Rudolf Gebauer (resistance fighter)

Rudolf "Rudi" Gebauer (born July 19, 1903 in Gersdorf , Amtshauptmannschaft Pirna ; † December 10, 1938 in Dresden ) was a German local politician ( KPD ) and resistance fighter against the Nazi regime .

Life

Gebauer learned the trade of gardener , but then worked for many years as a chemical worker in the Rütgerswerke in Dohna . He later worked as a construction worker at the Gerstenberger and Döhler company in Dresden. In 1921 he joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). In Dohna he was chairman of the KPD and city councilor. At the end of 1932 he initiated joint actions by the two workers' parties, KPD and SPD, against the approaching National Socialism.

After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists in 1933, Gebauer continued to work illegally for the KPD. Together with Kurt Schmidt and Erhard Wiedrich from the KPD local group Dohna, Gebauer put slogans on houses and fences in Dohna and the surrounding area on the night of February 7, 1933 - just a week after Adolf Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor, such as: “Out on the general strike!” And “Down with Hitler!”.

With party friends, he helped bring comrades at risk from Germany to Czechoslovakia . They also brought leaflets and other party material printed in Czechoslovakia to Germany. In July 1933 Gebauer was arrested with leaflets while crossing the border in Rugiswalde and brought to the Hohnstein concentration camp. Here he was badly mistreated by the SA . His face was bruised beyond recognition. In the camp, Gebauer made contact with comrades from Heidenau, Bruno Gleißberg , Robert Müller and Emil Schemmel . They discussed future illegal work here.

After his release in January 1934, Gebauer immediately resumed illegal work. A resistance group was formed around him. His group included: Anna Hirsch , Alwin Höntzsch , Emil Schemmel , Arthur Schirmer , Bruno Ziesche and Heinrich Flegel . The Gebauer group made merits in the years 1936 to 1938 in organizing illegal work in the Dohna - Heidenau area . She also had extensive connections to illegally working comrades in the Pirna district, in Dresden, in Czechoslovakia and to the KPD's foreign leadership in Prague . The members of the Gebauer group also collected funds to finance their own work and to support the comrades living in the emigration and their relatives.

In February 1936, the border sub-section leader of the KPD, Camillo Hölzel, established a connection with Gebauer through a courier. In the apartment of comrade Rudolf Peschina in Niedereinsiedel in northern Bohemia , a consultation about the continuation of the illegal work took place. In March the two met again there, Gebauer received further instructions for the illegal work of the KPD in the Pirna-Heidenau-Dohna area. In the summer, the illegal party organization led by Gebauer established contact with Fritz Ehrlich in Pirna. Gebauer met up with Hölzel again, this time in Rumburg . There he also informed the representative of the foreign leadership of the KPD for the Red Aid, Jacob Binder , about the illegal party work. In addition to the regular meetings between Hölzel and Gebauer, couriers took care of the exchange of information. They also delivered illegal literature to Gebauer, including small-format writings on thin paper and in bags as “Dr. Oetker's baking powder “camouflaged. In December 1936, the funds collected by the Gebauer group to support the comrades living in emigration were settled with Hölzel.

At Easter 1937 Gebauer met again with Camillo Hölzel in Rumburg. Adolf Schilling and another comrade from Prague also attended this meeting . They advised the continuation of the illegal work. In the summer of 1937 Gebauer initiated a consultation in the apartment of comrade Walter Hauptvogel from Pirna with Arthur Schirmer from Dohna and Karl Täubrich from Pirna. In the spring of 1938 Gebauer took part in the illegal consultation near the Lugschänke near Heidenau. He spoke about the political situation, especially about the imminent danger of war. In addition to Gebauer, comrades Anton Kiseloff and Arthur Schirmer from Dohna, Emil Schemmel from Heidenau and Walter Schmiedel from Pirna-Zusendorf also took part in the consultation . On July 17, 1938, Gebauer and Schirmer consulted with a new courier for the KPD border section management on Feistenberg near Pirna. They received further instructions from him for illegal party work.

On September 27, 1938, Gebauer was arrested again by the Gestapo and murdered on December 10, 1938 in Dresden police headquarters . From the trial documents it can be seen that Gebauer, although subjected to inhuman interrogations, remained silent.

Honors

• Gebauer's name can be found on the memorial for the “Victims of Fascism” inaugurated in September 1952 on the market in Dohna.
• In October 1981, the Dohna City Council installed a plaque for Gebauer on his former home in Dohna, Pestalozzistraße 7.
• A street in Dohna was also named after him.

literature

• Author collective: Chronicle 1933–1945. On the history of the anti-fascist resistance struggle on the territory of the former Pirna administration . Socialist Unity Party of Germany, district leadership Pirna, committee of anti-fascist resistance fighters of the GDR district committee Pirna / Sebnitz 1983.
• District leadership of the SED Pirna, Commission for the Investigation of the history of the local labor movement (ed.): Memorials, monuments, memorials and Mahnstätten the labor movement and the anti-fascist resistance movement in the circle Pirna . 2nd revised edition, Pirna 1984.
• Ulrike Puvogel, Martin Stankowski: Memorials for the Victims of National Socialism. Documentation II: Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Thuringia . Federal Agency for Civic Education, Bonn 2000, p. 642.

Web links

• Memorial plaque for Rudolt Gebauer on the memorial site side.