Martin Hoop

Martin Hoop (ca.1911)

Carl Martin Hoop (* 14. April 1892 in Lägerdorf , Steinburg ( Schleswig-Holstein ); † 11. May 1933 in Zwickau ) was a German communist and KPD - functionary in Saxony , the Ernst Thalmann supported and one of the first victims of the Nazi -Dictatorship became.

Life

Hoop was born in Lägerdorf northwest of Hamburg . His father was the kätner and painter Johann Martin Hoop (1864–1939). His mother was Catharine Wilhelmine Auguste born. Paulsen (1863-1962). Martin was the second oldest of 7 brothers and 1 sister - Heinrich, Johannes, Wilhelm, Helene, Max (died as a child), Walter and Bernhard. After attending primary school , Hoop completed an electrician apprenticeship in Hamburg. During his apprenticeship he joined the union and became a member of a workers' choir . After his apprenticeship , he went on a hike . During the First World War he served in the heavy artillery, was then trained as a radio operator and deployed on the Western Front.

At the end of the war, Hoop went to Bautzen , where he married Anna Elisabeth Frieda Holtsch on December 28, 1918 . In Bautzen, he and his wife initially joined the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD). After the founding of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) he became a member and later also chairman of the Bautzen branch of the KPD and a member of the sub-district leadership. Here he became politically active shortly after joining the KPD and was the top candidate of the KPD list for the Bautzner city council election on December 12, 1920. In 1924 he was chairman of the Red Front Fighter League in Bautzen and was the first communist there to be elected to the city council.

Hoop, who was interested in music and played the violin himself, was given the department of popular education . From 1925 he was head of the KPD sub-district of Bautzen. From around this time on, Martin Hoop counted himself among the so-called ultra - lefts , but he separated from them in 1926 and went to the parliamentary group around Ernst Thälmann .

At the end of 1926 or beginning of 1927 he was appointed organizational secretary ( organ leader ) in the KPD district leadership East Saxony to Dresden , where he lived at Hegerstraße 10 in the Plauen district. He held this position until 1929. In 1930, after the three Saxon districts were amalgamated, he took over the trade union and workers 'correspondence in the editorial office of the Dresden Workers ' Voice. In Dresden he also had contact with artists. The painter and graphic artist Lea Grundig remembered an event with him: “It was not a lecture about art history, nor did he speak a word about artistic form problems. But he spoke with the lively interest of an intelligent, interested person about art, which also spoke to him, which also concerned him. He expressed his opinion from the point of view of the extent to which these pictures helped us to make the worker aware of his situation. "

The marriage with Frieda remained childless. After the divorce on March 27, 1931, Hoop became secretary ( pole leader ) of the KPD sub-district of Zwickau in 1932 . In this function he was active in organizing rallies and demonstrations against the impending takeover of power by the NSDAP , as well as in the preparation of the KPD organization for illegal work . In the spring of 1933 he went underground in Chemnitz under the code name "Peter" . He was supposed to secure the publication of the illegal party newspaper “Der Kampf” there. However, he was caught and arrested on May 2, 1933.

Arrest and death

Memorial stone for the KPD house in Zwickau that was destroyed by bombing, Martin Hoop's last place of work

The circumstances surrounding the arrest of Martin Hoop indicate that no trial has taken place against him, nor has he been arrested on an arrest warrant . It is very likely that the Gestapo or the SA imprisoned him because of his political stance. In the documents of the GDR judiciary , two notes are recorded that deal with crimes in the concentration camp Schloss Osterstein in 1933, here Hoop is mentioned.

The first note contains the following entry:

“Arrest of listed anti-fascists who were beaten to unconsciousness with sticks, rubber truncheons, dog whips and other objects . Several had broken bones, some had their teeth knocked out or other serious injuries. The workers officials Franz Dziebko and Martin Hoop were also among the abused , the former succumbing to his injuries shortly afterwards and Martin Hoop also dying from a later abuse . "

A second note dealing with intelligence agencies for the Nazi regime continues:

“The accused (Z.) was a member of the KPD from 1931 to 1933. He was used as a driver and a special confidante of the subdistrict leader of the KPD, Martin Hoop. Due to various events, the suspicion arose that Z. was doing informal services for the police. At the hearing, it was proven that he had performed such services, especially after his arrest in May 1933. Under these conditions he is also jointly responsible for the murder of comrade Martin Hoop. In the period that followed he agreed to work as an informant for the Gestapo. "

Apparently the defendant had betrayed Z. Martin Hoop. On May 2, 1933, Hoop was arrested in the refreshment room of the “Tietz” department store in Chemnitz and transferred to Osterstein Castle in Zwickau, which was then a concentration camp. A public trial was conducted against members of the guards at the Zwickau prison after 1945, in which details of the mistreatment of prisoners are reported in detail, from which the following statement relates to the death of Martin Hoop on the night of May 10th, 1933.

“The witness Arno Z. will be brought forward from prison. 'Until 1933 I was a driver for Martin Hoop and at the same time his closest colleague ... On May 10th or 11th ... I was lying next to Martin Hoop's cell and in the subconscious I heard noises next door at night. When I was led to exit the next morning, Martin Hoop's cell door was open and I saw a pool of blood on the floor ... Martin Hoop was gone '... "

Martin Hoop's body has never been found.

In a letter dated December 27, 1949 to the office of the Association of People Persecuted by the Nazi Regime (VVN) Bautzen, a Bautzen neighbor of Martin Hoop's former wife wrote the following:

"Subject: Ms. Frieda Hoop, Bautzen, Krottenschmidtstr. 7… I lived at Krottenschmidtstrasse from 1925–1939. 5 and we were well known as neighbors ... After the so-called takeover of power by the NSDAP in 1933, the rumor circulated that Comrade Hoop had been eliminated. Mrs. Hoop asked me to help her investigate her husband. So I wrote 5 letters to the Geh at certain time intervals. State Police. During this time we learned, through indiscretion from the police guard Adam, that Comrade Hoop was probably dead. Accordingly, I had kept the last two letters a little more specific, which now prompted the SA Brigade Bautzen to send Sturmführer Schmoller to Mrs. Hoop and forbid her to write. He did this with the following words: When political opponents are dead, they can no longer be dangerous: If you don't stop your 'Kladderadatsch', then we will stop it. We then stopped the research, especially since the violent death of Comrade Hoop became an open secret ... "

The official cause of death of the Nazi regime this time was not recorded as the mostly used “shot while trying to escape”, but rather in the official reports to Dresden it was said that “he fled”.

meaning

In the contemporary history of the KPD in Saxony, Bautzen city councilor Martin Hoop became known as a supporter of Ernst Thälmann . Hoop was one of the few KPD functionaries who opposed the theory of relative stabilization in the Weimar Republic (see Reich presidential election 1925 ) and demanded a return to the party status that was accepted at the 10th KPD Congress (July 1925) (i.e. only Weeks before the intervention of the Comintern ) and his party colleagues pointed out that the united front policy in Saxony was unsuccessful.

In the autumn of 1923, an extensive weapons store was discovered in the Bautzen machine factory Münckner & Co. In a joint operation, a group of workers, communists and social democrats seized the weapons, which led to a trial against several defendants. Besides Hoop, they also included the social democratic labor secretary Konrad Arndt and communist workers like Kurt Pchalek . Pchalek was sentenced to 15 months in prison for preparing for high treason. Hoop and Arndt were acquitted.

At a public meeting of the KPD in Bautzen on May 2, 1924, at which the Reichstag deputy Siegfried Rädel also gave a lecture, Martin Hoop gave a lecture on the May 1 demonstration by the workers and the actions of the Bautzen police, "which he considered shameful and brutally labeled. ”On September 5th, Rädel again gave a lecture on the subject of the Dawes Plan and“ How are the reparations to be paid ”.

"" ... A Social Democrat, Arndt, who was shouted at and consequently could not speak, and the communist Hoop, were involved in the debate ... At the suggestion of the Hoop, a resolution was passed at the end of the meeting to release communist comrade Pchalek, the I am still in custody for alleged formation of terrorist groups… ”In addition to other activities, Hoop led a demonstration against the Cheka trial that took place in Leipzig in 1925 during his service as a department head in Bautzen (see Red Aid Germany ). "The whole procession looked more like a carnival procession than a protest demonstration." Siegfried Rädel stated, although "the intellectual spirit is rector hoop ... [:] He has almost no support behind him."

Honorary gift from VEB Steinkohlenwerk Martin Hoop Zwickau

The local weakness of the KPD in East Saxony made possible earlier and more effective management of party affairs by functionaries such as Siegfried Rädel , who together with the left majority supported the policy of Ernst Thalmann . However, the East Saxon district leadership was unaware of the Thalmann-Stalin correspondence and sent the KPD's central committee an approving resolution. Martin Hoop was one of the eight signatories.

The question in the Saxon KPD was how the united front could be introduced exclusively from below . One form of this tactic was advocated by Siegfried Rädel, who, in conjunction with the Central Committee of the KPD, initiated factory meetings and a letter campaign to individual SPD workers. Martin Hoop continued to refrain from contacting local SPD functionaries.

Disappointed by political developments, Martin Hoop thought at times to start a "new life" in the " New World ". But he remained active in Saxony in the revolutionary Zwickau workers' movement.

Honors

After the Second World War, the Morgenstern coal plant was named "Martin Hoop" in his honor in 1948 in VEB Steinkohlenwerk . A memorial stone was erected there in 1972 : “The marble stone surrounded by flags made of burned aluminum is decorated with the name of the upright communist and the anniversary of his birth and death. The drafts were created by members of the painting and drawing circle from the work, which, under the direction of the painter Karl Heinz Jakob, has developed into one of the most prominent folk art collectives in the GDR. "

The Border Training Regiment 7 in Halberstadt was given the honorary name "Martin Hoop" on March 1, 1972. The barracks was called "Martin Hoop Barracks".

There is a street in the towns of Bautzen, Großdubrau , Werdau and Zwickau, and a kindergarten in Zwickau is named in his honor. The former Georgian School in Zwickau bore his name until 1991 .

literature

• Hoop, Martin . In: Hermann Weber , Andreas Herbst : German Communists. Biographical Handbook 1918 to 1945 . 2nd, revised and greatly expanded edition. Karl Dietz, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-320-02130-6 .
• Hermann Weber: The change in German communism. The Stalinization of the KPD in the Weimar Republic. Volume 2. Frankfurt / Main 1969, p. 169.
• Bernd Samba: Elected to the city council as the first communist. 50 years ago today, Martin Hoop was murdered . In: Neues Deutschland , May 11, 1983, Volume 38, Issue 110, p. 4.

swell

1. ^ ^{A b} House of the Revolutionary Workers 'Movement in Zwickau (ed.): The work of Martin Hoop in Zwickau 1932/1933 (=  contributions to the history of the Zwickau workers' movement . No. 12 ). Zwickau 1984.
2. ↑ Martin Hoop . In: SED Commission for Research into the History of the Local Labor Movement (ed.): Revolutionary fighters. Biographical sketches . Karl-Marx-Stadt 1972.
3. ↑ Documents, Amt Breitenburg, Osterholz 5, 25524 Breitenburg
4. ↑ E. Lodní: champion of unity of action - Martin Hoop, on his 75th birthday (=  Bautzen Cultural Show . No. 5 ). 1967, p. 6-9 .
5. ↑ Bautzener Tageblatt of December 7, 1920
6. ↑ Bernd Samba: Elected to the city council as the first communist. 50 years ago today, Martin Hoop was murdered . In: New Germany . Berlin May 11, 1983, p. 4 .
7. ^ Dresden address book, 1930 edition, Saxon Main State Archive Dresden
8. ↑ Lea Grundig: Faces and History . Dietz, Berlin.
9. ↑ ^{a b} VdN ( persecuted by the Nazi regime ) -Akte No. 3202, Frieda Hoop, inventory 11430 District Assembly / Council of the District of Dresden
10. ^ Case number 1640, Justice and Nazi crimes; Collection of German criminal judgments for National Socialist homicide crimes, Universiteit van Amsterdam / Criminal Law, Postbus 1030, 1000 BA Amsterdam Netherlands Justice and Nazi crimes ( memento from November 6, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) and a private letter from April 9, 2004 from Prof. Dr. CF Rüter
11. ^ Franz Thies: The process of Schloss Osterstein , self-published by VVN Zwickau, 1948.
12. ↑ Stefanie Endlich, Nora Goldenbogen: Memorials for the victims of National Socialism . Volume II, Bonn 1990, p. 627.
13. ↑ Klaus Drobisch, Günther Wieland: System of the Nazi concentration camps: 1933-1939 , Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1993, ISBN 978-3-050-00823-3 . P. 129
14. ↑ Reinhard Prause: Martin Hoop - our role model In: Bautzener Kulturschau 1978, issue 9, pp. 3-4
15. ↑ Jane Degras (Ed.): The Communist International, 1919–1943, Documents, Vol 2, 1923–1928, Routledge, London, 1971, ISBN 0714615552 , pp. 223–232 [1]
16. ^ Norman H. LaPorte: The German Communist Party in Saxony, 1924-1933: Factionalism, Fratricide and Political Failure , Oxford: Peter Bern Lang, 2003, pp. 139-141. ISBN 3-906768-45-7
17. ↑ Axel Ulrich: Konrad Arndt , Wiesbaden 2001 ( PDF ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )), pp. 47-48
18. ↑ See “ Kurt Pchalek (1900–1944)” under [2]
19. ↑ Bautzner Nachrichten, No. 215, 143rd year, July 1, 1924: City Councilor Hoop and comrades in court-the break-in of the Münckner factory a . 12 Sep 1924: City Councilor Hoop and comrades as high traitors before the State Court ; Herbert Pchalek: private correspondence July 22, 2007
20. ↑ Norman H. LaPorte: Stalinization and its limits in the Saxon KPD 1925-28 , European History Quarterly, No. 31 Vol. 4, 549-590, Sage Publ, 2001 [3] , p. 562.
21. ^ Repertorium files, XI.II.15, police reports to the State Information Office Dresden / extensive presentation of communist propaganda / reports (1924–1925), Bautzen archives, pp. 16, 77, 120-121.
22. ^ Hermann Weber: The Thälmann Scandal: Secret correspondence with Stalin . Ed .: Bernhard H. Bayerlein. Structure, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-351-02549-1 . Archived copy ( Memento of August 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) See also: Alexander Watlin, Die Comintern 1919–1929. Historical studies (paperback), (Mainz: Decaton-Verlag), 1993, pp. 180-181, ISBN 3-929-45507-2
23. ^ Norman LaPorte: Social Fascism, Stalinization and the Case of the Saxon Communist Party, 1928–1929 , Labor History Review, Vol. 67, no. 1, April 2002, pp. 79-80.
24. ↑ Norman H. LaPorte: private correspondence April 2007
25. ↑ The memorial stone for Martin Hoop was ceremoniously unveiled . In: New Germany . New Germany, Berlin July 1, 1973, p. 2 .
26. ^ Border training regiment 7 "Martin Hoop", Halberstadt (District Magdeburg). In: Command of border troops of the GDR. Retrieved January 21, 2016 . 

Web links

Commons : Martin Hoop  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files