Wilhelm Breitmeyer

Wilhelm Breitmeyer (born August 23, 1887 in Gröningen ; † October 6, 1974 ) was a German politician ( KPD ). In 1919 he was city ​​commander of the Bremen Council Republic and from 1919 to 1921 a member of the Bremen citizenship .

biography

Wide Meyer, son of a factory worker, learned after the elementary school the profession of carpenter and went a few years wandering . In 1907 he joined the SPD . In 1917 he joined the USPD and became chairman of the USPD electoral association in Bremen. In the same year Breitmeyer stayed temporarily in Romania to avoid military service and was wanted by the police in Germany.

Breitmeyer returned to Bremen in November 1918 and became a member of the city's workers 'and soldiers' council , which temporarily took power and proclaimed the Bremen council republic. From January 10 to February 4, 1919 Breitmeyer was city commander and member of the Defense Council of the Bremen Soviet Republic. After its failure, Breitmeyer was arrested after a short escape in March 1919, but was released that same year and was elected to the Bremen citizenship for the KPD, to which he belonged until 1921. From 1920 he was also organizational secretary of the KPD Bremen.

Between 1921 and 1933 Breitmeyer worked again as a carpenter and after the transfer of power to the National Socialists in 1933 he was temporarily taken into so-called protective custody and after his release he was obliged to serve in the armaments industry . In February 1945 Breitmeyer was drafted into the German armed forces . At the end of the Second World War , Breitmeyer fell into British captivity in Schleswig-Holstein , from which he was released in July 1945.

Breitmeyer moved to the Soviet occupied zone (SBZ) and settled in Olbernhau in the Ore Mountains , where he was involved in trade union work. In 1946 he became a member of the SED and from March 1947 was the first chairman of the FDGB district committee in Olbernhau.

literature

• 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 ( online ).
• Peter Kuckuk (ed.): The revolution 1918/1919 in Bremen. Articles and documents. Contributions to the social history of Bremen, issue 27. Edition Temmen, Bremen 2010. ISBN 978-3-8378-1001-1 .
• Michael Brauer, Andreas Decker, Christian Schulze: 75 years for and against the Bremen Soviet Republic. Three monuments through the ages and as a reflection of the political climate . Hauschild Verlag, Bremen 1994, ISBN 3-929902-15-X .