Walter Barth (resistance fighter)

Walter Barth (born November 6, 1911 in Staufen im Breisgau , † early 1945) was a German resistance fighter .

Life

Walter Barth was born the son of a mechanic and trained as a typesetter. In 1926 he joined the Socialist Workers' Youth in Leipzig , and in 1932 he became a member of the KPD .

Because of his participation in the resistance against National Socialism , he was arrested in autumn 1933 and taken into " protective custody " for three months in the Colditz concentration camp . After his release from prison, he continued the resistance and participated again in the production and distribution of communist literature. In September 1934 he was therefore once again by the Gestapo arrested and to four years and four months ' imprisonment sentenced, after the end of this detention, he was in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp deported. There he was assigned to work in the prisoners' library, which enabled him to secure the advice of the management of the KPD camp organization. Since he spoke several languages, he also took on their links to anti-fascist groups of foreign prisoners in the camp.

In October 1944, Walter Barth reported on behalf of his party leadership for a mission in a punitive battalion in order to be able to do anti-fascist educational work among the soldiers. He came to the SS special unit Dirlewanger . He was shot while attempting to join the Red Army .

Honors

• In Leipzig, a youth club in the Sellerhausen-Stünz district and the Walter-Barth-Schule were named after him, and Walter-Barth-Straße has been there since 1962 .
• A feeder trawler of the Artur-Becker series with the fishing identification number ROS 414 was also named.

literature

• Luise Kraushaar et al .: German resistance fighters 1933–1945. Biographies and letters. Dietz-Verlag: Berlin 1970, Volume 2, p. 465