Peter Paffenholz

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Peter Josef Paffenholz (born February 17, 1900 in Cologne , † August 23, 1959 in Remscheid ) was a German artist and local politician.

Life

Paffenholz was born in Cologne and grew up as one of four children in the north of Cologne, the Eigelstein district . In 1909 the father died and the family got into economic hardship. In 1914 he began an apprenticeship in a photographic studio, which he was unable to finish because he was called up towards the end of the war. In 1923 he published his first work, a series of woodcuts as an illustration for Oskar Wilde's “Prison Ballade”. In 1924 he married Anna Maria Lossen, who had two children from his first marriage. With her he has a daughter. He was an artist and a member of the “ group of progressive artists ”, where he also got in touch with the artists Heinrich Hoerle and Franz Wilhelm Seiwert . Paffenholz worked as an illustrator for "WERAG", the Westdeutsche Rundfunk AG magazine . In 1926 he joined the KPD and illustrated their leaflets and publications. For the "Blue Blouses", a political revue in the Theater Groß-Köln , Paffenholz occasionally directed and drew on stage. He was also active in urban politics and as a city councilor. For his sister Anna Maria Paffenholz (born December 25, 1902, poet), with whom he maintained very close contact, he made the image cuts for one of her volumes of poetry (Votum, Zwölf Gedichte, Cologne, Bibliophile Gesellschaft, 1941). In return, she dedicated one of her poems to him in 1946: "To the artist" ... my brother. In 1953, his seriously ill wife died and a year later he married again, Maria Magdalena Elmpt, who brought three daughters into the marriage. At the age of 55 he becomes a father again. Both biological daughters later become artists, like their father. A painting by him showing Saint Norbert is in St. Norbert , Cologne-Dellbrück (dated 1958, see inventory measure St. Norbert Cologne-Dellbrück i. A. Archbishopric Cologne 2015, Historical Archive of the Archdiocese of Cologne , edited by Martina Junghans).

persecution

In March 1933, the National Socialists arrested the artist and held him in “ protective custody ” for two months . In Klingelpütz imprisoned, painted Paffenholz his cell. He was further harassed in the following years with interrogations, house searches and an occupational ban. He also lost his job at Westdeutsche Rundfunk AG . In order to continue to earn money, he continued to paint under his wife's maiden name, Lossen. In August 1944, after the assassination attempt on Hitler as part of the Gewitter campaign, he was arrested and sent to the Cologne Gestapo prison EL-DE-Haus . From there, he and other former politicians of democratic parties (including Konrad Adenauer , Thomas Eßer , Josef Baumhoff , Peter Schlack , Otto Gerig and Joseph Roth ) were transferred to the labor education camp in the exhibition halls in Cologne-Deutz, but released after a few weeks . Contact remained with Roth (whose wife was largely related through her father Georg Paffenholz), who also wrote him letters after he was released from the concentration camp.

consequences

The war and its consequences made the communist, according to his daughter's statement, a deeply religious Catholic. After 1945 he withdrew from politics. Although Paffenholz was badly health and mentally damaged, he fought for recognition as a politically persecuted person. Despite the subsequent recognition of compensation, the authorities decided not to grant him the payment until he was 60 years old. An objection to this decision in 1952 was unsuccessful. He could no longer benefit from the compensation because he died at the age of 59.

literature

  • Jürgen Müller: "Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome ..." Political Review - Cabaret - Varieté in Cologne 1928–1938 . Cologne 2008, pp. 92-98.
  • Günter Bers: “A regional division of the KPD. The Middle Rhine District and its party congresses in 1927/1929 “ Einhorn Presse Verlag, Reinbek b. Hamburg 1981, ISBN 3-88756-021-3 , pp. 170-171

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to the Cologne address book from 1899, the house was "Eigelstein 103" at the corner "Im Stavenhof" and belonged to the family.
  2. ^ Günter Bers: A regional structure of the KPD. Einhorn Presse Verlag, Reinbek b. Hamburg 1981, ISBN 3-88756-021-3 , p. 170
  3. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.museenkoeln.de
  4. ^ Günter Bers: A regional structure of the KPD. Einhorn Presse Verlag, Reinbek b. Hamburg 1981, ISBN 3-88756-021-3 , pp. 170, 243 and 244
  5. ↑ in: von Kleines Dingen, 1946, pp. 12/13
  6. ^ Victim compensation application to the district office of Gummersbach of October 6, 1945. District government Düsseldorf, files of reparation.
personal data
SURNAME Paffenholz, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Paffenholz, Peter Josef (full name); Paffenholz, Peter Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German artist and local politician
DATE OF BIRTH 17th February 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH 23rd August 1959
Place of death Remscheid