Peter Bielenberg

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Peter Heinrich Bielenberg (born December 13, 1911 in Hamburg ; † March 12, 2001 in Wexford , Ireland) was a German-Irish farmer, lawyer and resistance fighter against National Socialism.

Live and act

Peter Bielenberg was the son of the Hamburg lawyer Paul Herrmann Bielenberg. From 1930 he studied law at the University of Hamburg and the University of Munich and completed his studies after six semesters with the first state examination. Early on, he was seen as a person who was not ready to adapt and who questioned authorities.

In 1934 he married the London- born Anglo-Irish Christabel Bielenberg , née Burton, who studied singing in Hamburg. The marriage took place against the wishes of both parents.

Bielenberg criticized the emerging National Socialism early on and refused to take an oath on Adolf Hitler during his clerkship in 1934 . His criticism was initially not based primarily on political views, but took place because he recognized emerging injustice and viewed the ideals of humanism as suppressed. In the following period he protested publicly against the National Socialists.

In 1934 Bielenberg made the acquaintance of Adam von Trott zu Solz in a house of the Warburg family in Blankenese . He became his best friend, aroused his interest in politics and advised him to give up the law firm he had taken over from his father in 1938 and move to Berlin . Bielenberg followed the advice and took on management positions in the public service as well as in the fishing and aviation industries in Berlin. In Berlin he exchanged ideas with other resistance fighters, including Helmuth James Graf von Moltke and Carl Langbehn . Since his apartment was considered bug-proof, it repeatedly served as a meeting point for the Kreisau Circle . Together with Trott, he asked American and British politicians for support for German oppositionists. In addition, both tried to convince those around Hitler that the Allies were ready to wage war. About the attitude of many Hamburg citizens to this, Bielenberg later said that he did not know a single Hamburg citizen who had supported him in the resistance against Adolf Hitler.

After the start of the Barbarossa company in 1941, Bielenberg stated that he internally distanced himself from the resistance movement. Bielenberg said he was disappointed with German generals who carried out Hitler's expansion policy despite strong resentment. However, he remained in close contact with the Kreisau Circle and supported the group financially and legally.

After the assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944 , about which Bielenberg had not been informed in advance, he was betrayed by his secretary and taken to the Ravensbrück concentration camp as part of the investigation . Here he was supposed to reveal information about resistance fighters who were friends with him. During visits to his wife's detention center, the couple were able to exchange information through skillful and daring actions, including a document hidden in a matchbox that contained information about their contacts. After his release from prison in February 1945, Bielenberg hid in the Black Forest .

After the end of World War II

After the end of the Second World War, Bielenberg decided against a presumably successful continuation of his professional career in Germany. The family took the decision to emigrate, which had already been discussed in the 1930s. Because his wife had excellent contacts, Bielenberg was the first German to receive an entry permit in Great Britain after the end of the war . In 1947 Bielenberg moved to Ireland with his family . Here he worked as a farmer and developed the run-down Munny farm in Tullow . The estate developed into a meeting place for the bereaved family members of the resistance fighters who were hanged after the assassination attempt on July 20, 1944.

reception

Bielenberg's wife Christabel described the experiences during the time of National Socialism in her later film, When I was German: 1934 to 1945 - An English woman tells.

Newspaper obituaries called Bielenberg a "model democrat"; Clarita von Trott zu Solz described him as “reliable, clever, brave to the point of recklessness, ready to risk the life not only for his friends but also for his fellow citizens”.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ quoted from: Clarita von Trott zu Solz: He was a gentleman . In: Die Welt , April 7, 2001; Obituary for Peter Bielenberg
personal data
SURNAME Bielenberg, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bielenberg, Peter Heinrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Irish farmer, lawyer and resistance fighter against National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH December 13, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH March 12, 2001
Place of death Wexford , Ireland