Otto Bergmann (resistance fighter, 1900)

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Otto Bergmann (born April 8, 1900 in Neusalz an der Oder ( Silesia ), † May 8, 1961 in East Berlin ) was a German communist union official and resistance fighter .

Life

Otto Bergmann grew up in a working class family. After attending primary school, he learned the profession of shaper. In 1924 he moved to Berlin and worked first at Ludwig Loewe & Co. AG in Berlin-Moabit , and later at the Hartung & Jachmann AG iron foundry in Berlin-Lichtenberg . Since 1920 Bergmann was organized in the German Metal Workers' Association (DMV). In connection with his commitment to the Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition (RGO), Bergmann had some violent arguments within the DMV. At the beginning of November 1930 he moved from the DMV to the newly founded communist union of metal workers in Berlin (EVMB). The EVMB was hostile to the DMV. In 1931/32 Bergmann took over the management of the EVMB operating section in Hartung & Jachmann AG, where the EVMB had great support. Bergmann was chairman of the works council there in 1932/33. Bergmann had already become a member of the KPD in 1930 .

After the National Socialists came to power, Bergmann became involved in the illegal EVMB. In May 1933 Bergmann was imprisoned for the first time for two months. In November of the same year Bergmann was arrested again. However, since it could not be proven that he had carried out illegal communist propaganda against the Nazi regime, Bergmann was released. On March 30, 1936, the Gestapo arrested Bergmann again. The communist has now been charged with "preparing for high treason" for his involvement in illegal trade union circles. On May 11, 1937, Bergmann was sentenced to two years in prison by the Berlin Court of Appeal. Bergmann served his term in prison in Brandenburg-Görden .

After his release from prison, Bergmann worked as an unskilled worker in the Berlin metal industry. Because of his political past, he couldn't get a good job in the next few years. The Wehrmacht excluded him from military service for political reasons. After the liberation from National Socialism, Bergmann worked as a police officer in East Berlin . Bergmann belonged to the KPD from 1945 and to the SED from 1946 .

Literature / sources

  • Stefan Heinz , Siegfried Mielke (ed.): Functionaries of the unified association of metal workers in Berlin in the Nazi state. Resistance and persecution (= trade unionists under National Socialism. Persecution - resistance - emigration. Volume 2). Metropol, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86331-062-2 , pp. 46, 57 ff. (Short biography).
  • Stefan Heinz : Moscow's mercenaries? "The Union of Metal Workers in Berlin": Development and failure of a communist union. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-89965-406-6 , pp. 368, 454, 472, 528.
  • Stefan Heinz, "Red Association" and resistance group. Der Einheitsverband der Metallarbeiters Berlins (1930–1935) , In: information - Scientific journal of the study group German Resistance 1933–1945, 42nd year (2017), No. 85, pp. 10–15.
  • Landesarchiv Berlin , inventory C Rep. 118-01, No. 855 (documents in connection with recognition as a “victim of fascism”).