Paul Neck

Paul Neck ( Upper Sorbian Pawoł Njek ; born September 19, 1891 in Bautzen ; † August 24, 1944 in Buchenwald concentration camp ) was a German-Sorbian teacher , communist and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

Neck came from a Sorbian working class family. His parents made it possible for him to attend the Catholic teachers' college in Bautzen, which he finished in 1913. In the First World War Neck became a conscientious confiscated. After three years at the front, he returned to his homeland as a staunch opponent of the war. Neck initially joined the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD), but has been a member of the KPD since the unification of the left wing of the USPD with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in December 1920. Neck studied at the University of Leipzig and at the Technical University of Dresden , he completed his studies as a professional school teacher. But his work in the communist student group ( Kostufra ), in the Red Aid of Germany (RHD) and in the Association of Friends of the Soviet Union (BdFSU) had aroused the displeasure of the school authorities. They only admitted him as a substitute teacher and transferred him to another school every year in order to prevent a possible permanent influence on the students. In 1933 he was finally removed from school service by the National Socialists .

Neck joined the resistance. His profession had also introduced him to non-party and social democratic members of the intelligentsia, whom he was now trying to win for the common struggle. He cultivated close relationships in particular with Maria Grollmuß , who belonged to the working group of Revolutionary Socialists . Both organized help for victims and those persecuted by the Nazi regime.

On March 12, 1942, the Gestapo arrested Neck in his apartment. After a few weeks imprisonment in the prisons of Bautzen and Dresden , he was deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp. Here he was involved in the illegal work of political prisoners and participated in the resistance against the SS camp administration. He helped to protect the lives of prisoners at risk from access by the SS. After two years in prison, Neck fell victim to an Anglo-American air raid on the same day as Rudolf Breitscheid .

Honors

• In his hometown of Bautzen, Paul-Neck-Straße is named after him.
• During the GDR era, the youth hostel in Panschwitz-Kuckau was also named after him.

literature

• Luise Kraushaar : German resistance fighters 1933-1945. Biographies and letters. Volume 2. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1970, pp. 5-7.
• Hans-Joachim Fieber (Ed.): Resistance in Berlin against the Nazi regime 1933 to 1945. A biographical lexicon. Volume 5. Trafo-Verlag, Berlin 2005, p. 263.