Oskar Debus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oskar Debus (born November 3, 1886 in Elberfeld , † December 17, 1942 in Brandenburg an der Havel ) was a German functionary of the consumer cooperative and at the time of National Socialism co-founder of the resistance group German Popular Front .

Life

Stolperstein , Josef-Orlopp-Strasse 50, in Berlin-Lichtenberg

After attending elementary school, he completed a commercial apprenticeship. He then worked as a commercial clerk. In 1905 he became a member of the free trade union central association of employees . At times he was an employee of the Elberfeld city administration and worked as an accountant. Since 1911 he was also a member of the SPD . Between 1918 and 1922 he was managing director of the Saale consumer association in Schwarza . Between 1925 and 1927 he worked as managing director of the Greiz consumer association and then in the same position in Velten . In 1933 he was also head of department at the Berlin consumer cooperative based in Lichtenberg . The management in Lichtenberg and Velten were brought together by him.

He was arrested in connection with the Köpenick Blood Week and imprisoned in the Meißnerhof camp near Velten . He was later transferred to the Oranienburg concentration camp and mistreated while in detention. After his release he had to leave Velten and lived in the house of the consumer cooperative in Lichtenberg. Because he was accused of inciting the residents of the house, he was given notice of the apartment. The experience of the National Socialist rule led him to approach the resistance . In 1936 he met the left-wing socialist Otto Brass . Together with Hermann Brill , Franz Petrich , the former MP Johannes Kleinspehn and others, they formed the so-called ten-point or popular front group. It was an attempt to gather social democratic and socialist opponents of the regime. The group usually met in Debus's apartment to work out the ten-point program in which they outlined ideas for a democratic German society after the fall of the Nazi regime. These ideas were secretly carried to friends of Brill and Debus inside and outside Berlin . There were contacts not only with communists, but also with the New Beginning . This collaboration resulted in other resistant writings.

The group was exposed and Debus was arrested in September 1938. His daughter Ilse and son Willi Debus were also briefly imprisoned. In July 1939, the People's Court sentenced Debus to five years in prison for preparation for high treason . He was imprisoned in the Brandenburg ad Havel penal institution . Appeals for clemency from his daughter Ilse because of his deteriorating health were unsuccessful. Debus died in 1942 as a result of torture and conditions of imprisonment. Since 2010, a stumbling block in Lichtenberg has been reminding of Debus.

literature

  • Lexicon of the German Resistance . Frankfurt am Main, 2001 pp. 195, 341

Web links

Commons : Oskar Debus  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lichtblitze October 2010  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 158 kB)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / seidel-kalmutzki.de  
personal data
SURNAME Debus, Oskar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Elberfeld
DATE OF DEATH December 17, 1942
Place of death Brandenburg on the Havel