Ludwig Pappenheim

Stumbling stone for Ludwig Pappenheim, Schlossplatz 8, in Eschwege

Ludwig Pappenheim (born March 17, 1887 in Eschwege ; † January 4, 1934 in the Neusustrum concentration camp ) was a German SPD politician.

Life

The son of a Jewish merchant family completed an apprenticeship as a merchant in Hamburg and Cologne . Pappenheim initially worked for the SPD . After serving as a soldier in World War I , he was a member of the USPD during the November Revolution . With his inheritance Pappenheim founded the newspaper Volksstimme in Schmalkalden , of which he was responsible editor from 1919. Ludwig Pappenheim soon switched back to the SPD; from 1920 he sat as a member of the provincial parliament of the province of Hessen-Nassau . In addition, Pappenheim was an early member of the Reichsbanner Black-Red-Gold . In the last years of the republic he was chairman of the Schmalkalden district organization of the SPD.

Already briefly imprisoned in 1918 and 1924, Pappenheim was arrested again on March 25, 1933 and taken into " protective custody ". At the beginning of his detention he wrote letters of protest to local government agencies. In these he referred to the National Socialists, who were responsible for his imprisonment, as "some people who want to disturb the public calm by threats (...) and complained about the judicial system, in which" apparently formerly democratic officials dealt with their political inferiority complexes want to react against social democrats by vigorous action ”. Such a politically and legally steadfast stance is rarely found in the files that have been preserved, in which numerous applications and requests for release from protective custody are preserved. For Pappenheim it led to a tightening of prison sentences.

Initially sentenced to three months in prison, he firmly expected his release at the end of his sentence on July 21, 1933. However, he remained in prison afterwards. A release request dated July 23, 1933, in which he wrote that he had behaved well in prison, mentioned his war awards and wrote: “By extending protective custody, my wife and her four children, three of whom were nine, eight and six years are morally and psychologically ruined ”, remained unsuccessful. The district leader of the NSDAP Schmalkalden wrote: “The disintegration work that the Jew Pappenheim carried out over the years in the Schmalkalden district does not under any circumstances justify a possible release. Unfortunately, Pappenheim was treated much too humanely (...). As the district leader, I have to speak out very resolutely against the fact that Pappenheim (...) would not be sent to a concentration camp . "

Ludwig Pappenheim was transported to the Breitenau concentration camp for three months of protective custody . This had arisen from a workhouse , Pappenheim, as a member of the provincial parish, campaigned for the reform of the house rules in Breitenau. In a letter to an uncle who was close to him, he wrote: “What troubles me is the fate of the family I am unable to care for. The small savings will not last long, and if I am free by then, the new beginning will not be easy either. But I have the courage and the will to help myself and mine and to fight my way through. "

The district administrator made the formal request to “have Pappenheim transferred to the larger Osnabrück concentration camp . He deserves it. ”In October 1933 he was transferred to the Neusustrum concentration camp , one of the Emsland camps . A fellow inmate reported that Pappenheim was harassed, beaten and ill-treated by the guards from the first to the last day of his detention. Since the end of September 1933, the Neusustrum concentration camp was under the command of SS-Obersturmführer Emil Faust , who was known for brutality and terror.

On January 4, 1934, Ludwig Pappenheim was murdered by the guards Johann Siems and Robert B. near the Neusustrum concentration camp. In an official medical certificate, this is untruthfully attributed to an "attempted escape". After that, his widow was not allowed to bury him in Schmalkalden. After much effort in several places, Frieda Pappenheim finally succeeded in obtaining a permit for a burial at the Jewish cemetery in Leipzig.

memories

In 1944, his two sons Günter and Kurt were also brought to the Buchenwald concentration camp . They survived and were able to report publicly about their father in 2012 at a memorial event for Ludwig Pappenheim's 125th birthday in Schmalkalden.

From 1945 until the end of the GDR in 1990, the community of Kleinschmalkalden bore his name, and a polytechnic high school (POS) was named after him. In the permanent exhibition of the Breitenau Memorial, a room is dedicated to the persecuted. Four individual fates are presented on behalf of all inmates of the Breitenau concentration camp, including that of Ludwig Pappenheim.

For the 110th birthday of Ludwig Pappenheim, memorial stones were erected in 1997 at the Eichelbach / Schmalkalden cemetery and in the village of Kleinschmalkalden. A square in Trusetal was named after him and a new memorial stone was inaugurated. A stumbling block was laid for him in Eschwege in 2011 .

literature

Ludwig Pappenheim . In: Franz Osterroth : Biographical Lexicon of Socialism . Deceased personalities . Vol. 1. JHW Dietz Nachf., Hanover 1960, p. 237.
York-Egbert König , Dietfrid Krause-Vilmar, Ute Simon: Ludwig Pappenheim. Editor - Social Democrat - Philanthropist . Published by the Centrum Judaicum , Hentrich & Hentrich , Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-942271-94-3 (= Jewish miniatures. Volume 140).

Web links

Pappenheim, Ludwig. Hessian biography. (As of March 17, 2020). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Dietfrid Krause-Vilmar : Ludwig Pappenheim (1887 - 1934) (PDF; 182 kB) Lecture at the Breitenau Memorial on June 11, 2002, an abridged, updated and illustrated version of this lecture can be found here ( Memento from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 528 kB).
↑ See Wolfgang Ayaß : Das Arbeitshaus Breitenau. Beggars, vagrants, prostitutes, pimps and welfare recipients in the correctional and rural poor institution in Breitenau (1874–1949). , Kassel 1992, pp. 251-264.
↑ Erik Hande: Father, Social Democrat, Antifascist Report from the festive event in Schmalkalden for his 125th birthday, March 19, 2012.
^ Gunnar Richter: The Breitenau memorial in Guxhagen near Kassel. Breitenau concentration camp 1933/1934, work education and concentration camp 1940-45, young people and children as prisoners, on dealing with Breitenau after 1945, the permanent exhibition - a connection between art and history . 3rd expanded edition Guxhagen 2002, ISBN 3-934377-81-5 , pp. 18-19.
↑ Elke Pudszuhn: Memories of the anti-fascist Ludwig Pappenheim on his 130th birthday. In: Landesverband Thüringen - Bund der Antifaschisteninnen and Antifaschisten. March 5, 2017, accessed June 26, 2020 .
^ Ingrid Krauss: Stumbling block for Ludwig Pappenheim in Eschwege . Ed .: Die Linke Kreisverband Schmalkalden-Meiningen. Flashlight, no. 19 . Schmalkalden ( die-linke-schmalkalden-meiningen.de [PDF; accessed on June 26, 2020]).

personal data
SURNAME	Pappenheim, Ludwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German politician (SPD)
DATE OF BIRTH	March 17, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH	Eschwege
DATE OF DEATH	January 4, 1934
Place of death	Neusustrum concentration camp

[kv-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Dietfrid Krause-Vilmar : Ludwig Pappenheim (1887 - 1934) (PDF; 182 kB) Lecture at the Breitenau Memorial on June 11, 2002, an abridged, updated and illustrated version of this lecture can be found here ( Memento from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 528 kB).

[2] See Wolfgang Ayaß : Das Arbeitshaus Breitenau. Beggars, vagrants, prostitutes, pimps and welfare recipients in the correctional and rural poor institution in Breitenau (1874–1949). , Kassel 1992, pp. 251-264.

[Schmalkalden-3] Erik Hande: Father, Social Democrat, Antifascist Report from the festive event in Schmalkalden for his 125th birthday, March 19, 2012.

[4] Gunnar Richter: The Breitenau memorial in Guxhagen near Kassel. Breitenau concentration camp 1933/1934, work education and concentration camp 1940-45, young people and children as prisoners, on dealing with Breitenau after 1945, the permanent exhibition - a connection between art and history . 3rd expanded edition Guxhagen 2002, ISBN 3-934377-81-5 , pp. 18-19.

[5] Elke Pudszuhn: Memories of the anti-fascist Ludwig Pappenheim on his 130th birthday. In: Landesverband Thüringen - Bund der Antifaschisteninnen and Antifaschisten. March 5, 2017, accessed June 26, 2020 .

[6] Ingrid Krauss: Stumbling block for Ludwig Pappenheim in Eschwege . Ed .: Die Linke Kreisverband Schmalkalden-Meiningen. Flashlight, no. 19 . Schmalkalden ( die-linke-schmalkalden-meiningen.de [PDF; accessed on June 26, 2020]).