Maria Grollmuß

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Maria Grollmuß on a GDR postage stamp (1959)

Maria Karoline Elisabeth Grollmuß (Sorbian Marja Grólmusec ) (born April 24, 1896 in Leipzig ; † August 6, 1944 in Ravensbrück ) was a Catholic Sorbian journalist and socialist resistance fighter against the Nazi regime.

Life

Maria Grollmuß was born in Leipzig on April 24, 1896, the daughter of Johannes Grollmuß (Sorbian Jan Grólmus ), who holds a doctorate in philology and school director . In December 1917 she finished her training at Gaudig's teacher training college in Leipzig. She ended her short career as a primary school teacher at the Leipzig- Reudnitz Citizens' School by taking the electoral examination. Maria Grollmuß then completed a philological and historical university degree in Berlin and Leipzig, which she completed in 1928 with a doctorate on Joseph Görres and democracy . During the time of her studies she belonged to the first Windthorstbund , then the Socialist Student Union .

Maria Grollmuß was particularly interested in political journalism , and she wrote articles for the Rhein-Mainische Volkszeitung, which is close to the left wing of the Center Party , and for the magazine “ Die Schildgenossen ” of the Catholic youth movement “ Quickborn ” initiated by Romano Guardini . The professional existence of Maria Grollmuß is determined by a rapid change of scene and the lack of opportunities for deepening. Maria Grollmuß showed herself to be constant in her mainly socially determined political engagement, but fluctuating in her political affection. After starting out in party politics in the SPD in 1927 , she joined the KPD in 1929 , from which she was again excluded in the same year because she refused to form a separate communist union. She joined the Communist Party opposition , with whose minority wing around Paul Frölich and Jacob Walcher she joined the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (SAPD) in 1932 . Here she was one of the supporters of party leader Max Seydewitz and opted like him in 1933 after the dissolution resolution rejected by the party majority in favor of the SPD.

After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, she did illegal political work in close cooperation with Seydewitz in the working group Revolutionary Socialists, among other things as a supporter of political prisoners, transporter of illegal literature and as escape helper for comrades at risk to Czechoslovakia . She chose the village of Radibor in Upper Lusatia , her father's home, as the starting point for her actions. She maintained contact with resistance groups from the SPD, KPD and SAPD and with the Austrian socialist Otto Bauer .

Funerary monument in the cemetery in Radibor

Soon there was denunciation. Maria Grollmuß was arrested on November 7, 1934 together with her comrade Hermann Reinmuth . She was initially imprisoned in Dresden , tried before the People's Court, sentenced to six years in prison on November 23, 1935 (Reinmuth to seven years) and imprisoned in Waldheim . During the time of her imprisonment, Maria Grollmuß turned intensely to Catholic spirituality with its special Marian mysticism, as can be seen above all from the strongly encrypted correspondence to her sister. The Nazi regime had offered her - for the time after serving her imprisonment in Waldheim - freedom and treatment options for her already known cancer, if she would pursue a spying activity in the Sorbian resistance movement. Maria Grollmuß refused and in December 1940 she was transferred to the Ravensbrück women's concentration camp near Fürstenberg an der Havel . Due to her language skills, she was able to support women from Poland and the Czechoslovak Republic in particular. A tumor operation carried out much too late and under unreasonable conditions led to his death on August 6, 1944. Her urn was buried in the Radibor cemetery.

Honors

Grollmuss bust in front of the school named after her in Radibor
Memorial plaque in Bautzen

In the GDR Maria Grollmuß was honored as a Sorbian anti-fascist and resistance fighter. Street names in Bautzen , Hoyerswerda , Leipzig and several Lusatian communities, including Radibor , are reminiscent of Grollmuß. In loop and Radibor primary and secondary schools are named after her.

Fonts

  • The woman and the young democracy. A report on women, politics and democracy. Frankfurt am Main 1925.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Paul Gedan (Ed.): The municipal teachers' seminar in Leipzig. Commemorative publication to celebrate 25 years of existence , Leipzig 1924, p. 62.
  2. ^ Elisabeth Prégardier, Anne Mohr: Letters to Radibor: Maria Grollmuß (1896-1944) . Plöger, Annweiler 2000, p. 172.
  3. ^ Elisabeth Prégardier, Anne Mohr: Letters to Radibor: Maria Grollmuß (1896-1944) . Plöger, Annweiler 2000, p. 173.
  4. ^ A b Peter Steinbach, Johannes Tuchel: Lexicon of Resistance 1933-1945 . CH Beck; 2nd, revised and expanded edition 1998, ISBN 3-406-43861-X , pp. 74f.
  5. ^ Elisabeth Prégardier, Anne Mohr: Letters to Radibor: Maria Grollmuß (1896-1944) . Plöger, Annweiler 2000, p. 174.

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Resentment, Maria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grólmusec, Marja (Sorbian); Grollmuß, Maria Karoline Elisabeth (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Sorbian Catholic journalist and resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH April 24, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH August 6, 1944
PLACE OF DEATH Ravensbrück