Walter Kautz

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Walter Kautz (born March 18, 1900 in Spandau near Berlin; † September 28, 1971 in West Berlin ) was a German communist union official and resistance fighter .

Life

Kautz attended elementary school in 1906 and 1914. He then completed 1914-1918 in a machine factory and shipyard in Spandau trained as a machinist . In 1918 Kautz became a member of the German Metalworkers' Association (DMV). In 1918/19 he was organized in the USPD . After he left the party, he organized himself several years later, in 1924, in the KPD , for which he took on various functions. Among other things, he was operations and street cell manager for the KPD and a member of the Berlin-Spandau sub-district management .

From 1929 to 1932 Kautz was chairman of the works council in the company " Orenstein & Koppel ". During this time he was involved in the Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition (RGO), which had a comparatively large influence in the company "Orenstein & Koppel". When the communist union of metal workers in Berlin (EVMB) was founded in November 1930 , Kautz joined this radical union. For the association he became an honorary district manager in Berlin-Spandau .

After the takeover of the Nazis Kautz was one of the driving forces behind the illegal reconstruction of EVMB. In addition to Rudolf Lentzsch , August Bolte , Wilhelm Bielefeld and Oskar Walz , Kautz was a member of the management of the comparatively extensive trade union resistance group. The historian and political scientist Siegfried Mielke states in this context: “In the illegal EVMB organization, more like a network of former EVMB members and officials, Walter Kautz, as one of four instructors, took a leading position. During the preliminary investigations, the Gestapo was even of the opinion that Kautz was the intellectual author of the illegal reorganization. The instructors, who were each responsible for several of Berlin's 18 EVMB districts, together with Rudolf Lentzsch, headed the illegal communist metalworkers' organization. Kautz worked closely with Lentzsch and was responsible for the districts of Berlin-Mitte, Berlin-Südwest, Moabit and Charlottenburg, Siemensstadt-Spandau. In the [later] process he admitted to having carried out coordination tasks between the districts and to have recruited a number of former EVMB members to work, including the EVMB district manager Willi Boremski (Berlin-Mitte), Ludwig Marmulla (Siemensstadt-Spandau) and Johann Hinz , who was used for courier services and the distribution of illegal material. "

Kautz was arrested on December 15, 1933 for his illegal activities. At times he was imprisoned in the Columbia concentration camp . From 5./6. Kautz was imprisoned in Oranienburg concentration camp until January 19, 1934 . This was followed by a pre-trial detention in Berlin-Moabit . On June 19, 1934 Kautz with other EVMB resistance fighters from was Berlin Supreme Court because of "preparing a treasonable enterprise" to a prison road 30-month prison sentenced, he in prison Brandenburg-Gorden was serving. The time of pre-trial detention was counted towards the total detention time.

Even after his release from prison, Kautz is said to have continued to act illegally in the resistance against the Nazi regime . He worked again as a metal worker in Berlin-Spandau.

After the end of the Second World War , Kautz was actively involved in rebuilding the union. Among other things, he became FDGB District Secretary in Berlin-Spandau . For the FDGB, Kautz became an employee of the organization department of the federal board in 1946. The further details of the life path could not be reconstructed. Kautz continued to live in Berlin-Spandau, where he also died.

literature

  • Stefan Heinz , Siegfried Mielke (ed.): Functionaries of the unified association of metal workers in Berlin in the Nazi state. Resistance and persecution (= trade unionists under National Socialism. Persecution - resistance - emigration. Volume 2). Metropol, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86331-062-2 , pp. 24, 30–32, 42, 47, 60, 71, 84, 164, 174–177 (short biography), 178, 208–209, 284 .
  • Stefan Heinz : Moscow's mercenaries? "The Union of Metal Workers in Berlin": Development and failure of a communist union. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-89965-406-6 , pp. 152, 291, 311 f., 324, 368, 376, 385, 453, 457, 466, 473.
  • Stefan Heinz, "Red Association" and resistance group. The Union of Metal Workers in Berlin (1930–1935) . In: information - scientific journal of the study group German Resistance 1933–1945, 42nd year (2017), No. 85, pp. 10–15.
  • Landesarchiv Berlin , inventory C Rep. 118-01, No. 1734 (documents in connection with the recognition as a “victim of fascism”).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Short biography of Siegfried Mielke in the internet exhibition about political prisoners in the Oranienburg concentration camp
personal data
SURNAME Kautz, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German communist union official and resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH March 18, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Spandau near Berlin
DATE OF DEATH September 28, 1971
Place of death West Berlin