Otto Heinig

Otto Heinig (born February 28, 1898 in Altenburg ; † December 26, 1952 ) was a German politician ( KPD / SED ) and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

Heinig was born in Altenburg as the son of a crockery guide. He had 18 siblings, but only eleven of them survived. He moved to Borna with his parents and siblings in 1904 , as the lignite mines offered better income opportunities. From 1904 to 1912 he attended the community school ("Dinterschule") there. Due to his good academic performance, he should also take up the teaching profession on the advice of his teachers. However, the parents could not finance any studies. After leaving school, Heinig worked in agriculture and later in industry and as a miner .

In 1919 Heinig joined the union and in 1920 took an active part in the fighting against the Kapp putschists in Borna. In 1922 he became a member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). From 1924 to 1931 he was a city councilor for the KPD in Borna. In 1930 the KPD appointed him political secretary and sub-district leader in Borna. Heinig then exercised this function from 1931 to 1933 in Bautzen and from 1933 in Leipzig .

After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists , he continued to work illegally for the KPD. On May 14, 1933, the KPD district leadership in Saxon Switzerland held a meeting on the fire . In addition to Heinig, Karl Ferlemann , Kurt Kretzschmar , Rudolf Lindau , Widmayer, Oskar Plenge , Martin Schneider and Willy Mehlhorn also took part. In September 1933 the previous KPD district of Saxony was restructured according to the requirements of the illegal struggle. The district lines of Chemnitz, Dresden, Leipzig and Zwickau-Plauen were established. In addition to Heinig, the Dresden district management also included Rolf Axen , Rudolf Lindau, Gerhard Dürlich and others. Heinig was arrested in Dresden on January 5, 1934 and later sentenced to two years and nine months in prison for preparing for high treason . He was imprisoned in the Sachsenburg and Sachsenhausen concentration camps. Dismissed in April 1939, he then worked in road construction. In 1944 he was pressed into the 999 penalty battalion .

After the war he was taken prisoner by the US . In 1947 he was released and returned to his home in Saxony. After his return he immediately took on responsible functions for the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED): from 1947 to 1948 he was secretary of the city administration, then until 1949 district secretary of the SED in Borna. Heinig was also a member of the district block committee and was a city ​​councilor in Borna. In 1949 the comrades in the Espenhain combine elected him to be secretary of their factory party organization. However, as a result of the long and heavy imprisonment, his health deteriorated. Heinig died at Christmas 1952 at the age of 54.

Honors

• According to him are Otto-Heinig Street and the Otto-Heinig Stadium in Espenhain named.
• The Otto-Heinig Street in Borna was after turning in Theodor-Storm-Straße renamed.

literature

• Arthur Skur: Walks through Borna and the history of the city . Borna district management of the Kulturbund der DDR, Borna 1982, p. 49.
• Socialist Unity Party of Germany. District management Borna. Commission for traditional work (ed.): Antifascist resistance fighters, party and workers veterans of the Borna district . Borna 1986, p. 22.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fritz Kriegenherdt: For the unit of action of the working class against fascism: The establishment of the fascist terror regime and the beginning of the anti-fascist resistance struggle in Dresden in 1933 . In: Yearbook on the history of Dresden (1983). Pp. 34-42 (here, p. 41).