Wilhelm Grönke

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Wilhelm Grönke (born July 5, 1896 - † October 29, 1986 in Saarbrücken ) became head of the naval security service in Frankfurt am Main as a 22-year-old during the November Revolution .

Life

Wilhelm Grönke comes from a family of merchants who moved to Frankfurt-Bockenheim shortly before . His place of birth is either in Italy or in Italian-speaking Switzerland, as can be seen from the birth telegram in the Institute for Urban History in Frankfurt am Main .

Wilhelm Grönke attended the Wöhlerschule and was a middle distance player at Germania Bockenheim and Frankfurt 1880 e. V. active. In 1914 he registered as a war volunteer and was drafted into the 21st Pioneer Battalion in Mainz . On November 1, 1914, after successfully completing a patrol, he was the first to receive the Iron Cross in Frankfurt .

On November 17, 1914, he was wounded and in the spring of 1916 he was appointed as an applicant at the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven . In 1917 he was given another leave to heal the injury and spent his time in an uncle's hotel in Davos . There he joined the German Peace League.

On November 1, 1918, he was asked to return to his location in Wilhelmshaven and deserted . Together with Hermann Stickelmann and the sailors Löffler, Koch, Leistner and Malang, who arrived from Kiel and Wilhelmshaven on November 5th, he formed the marine security service in Frankfurt am Main and took over the management of the research department.

During the riots on March 31, 1919, Grönke shot and killed a looter, but he was acquitted before the jury court in Frankfurt am Main . Already after the dissolution of the naval security service, Grönke left Frankfurt am Main for France as "Protége Francais". He turned back exclusively to sports and devoted himself to the resumption of sporting relations between Germany and France. In 1922 he received French citizenship , experienced the incipient National Socialism in France and joined the British armed forces when the war broke out. On July 12, 1940, he was demobilized as a sergeant major and went underground.

Grönke became a member of the Dumont-Jasset resistance group in the Hautes-Alpes department . On the occasion of a fighting he was captured by Gestapo captain Nuetgens (Marseille) in Gap and taken to the prison camp in Marseille . On December 23, 1943, he was taken to the Neue Bremm concentration camp in Saarbrücken . From there it was transported on via Darmstadt and Frankfurt to Hanau .

On March 25, 1945, he and 25 other prisoners (mainly employees of the Paris newspaper L'Humanité ) managed to escape. On March 27, 1945, he was finally liberated by American troops in the woods of Bad Orb . On July 1, 1945, he moved to Saarbrücken as a sports officer . He later worked as a coach at various French football clubs, most recently in Grenoble . Then he became the hall manager of the Saarlandhalle and in his spare time began hunting Klaus Barbie with old comrades . He still witnessed his arrest in 1983.

Wilhelm Grönke died on October 29, 1986 in Saarbrücken.

literature

  • Material collection Neuland. Institute for Urban History, Frankfurt am Main. Signature: S6b / 75-207.
  • Franz Neuland: The sailors of Frankfurt. A chapter of the November Revolution 1918/19. Frankfurt am Main 1991.
  • Erhard Lucas: Frankfurt under the rule of the Workers 'and Soldiers' Council 1918/19. Frankfurt am Main 1969.
  • Jakob Altmaier: Frankfurt Revolution Days. Frankfurt am Main 1919.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Grönke, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Groenke, Bill
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Franco-German head of the marine security service in Frankfurt
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1896
DATE OF DEATH October 29, 1986
Place of death Saarbrücken