Minna Herm

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Minna Herm , called Mia Herm, née Thiele (born March 30, 1906 in Deetz ; † April 7, 1993 in Brandenburg an der Havel ), was a German worker, communist and anti-fascist resistance fighter . In the post-war period she worked as a politician for the SED and from 1946 was one of the first female members of the state parliament in Brandenburg .

Live and act

Mia Herm's father was a carpenter, she had five siblings. After elementary school, she worked as a housemaid, later she was a worker in the Brennabor automobile plant in Brandenburg, then in the toy factory, worsted spinning mill and the packing department of the Kummerlé textile factory. In 1922, at the age of only seventeen, Mia Herm became a member of the trade union, and in 1923 also in the communist youth association and with the Friends of Nature . In 1926 she joined the Red Women and Girls Association , the sister organization of the Red Front Fighters Association, and was a member there until it was banned in 1929. It was there that she met her future husband, Max Herm . After her marriage, she gave up her own gainful employment and became more involved in political work. Their son Günter Herm was born on January 14, 1928 .

In 1929, after the Red Front Fighter League was banned, she joined the KPD . She attended the district party school of the KPD Brandenburg in Liebersee and courses in Berlin . In 1932 she was delegated to study at the International Lenin School of the Communist International in Moscow , which she attended until 1934 under the code name "Minna Galgen". Their return was delayed due to the Nazi seizure of power. From 1934 she worked illegally in the district leadership of the KPD in Halle-Merseburg and Magdeburg . Together with another comrade she printed the magazines Tribüne and Krupp-Prolet, which she also distributed.

Imprisonment 1935–1945

She was arrested by the Gestapo on February 3, 1935 in Magdeburg , sentenced by the People's Court on August 2, 1935 for preparation for high treason to a sentence of 15 years in prison and deported to Jauer women's prison . Her husband Max had already been imprisoned in 1933. Her son Günter was given care to Mia Herm's sister and the household was dissolved.

In prison, Mia Herm was assigned to activities such as feathers and rope plucking. In 1941 she was in charge of the prison library. During this time she met Elsa Fenske and Eva Lippold and made friends with a Czech prisoner.

On January 18, 1945, the women in prison were only inadequately dressed and driven on a death march to Bautzen, which continued to Görlitz , Oslebshausen , Nordenham and finally to the Lübeck-Lauerhof prison . The survivors of this march, including Mia Herm, were liberated by British troops on May 12, 1945. In December 1945 she found her husband after more than twelve years of separation. When she returned to Brandenburg an der Havel in 1945, she reported back to the KPD and was appointed organizational manager of the city district. In October 1945, however, she fell ill with typhus, so that she had to give up this position again.

post war period

After the war, in 1946, Mia Herm joined the SED and worked in the district leadership . She was involved in the district board of the Democratic Women's Association of Germany . In addition, she was elected to the first Brandenburg state parliament in 1946. This made her one of the first female members of the state parliament in Brandenburg: out of a total of 100 members, 18 were women. Else Bauer was vice-president of the state parliament during this legislative period .

In 1949 she became a full-time city ​​councilor for labor and social affairs in Brandenburg an der Havel , also chairwoman of the Central Party Control Commission of the SED and board member of the Association of Victims of the Nazi Regime - Association of Antifascists , as well as city ​​councilor and later secretary .

Honor

On her 75th birthday, in 1981, Mia Herm was awarded the Karl Marx Order of the GDR .

Commemoration

The City Museum Brandenburg honors in the digital special disappointment hope desire also life and political activity of the family Herm in Brandenburg.

literature

  • Günter Pätzold: Fighter in his class. Memories from the life and struggle of Comrade Max Herm and his closest comrades in arms. Potsdam 1974.
  • Wolfgang Kusior: Worker functionary, antifascist, Lord Mayor - in memory of Max Herm . In: Kulturbund der DDR, Gesellschaft für Heimatgeschichte, Potsdam District Board (ed.): Märkische Heimat (=  contributions to the local history of the Potsdam district ). Issue 8. Potsdam 1989, p. 15-38 .
  • Minna Herm . In: UFV Brandenburg e. V. and Lila Archiv e. V. (Ed.): Well-known Brandenburg women . Berlin 2007, pp. 55-56.
  • Rita Pawlowski: Without women, no state can be made ?! In: Kulturland Brandenburg e. V. (Ed.): Courage and grace. Women in Brandenburg-Prussia , Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 2010, ISBN 978-3-7338-0374-2 , pp. 64–65.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Rita Pawlowski: Without women, no state can be made ?! In: Kulturland Brandenburg e. V. (Ed.): Courage and grace: women in Brandenburg-Prussia . Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 2010, ISBN 978-3-7338-0374-2 , pp. 64-65 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Mia Herm. In: sonderausstellung.stadtmuseum-brandenburg.de. City of Brandenburg an der Havel, The Lord Mayor, Department III - Culture, Department 41 - Museum, accessed on March 8, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Günter Herm. In: sonderausstellung.stadtmuseum-brandenburg.de. City of Brandenburg an der Havel, The Lord Mayor, Department III - Culture, Department 41 - Museum, accessed on March 8, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Willi Engels: waiter, cook, communist. Memories (= writings of the German Resistance Memorial Center. Series B: Sources and Testimonies), Lukas Verlag, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86732-209-6 , p. 114, fn. 31
  5. ↑ a b Minna Herm . In: UFV Brandenburg e. V. and Lila Archiv e. V. (Ed.): Well-known Brandenburg women . Berlin 2007, p. 55-56 .
  6. ↑ Portrait of Mia Herm in: Stricken for life. In: New Germany. Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, April 13, 1985, p. 9 , accessed on March 8, 2020 .
  7. ^ Family Herm , in: disappointment hope longing . Digital exhibition of the Brandenburg City Museum 2020
personal data
SURNAME Herm, Minna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thiele, Minna; Herm, Mia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German worker and resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH March 30, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Deetz (Gross Kreutz (Havel))
DATE OF DEATH April 7, 1993
Place of death Brandenburg on the Havel