Werner Staake

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Werner Staake (born May 28, 1910 in Kamitz ; † August 3, 1995 in Oranienburg ) was a German resistance fighter against National Socialism . He was a party functionary ( SED ), diplomat , member of the People's Chamber of the GDR and director of the Sachsenhausen national memorial .

Life

The son of an accountant completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter and revolver lathe operator after attending elementary school . In 1929 he became a member of the Communist Youth Association (KJVD). He was the organizational leader of the illegal "Red Young Front", the youth organization of the Red Front Fighters Union ( RFB) and since 1931 a member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). At Thälmann's last appearance in Leipzig on April 9, 1932, he was employed as a member of the then illegal RFB to protect Thälmann. After 1933 he did illegal anti-fascist resistance work in the Leipzig-Volkmarsdorf party group , in which his mother and younger sister were also active. Both were later imprisoned for "preparation for high treason". He was imprisoned in the Colditz and Sachsenburg concentration camps. After his release, he went back to work illegally and fled to Denmark. He was expelled and arrested again in 1934. In 1935 he was sentenced to four years in prison for preparing for high treason, which he spent in the Waldheim prison and in the prison camp in Aschendorfer Moor / Emsland . After serving his sentence, he was deported to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp on January 2, 1939 and to the Flossenbürg concentration camp in 1942 . He was liberated by the US Army on April 24, 1945 . Fritz Selbmann had erected a memorial to him in his novel "The Long Night" as second camp elder Walter Bäumler .

In 1945 he helped to build the Leipzig KPD organization and in 1946 became a member of the SED. In 1949 he became cultural director of the VEB Gasoline Works Böhlen. From 1950 to 1954 he was a member of the Kulturbund faction of the Volkskammer and was also the cultural director of the SAG company Kirow-Werke Leipzig . From 1955 to 1962 he worked as Vice-Rector for Student Affairs at the German Academy for Political Science and Law (DASR). From December 1962 to 1965 he was Consul General of the GDR in Gdańsk . In August 1966 he was appointed director of the Sachsenhausen National Memorial and Memorial in place of the late Christian Mahler (until 1976). He was a member of the International Sachsenhausen Committee and the District Committee of the Antifascist Resistance Fighters Potsdam .

Staake last lived in Oranienburg .

Awards

literature

  • Andreas Herbst (eds.), Winfried Ranke, Jürgen Winkler: This is how the GDR worked. Volume 3: Lexicon of functionaries (= rororo manual. Vol. 6350). Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-499-16350-0 , p. 322.
  • Gabriele Baumgartner, Dieter Hebig (Hrsg.): Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ / DDR. 1945–1990 . Volume 2: Maassen - Zylla . KG Saur, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-598-11177-0 , p. 879.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ According to Herbst (1994) and Baumgartner (1996), Staake was born in Kampitz.
  2. ^ Obituary in Neues Deutschland , August 5, 1995
  3. ↑ Neues Deutschland , June 12, 1982, p. 13.
  4. ^ Portrait in Neues Deutschland , September 21, 1985, p. 9.
personal data
SURNAME Staake, Werner
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Staake, Max-Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German resistance fighters against National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Kamitz
DATE OF DEATH August 3, 1995
Place of death Oranienburg