhlein senior, Ludwig |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German brick factory owner |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 8, 1898 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Künzelsau |
| DATE OF DEATH | 2nd July 1967 |
| Place of death | Künzelsau |