Paul Othma

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Paul Othma (born November 14, 1905 in Radzionkau , Province of Silesia , † June 20, 1969 in Brehna ) was an electrician and one of the strike leaders in the popular uprising on June 17, 1953 in the German Democratic Republic . He was sentenced to 12 years in prison. In September 1964, Othma, seriously ill, was ransomed by the federal government and released six months earlier from custody at his former place of residence, but was not rehabilitated posthumously until August 21, 2001.

Life

Paul Othma, son of a master painter, learned the electrical trade and worked from 1921 to 1941 in the Bitterfeld electrical works, then in the Dessau Junkers factories . After the war he made in his five kilometers from Bitterfeld remote town Sandersdorf as a radio and TV technician independently, but the high taxes for self-employed forced him to give up his business. In March 1953 he found work again as an electrician in the Bitterfeld electrochemical combine .

The strike leader Paul Othma

On the morning of June 17, 1953 , he was elected spokesman for the Bitterfeld strike committee. Othma tried to contain violence and demanded free elections and the release of political prisoners in front of the 30,000 to 50,000 demonstrators in the city center. The demands of the Bitterfeld strikers were directed against the SED dictatorship and included fundamental political changes.

Sentencing and imprisonment

Three days after the suppressed popular uprising, Paul Othma was arrested and in November 1953 “for a crime under Article 6 d. Author [assung] d. GDR ” sentenced to twelve years in prison. In addition, his entire property was confiscated and half of his house at Freiligrathstrasse 34 was confiscated. His wife Hedwig was therefore destitute and was dependent on family support. During the interrogation in the Roter Ochse remand prison in Halle, Othma did not distance herself from the strikers' demands. His efforts to retrial, pardon and custody failed. He was accused of continuing to be convinced of his innocence: In the prisons of Coswig , Torgau and Waldheim , Othma always emphasized that he had campaigned for the democratization of the GDR without violence. His mother died while he was in detention and he was not allowed to attend her funeral. On September 1, 1964, six months before the end of his sentence, he was ransomed by the federal government; However, the GDR authorities refused to leave the country. Othma was not informed of his ransom and was released from the Brandenburg penitentiary to his former place of residence.

After discharge

A doctor predicted that the terminally ill with cirrhosis of the liver would only live another six months. His wife, whom he affectionately called Hedy, cared for him at home. Despite the fact that he did not get a business license, he repaired radios and televisions again.

Paul Othma died on June 20, 1969 and was buried in the cemetery in Sandersdorf.

Commemoration

On June 17, 1999, the memory of Paul Othma was the focus of an event organized by the Federal Agency for Civic Education in the Walther-Rathenau-Gymnasium Bitterfeld. 50 years after the popular uprising, Hedwig Othma, who had left the GDR as a pensioner, was able to unveil a memorial plaque for him at the Bitterfeld town hall. On June 17, 2003, the sports and community center in his home town of Sandersdorf was renamed "Paul Othma House".

literature

  • Stefanie Wahl, Paul Werner Wagner (ed.): The Bitterfeld uprising. June 17, 1953 and Germany policy . Events - contemporary witnesses - analyzes. Leipzig: Forum Verlag 2003. ISBN 978-3-931-801-30-4
  • Heidemarie Schmidt, Paul Werner Wagner: "... you have to come to terms with your rights ...". Paul Othma - strike leader on June 17, 1953 in Bitterfeld . "Contributions in kind" series, No. 17. Magdeburg: The state commissioner for the records of the State Security Service of the former GDR in Saxony-Anhalt 2001. for download - contains many letters from prison as well as court and Stasi documents.
  • Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk:  Othma, Paul . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Short biography
  2. ^ Activities of Paul Othma
  3. ^ Bitterfeld telegram to the government of the GDR
  4. ^ Wölbern, Jan Philipp: The release of prisoners from the GDR, 1962 / 63-1990. Between human trafficking and humanitarian action. Göttingen 2014, pp. 243–244.
personal data
SURNAME Othma, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German workers, strike leader in the popular uprising of June 17, 1953
DATE OF BIRTH November 14, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Radzionkau
DATE OF DEATH 20th June 1969
Place of death Brehna