Rosa Thalmann

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Rosa Thalmann (1920)
Rosa Thälmann (1951)

Rosa Thälmann , née Koch (born March 27, 1890 in Bargfeld near Hamburg , † September 21, 1962 in Berlin ) was the wife of the politician Ernst Thälmann .

origin

Coming from a poor background, Rosa Koch was the eighth of ten children of a shoemaker . Even before starting school, she and the other siblings had to contribute to the family's livelihood. She worked in the surrounding fields, looked after the toddler of a host family and worked in their kitchen. When she was fourteen she worked in a manor house. Three years later she got a job in Hamburg, which she quit after a short time. Then she worked as a tiller in the large laundry "Frauenlob". Here she met her future husband Ernst Thalmann, who worked as a coachman in the same laundry. Ernst Thälmann taught her the basics of politics, gave her access to relevant brochures and convinced her to become a member of the union . Ernst Thälmann and Rosa Koch married in 1915; Their daughter Irma Thälmann was born on November 6, 1919 .

time of the nationalsocialism

On March 5, 1933, Rosa Thälmann found out that her husband had been arrested on March 3. She traveled to Berlin and was allowed to visit Thalmann every three weeks in the Moabit prison . In this way and with the help of cash register , the leadership of the KPD maintained contact with Thälmann. In October 1937 Rosa Thälmann wrote a letter to Hermann Göring in which she demanded decisive easing of the prison sentence for her husband. In Hamburg she broke into the Hotel Atlantic in order to deliver this letter to Goring herself. From Christmas 1937, she and her husband were allowed to stay alone in his cell.

After her courier was arrested in March 1939 while crossing the border, the financial means for her maintenance were not available . From November 1939 she tried in vain to get help for herself and her husband at the Soviet embassy in Berlin . At the end of 1939 Rosa Thälmann received another money from the KPD through Ruth Werner . In April 1944 Irma Thälmann and in May Rosa Thälmann were arrested. In September 1944 both came to the Ravensbrück women's concentration camp , with Irma being deported to the Neubrandenburg satellite camp. The women stayed there until the end of World War II .

Post-war period and GDR

For the SED she became a member of the People's Chamber (1950), a member of the Presidium of the Committee of Anti-Fascist Resistance Fighters and a member of the Presidium of the Democratic Women's Association of Germany . It gained no political or social influence worth mentioning. In 1959, Rosa Thälmann gave the opening speech for the Ravensbrück memorial and memorial site , where she spoke regularly at memorial events.

tomb

Her urn was buried in the memorial of the socialists in the central cemetery Friedrichsfelde in Berlin-Lichtenberg , where a plaque commemorates Ernst Thälmann.

Stumbling block

On February 20, 2018, Stolpersteine ​​were laid for Rosa, Ernst and Irma Thälmann in Singen . Irma Thälmann married her childhood friend Heinrich Vester in June 1940 . She lived with him from December 1941 at Rielasinger Strasse 180, where she was arrested on April 15, 1944 and taken to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Rosa Thälmann also lived with her daughter in Singen for a few months.

literature

Web links

Commons : Rosa Thälmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The story lives next door , Südkurier , February 9, 2018
  2. ↑ Stumbling blocks laid for the Thälmann family - Justice Minister Maas rejects Gedeon's criticism
personal data
SURNAME Thalmann, Rosa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician, MdV, wife of Ernst Thälmann
DATE OF BIRTH March 27, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Bargfeld near Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH September 21, 1962
Place of death Berlin