Wilhelm Selke

The stumbling block for Wilhelm Selke at Ritterstrasse 109 in Berlin-Kreuzberg

Wilhelm Selke (born April 29, 1893 in Kröpelin ; died February 26, 1945 in Görden ) was a German bookbinder , trade unionist, KPD member and resistance fighter in the Saefkow-Jacob-Bästlein organization .

Life

At the age of 14, the young Wilhelm Selke lost his left leg up to the thigh in an accident at work, was ill for a long time and was not drafted into the military because of his handicap. In 1912 he began an apprenticeship as a bookbinder in Rostock and passed his journeyman's examination with distinction in 1916. In the same year he married the domestic servant Frieda and moved with her to Berlin-Kreuzberg . In 1918 Selke became a member of the German Bookbinder Association , and in 1919 the couple joined the KPD .

Selke ran three times for the KPD for the district assembly and was 1928-1929 as a successor member of the district parliament . But he put the emphasis on his trade union work. From 1928 he worked for the Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition , the trade union arm of the KPD; In 1932 he criticized a collective agreement that made bookbinders worse off and took the view that "only a revolutionary course ... can bring about a change in these conditions."

From 1936 Selke worked as a master bookbinder in the Ullsteinhaus of the Ullstein publishing house "Aryanized" by the Nazis . During the war, Selke was part of the resistance of the Saefkow-Jacob-Bästlein organization and formed an “illegal” union group in the company with the bookbinder Rudolf Peter and the packer August Mikutta . The group raised money and food stamps for the resistance, sought to sabotage the production of Nazi literature, and distributed illegal publications and leaflets. The material came from Willi Heinze . Selke also arranged a meeting between Anton Saefkow and union officials, the former chairmen of the bookbinding association August Imhoff and Emil Priemer .

By a Gestapo - spies betrayed the resistance organization swung open. On July 4, 1944, Anton Saefkow and on August 10, 1944 Wilhelm Selke were arrested and indicted before the People's Court. Anton Saefkow , Franz Jacob and Bernhard Bästlein were sentenced to death and executed on September 18, 1944. Wilhelm Selke initially got away with two years in prison. But the Gestapo found more information about the resistance. In January 1945 a second main hearing against Selke and 13 other defendants was opened. Selke and three other defendants were sentenced to death on January 18, 1945 for high treason , August Mikutta and Rudolf Peter received three and four years in prison, respectively . Selke's petition for clemency and eleven others from friends and family were denied. The death sentence was carried out by guillotine on February 26, 1945 in the Brandenburg-Görden prison . A few days later, Rudolf Peter died in the same prison. Selke left behind his wife Frieda and a young daughter.

Honors

A stumbling block was laid in front of the house at Ritterstrasse 109 in Berlin-Kreuzberg in 2008 .

literature

• Christoph Hamann : Resistance to National Socialism in Ullstein Verlag, lecture at Das Andere Berlin 1933–1945. Resistance in the factories during the Nazi era , memorial and information event organized by IG Metall Berlin on January 22, 2009
• Christoph Hamann: Wilhelm Selke. Bookbinder from Ullstein Verlag . In: Egon Bannehr, Christoph Hamann u. a. (Ed.): The owl leaves feathers. The Ullsteinhaus 1926–1986. Setzer, Drucker, Journalisten , Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-930412-99-3 , pp. 90-100
• Roman Guski, Johanna Jawinsky, Hannelore Rabe: Memorials for victims and persecutees of the Nazi regime in the New Cemetery in Rostock (PDF file; 5.97 MB). Published by VVN-BdA Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Basic Organization Rostock, Rostock 2011, ISBN 978-300-035037-5 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Wilhelm Selke Biographical entry on the website of the Karl Richter Association
2. ^ "Stumbling blocks" are reminiscent of bookbinders and book printers as the opera of the Nazi regime Ver.di - branch newspaper Druck + Papier December 2008