Resistance group of the Germania bread factory
The resistance group Brotfabrik Germania was at the beginning of the Nazi era , a social-democratic oriented resistor network around the same bread factory in Duisburg-Hamborn . It was created in 1934 and was broken up in 1935.
history
The Social Democrat August Kordahs bought the run-down factory in 1933 and sold baked goods under the name “Kordahs Brot”, also through delivery drivers. He employed numerous unemployed Social Democrats and free trade unionists in the company. These trips seemed to the former SPD party secretary Hermann Runge , who was employed there, as a good cover for building an illegal network. The owner of the factory gave his consent. In addition to Runge, the social democratically oriented teacher Johanna Niederhellmann and the trade unionist Sebastian Dani participated in the conception at the beginning of the summer of 1934 . Dani had already gained experience of distributing illegal documents as a delivery driver.
As a result, the drivers distributed illegal material, organized secret meetings and kept in contact with the responsible SoPaDe border secretary Gustav Ferl . Members of the banned SAJ and the Reichsbanner were involved in the network . The drivers had around 100 regular buyers and distributors of the illegal material. The writings that were distributed openly or covertly called for the overthrow of the regime. In addition, Runge and the former party secretary Ernst Gnoss from Essen collected information for Sopade's Germany reports .
With the economic success of the factory, more vehicles were purchased and the radius of action of the illegal group expanded. The area covered the Lower Rhine to Bonn and Aachen . It reached as far as the Bergisches Land , East Westphalia and Lüdenscheid in the Sauerland .
The individual members of the network mostly only knew the respective contact person. The organization was nevertheless exposed in early 1935. This happened by chance after interrogation after an illegal May Day celebration in Essen-Werden . 200 people were arrested by the Gestapo . According to other reports, such as that of the SoPaDe from 1936, there were even 1,000 people, 600 of whom were indicted before the Hamm Higher Regional Court . Hermann Runge and Johanna Niederhellmann and others were tortured. Four participants in the resistance actions died in custody, allegedly by suicide. In fact, the four miners from Moers died as a result of the torture. The specialists of the KPD department of the Gestapo Düsseldorf were involved in the investigation . The torture was covered up in the Gestapo's interrogation protocols. The eighteen main suspects were sentenced to long prison terms by the People's Court in the so-called bread factory trial in 1936.
In the former bread factory there is now a toy wholesaler.
An exhibition on the resistance group has been running in the building of the former Hamborn train station since October 17, 2013 under the patronage of Duisburg's Lord Mayor Sören Link .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stefan Goch: Struggles for survival of social democratic workers' movement culture. Some examples from Gelsenkirchen. In: Bernd Faulenbach / Günter Högl (ed.): A party in their region. On the history of the SPD in western Westphalia. Essen 1988, p. 132.
- ^ Thomas Gebauer: The KPD department of the Gestapo Düsseldorf. Hamburg 2011, p. 130.
- ↑ Large station in the old station in the WAZ from October 19, 2013, local part Duisburg-Nord
literature
- No to Hitler! Social Democrats and Free Trade Unions in Persecution, Resistance and Exile 1933–1945. Catalog for the exhibition by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. Bonn 2008, plate 19.
- Jürgen Dzudzek: Germania bread factory in Duisburg-Hamborn: A center of resistance against the National Socialist reign of terror in the Rhine-Ruhr area: an example of the work of trade unionists in the resistance. Duisburg 1986.
- Bruno Fischer: Ruhr area 1933–1945: The historical travel guide. Berlin 2009, p. 12f.
