Werner Kowalski (resistance fighter)

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Werner Kowalski (born January 8, 1901 in Lüdenscheid ; † July 1, 1943 in Bassy / France ) was a German politician ( KPD ), communist resistance fighter against National Socialism , political publicist and helper for those persecuted by the Nazi regime.

Life

Kowalski attended elementary school and then learned the trade of bookbinder . After it was founded, he joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and, with her mandate, became a city ​​councilor for Lüdenscheid. Kowalski was politically active against the emergence of National Socialism . Even after the transfer of power to the NSDAP in 1933, he continued the resistance illegally. He was taken into " protective custody " by the Gestapo in the period 1933/34 . In 1935 he fled to Belgium with his wife Charlotte nee Gruterich and their daughter Helma . Daughter Helma was stripped of her German citizenship there. From Belgium he organized aid for families of persecuted communists. In particular to the victims of the " Wuppertal trade union trials ", in which more than 650 people were indicted in 1935, whose names e. Some of the prisoners were squeezed out by excessive torture , he drew the world's attention. He wrote numerous newspaper articles based on collected bulletins and leaflets , which were published in important newspapers in Europe and North America. With reports in The Times , in the Daily Herald , in the Petit Parisien , in the Populaire , in the L'Ami du Peuple , in the Basler Nationalzeitung , in the Spanish Politica , but also in newspapers in the Netherlands , Czechoslovakia , Denmark , Sweden and Norway was reported on the processes and solidarity actions were initiated against it . As a result of this public relations work, letters and declarations of protest were also sent to the Nazi authorities. When the so-called Brussels Conference of the KPD in October 1935 updated the resolutions of the 7th Comintern meeting, Werner Kowalski was one of the delegates . Due to internal party disputes, Kowalski was expelled from the KPD in 1938. He fled to France, was caught and imprisoned there, but managed to escape. During this escape he was shot dead by an SS commando , according to another account by the Gestapo. His wife Charlotte and their daughter continued to live as emigrants from 1936 to 1942 . After their return to Germany they were recognized as victims of the Nazi regime (VdN).

literature

  • Dietmar Simon: Code name Dobler. The life of Werner Kowalski. 1st edition. Agenda-Verlag, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-89688-226-0 .
  • Dietmar Simon: Werner Kowalski. Life, flight and death of a communist functionary. In: Hermann Weber u. a. (Ed.): Yearbook for historical communism research 2003. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2003, pp. 320–337.
  • Hermann Weber , Andreas Herbst : German communists. Biographical Handbook 1918 to 1945 . 2nd, revised and greatly expanded edition. Dietz, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-320-02130-6 ( Kowalski (Dobler), Werner [accessed December 29, 2012]).

Research work

  • At a ceremony on June 6, 2007, Dietmar Simon, a researcher on Werner Kowalski's biography, was awarded the prize for Westphalian regional studies . At the end, the honoree gave a lecture on the topic: “Life paths between province and metropolis. Biographical discoveries in the history of the town of Lüdenscheid in the 20th century ”. This lecture about the life paths of Werner Kowalski and other resistance activists received a lot of attention. It was also published in the Lüdenscheider Geschichtsbl Blätter, which appear under the title Der Reidemeister .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Lüdenscheider Memorial Book for the Victims of Persecution and War of the National Socialists 1933–1945. (PDF; 8.7 MB) Lüdenscheid 2007, accessed August 5, 2011
  2. ^ The expatriation of German citizens 1933–45 according to the lists published in the Reichsanzeiger. De Gruyter, New York 2010, ISBN 978-3-11-095062-5 (e-book)
  3. ↑ 70 years of Wuppertal trade union processes - public relations and international solidarity. Retrieved August 5, 2011
  4. ↑ 70 years of the Wuppertal trade union processes - The Brussels Conference. Retrieved August 5, 2011
  5. ↑ Dietmar Simon: code name Dobler: the life of Werner Kowalski (1901-1943). Agenda-Verlag, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-89688-226-0 .
  6. ↑ Life paths between the province and the metropolis.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) In: The Reidemeister. No. 172, November 8, 2007, accessed August 5, 2011@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.ghv-luedenscheid.de  
personal data
SURNAME Kowalski, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German resistance fighters under National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH January 8, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Ludenscheid
DATE OF DEATH July 1, 1943
Place of death Bassy , France