Max Niklas

Max Niklas (born June 28, 1905 , † July 4, 1935 between Altenberg (Erzgebirge) and Schellerhau ) was a German local politician and opponent of National Socialism .

Life

Max Niklas joined the KPD and successfully ran for the city council of his hometown Ehrenfriedersdorf . After the National Socialists seized power , Max Niklas was imprisoned. After his release he emigrated to neighboring Czechoslovakia . From there he passed several times secretly and armed, because dangerous incidents had already occurred, the German-Czechoslovak state border in the Ore Mountains to bring illegal material, mainly anti-Nazi pamphlets, to Germany. When he again illegally crossed the border with such propaganda material on July 4, 1935, he was ambushed together with Walter Richter, Artur Tiermann and Johannes Müller through betrayal by a large contingent of the Secret State Police of Saxony in a wooded area near Altenberg. They defended themselves against it, whereby Max Niklas and two of his companions lost their lives in the firefight. The fourth illegal cross-border commuter managed to escape to Teplice (CSR). Two of the border guards were injured.

Honors

At the point of the exchange of fire, an OdF memorial was erected on the road from Altenberg to Schellerhau, not far from aisle 31.

The Arbeiter-Turn-und-Sportbund in Ehrenfriedersdorf acquired the burned down "Jägerhaus" in 1912 and named it from then on Turnerheim "Die Burg". On October 7, 1949, the former Turnerheim was renamed "Max-Niklas-Heim" and now houses the hotel and restaurant "Die Burg". Above this home there is a memorial stone, inaugurated in 1969, in the Melzerstein tuft with the inscription:

"OUR ROLE MODEL - MAX NIKLAS - BORN June 28th, 1905 - Murdered July 4th, 1935

At this point Max Niklas blew the "Internationale" on New Year's Eve 1932/1933.

A memorial stone at OdF-Platz was erected in memory of six opponents of the Nazi regime. It bears the inscription:

In memory of you, as a reminder, victims of fascism 1933–1945 Max Niklas, Kurt Leopold , Paul Weber , Max Neubert , Richard Bock and Milda Schreyer .

The FDGB holiday home named after Max Niklas in the spa town of Bärenfels no longer exists.

literature

• SED district leadership Zschopau - For Peace and Socialism, No. 3, 1969 - Life and struggle of the Ehrenfriedersdorfer anti-fascist Max Niklas
• various documents of the AKuBiZ Pirna
• Paul Börner: Max Niklas - a courageous fighter for the cause of the working class. KZsch, 1961, no. 3, pp. 8-9.
• Horst Rößler : The Ehrenfriedersdorfer memorial stone. In: The homeland friend for the Ore Mountains. 13, 1968, No. 2, p. 28.