Wilhelm Bielefeld

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Wilhelm Bielefeld (born February 7, 1899 in Danzig , † November 28, 1979 in East Berlin ) was a German communist union official and resistance fighter .

Life

Bielefeld attended elementary school. He then completed an apprenticeship as a revolver lathe operator . From 1917 he was a soldier in the First World War . In 1918 he was taken prisoner by the French. He was only released in 1920. After that, Bielfeld was unemployed for several years. In the early 1920s he became a member of the KPD . At the same time he was unionized in the German Metal Workers Association (DMV). At Bergmann-Elektricitäts-Werke AG in Berlin-Wedding (Seestrasse), the workers elected him as chairman of the works council in 1927.

Because of his commitment to the Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition (RGO), Bielfeld was excluded from the DMV in 1929. At the beginning of November 1930 Bielefeld was one of the co-founders of the communist union of metal workers in Berlin (EVMB). In 1931 he took over the district management for the association in Berlin-Wedding. In addition, he was initially a member of the extended and, from 1932, the narrower board of the EVMB.

After the takeover of the Nazis to Bielefeld engaged in resistance. In addition to Rudolf Lentzsch , Walter Kautz , August Bolte and Oskar Walz , Bielefeld was one of the most important functionaries of the illegal EVMB, which was one of the most important trade union resistance groups in the initial phase of the Nazi regime. As an instructor for the illegal EVMB, he was responsible for the association districts of Reinickendorf-West , Gesundbrunnen , Wedding and Reinickendorf-Ost . The political scientist and historian Siegfried Mielke writes with regard to Bielefeld's tasks in the illegal trade union group: “In addition to coordination tasks between the districts, Bielefeld recruited the later EVMB liaisons Karl Bienert , Johnnie Hagge and Albert Schamedatus for the illegal work of the EVMB. He also organized the construction of new cells and the distribution of illegal publications such as the 'EVMB information material'. He also coordinated the sale of postage stamps and, last but not least, the delivery of reports from the companies and stamp offices. The EVMB management was particularly interested in whether the factories were producing war material. Furthermore, the association management wanted information about the employment relationships and the activities of the NS trust councils. "

The Gestapo arrested Bielefeld on December 12, 1933 . After interrogation, he was imprisoned for several weeks in the Columbia and Oranienburg concentration camps. He then came into custody in Berlin-Moabit . The Fourth Criminal Senate of the Berlin Court of Appeal sentenced Bielefeld to two years' imprisonment for “preparation for high treason”, which had to be spent in prison . Bielefeld, who was described as one of the ringleaders of the illegal organization, spent his imprisonment in the Brandenburg-Görden prison .

After being released from custody, Bielefeld was under police supervision. He found a new job difficult. In 1944 he was drafted into a criminal division of the Wehrmacht. In the spring of 1945, Bielefeld in France was taken prisoner by the US.

After being released from captivity in July 1946, Bielefeld returned to Berlin. He joined the SED and the Free German Trade Union Federation (FDGB). Initially, he worked as a clerk at the Berlin-Wedding district office. In 1947 he accepted a position as a full-time secretary of the IG Metall of the FDGB of Greater Berlin, for which he worked for years.

Literature / sources

  • 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, 42–43, 46, 60–63 (short biography), 65 ff., 84, 87, 162, 204–205 .
  • 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. 151 f., 291, 312, 324, 368, 373, 440, 451, 466 ff. 528.
  • Stefan Heinz, "Red Association" and resistance group. Der Einheitsverband der Metallarbeiters Berlins (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. 1809 (documents in connection with 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 Bielefeld, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German communist resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH February 7, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Danzig
DATE OF DEATH November 28, 1979
Place of death East Berlin