Wilhelm Senftleben

Wilhelm Senftleben (born January 23, 1905 in Görlitz , Upper Lusatia ; † May 11, 1992 in Grossenhain ) was a German resistance fighter against National Socialism and a politician ( SED ).

Life

Senftleben was born as the youngest of 11 children of the carpenter Senftleben and his wife, the daughter of the master carpenter Emil Kügler from Bautzener Str. 51 in Görlitz. After attending elementary school (Jahnschule), he completed an apprenticeship as a construction fitter in Waggon- und Maschinenbau AG (WUMAG) from 1920 to 1923 and was then unemployed. From 1925 to 1928 he was housekeeper in the leather shop Schönbach und Jargosch (Wilhelmsplatz), from 1931 to October 1932 he worked as an advertiser for the workers' newspaper for Silesia and Upper Silesia in Breslau . Sentenced for his activities in the resistance, he was imprisoned from November 12, 1934 to April 20, 1939 and was then conscripted as a machinist in the construction of the Reichsautobahnbau section Bautzen-Löbau. From 1940 he worked as a locksmith in the ROWAG company (Rauschwalder Straße). On December 30, 1942 , he was drafted into the criminal division of the Wehrmacht , was seriously wounded on August 3, 1943 while clearing mines in the Ukraine and released from the Wehrmacht in December 1944.

In February 1945 he and his family were evacuated to Gerolzhofen ( Lower Franconia ) and from 1946 he devoted himself to politics in Görlitz and in the Großenhain district.

He had married on September 21, 1939. The marriage resulted in 3 children (1941, 1945, 1961).

Political activities

Wilhelm Senftleben joined the Communist Youth Association (KJVD) as a member in 1922 and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in 1928 . He was elected organizational head of the KPD district leadership for the sub-district of Görlitz. This function was voluntary. Quote Senftleben "During this time I lived on unemployment benefit, crisis support and after the control at the expense of my parents." Wilhelm Senftleben was illegally active in the resistance groups "Wüsten" and "Hans-Georg Otto". He was arrested on November 12, 1934, sentenced on March 21, 1935 by the 1st Criminal Senate of the Wroclaw Higher Regional Court to originally 2 years in prison for preparation for high treason and spent almost 2½ years in the Lichtenburg and Buchenwald concentration camps until he was released in April 1939 Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday was pardoned.

After May 8, 1945, the American occupying forces used Senftleben in the ticket office of the Gerolzhofen city administration until he returned to Görlitz on November 2, 1945. He took on various functions in the KPD and then from May 1946 on the City Council of Görlitz before he was elected Deputy Mayor of Görlitz (1950-1952) and Chairman of the Görlitz-Land District Council (1952-1958). Since Senftleben did not fit into the concept of various Görlitz functionaries of the SED, a trip by his wife to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1957 was used as an opportunity to publicly reprimand him and move him to Grossenhain. There he worked as deputy and acting chairman of the council of the district. In the early 1960s, new party officials in Görlitz wanted his return. Senftleben refused.

He worked in the council of the Grossenhain district until his death.

Detention times:

• November 12, 1934 - November 12, 1936 Prisoner Camp II Aschendorf (Börgermoor)
• November 12, 1936 - December 18, 1936 Lichtenburg concentration camp
• December 18, 1936 - April 21, 1939 Buchenwald concentration camp (pardoned)

Awards

• September 6, 1973 honorary citizen of the city of Görlitz
• 1980 Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Interview in Neues Deutschland on August 30, 1960
2. ↑ 1973 - Honorary Citizen of Görlitz ( Memento of the original from May 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on goerlitz.de 
3. ↑ Neues Deutschland , May 2, 1980, p. 4.