Willi Bredel Society

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Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft history workshop
legal form registered association
founding 1988
founder Nazi victims, historians and citizens interested in history
Seat Hamburg ( coordinates: 53 ° 37 ′ 35.5 ″  N , 10 ° 1 ′ 28.5 ″  E )
Website www.bredelgesellschaft.de

The Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft Geschichtswerkstatt eV is an organization for Hamburg's regional history, which was founded in 1988 as an association. The occasion was the establishment of the Fuhlsbüttel Concentration Camp Memorial . The eponymous writer Willi Bredel , who comes from Hamburg, was imprisoned in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp for 13 months from 1933 to 1934.

Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft Geschichtswerkstatt eV, 2019

Purpose of the association

The Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft supports Nazi victims, historians and people interested in history with the help of contemporary witnesses, experts and lay researchers as well as memory reports, readings, discussions, film screenings, tours and excursions in developing a critical awareness of history.

Activities of the association

The Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft has set up an archive and a library that are open to the public. It organizes events and supports publications that relate to the history of the Hamburg labor movement, the anti-fascist resistance and the history of the districts of Fuhlsbüttel , Ohlsdorf , Langenhorn and Alsterdorf and publishes its own circulars and publications on these topics and Willi Bredel.

As part of local remembrance projects, the association, together with partners (church, schools, individuals), has repeatedly initiated and initiated the laying of stumbling blocks in memory of victims of fascism and the renaming of traffic areas in Hamburg North. The association succeeded in a grassroots form of renaming requests in 1999 when signatures were collected from more than 50% of the residents' households for the renaming of Peter-Mühlens-Weg in Hamburg-Langenhorn and presented to the Northern District Assembly (renamed Agnes-Gierck-Weg in 1999 ). In 2013, after Bündnis90 / Grüne suggested the renaming of Hindenburgstrasse in Hamburg, the association held several events to promote this hotly debated issue in the media (partial renaming in 2013 to Otto-Wels-Strasse). Currently (2019/2020) the local committees have received the association's applications for the renaming of three streets named after Nazi doctors in Langenhorn and two streets named after colonial profiteers in Ohlsdorf, which are currently being examined by the Senate. Since numerous streets in Hamburg still bear their names after polluted people in contemporary history (e.g. Woderichweg in Fuhlsbüttel and Dannmeyerstraße in Groß Borstel), there is no end in sight to the applications for renaming. The not yet renamed part of Hindenburgstrasse is also under discussion again. In the latter case, the association supports the initiative of a student group at the University of Hamburg.

At the suggestion of the then acting head of the local office (2006-2007) Karl-Heinz Dittmann (1948-2013) of the local office in Fuhlsbüttel, René Senenko from the Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft designed a memorial stele commemorating the forced laborers of the Hanseatic chain works . On the initiative of the Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft and the Hamburg-Nord district office, a memorial with the memorial stele was built in the Essener Straße business park in Hamburg-Langenhorn at the Essener Bogen . The texts come from the journalist and economic historian Karl Heinrich Biehl (†). It was financed by IVG Immobilien and inaugurated on February 21, 2008. Since the stele was scratched and smeared in 2018 and two of the three eye bolts, which were attached to one side for fastening flowers, were missing, the Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft launched an appeal for donations on September 1, 2018 and had the stele renovated from April 2019 . It was re-unveiled on June 14th. In order to protect it from vandalism, the stele was moved to a green area next to the Langenhorner Chaussee 625 building and was ceremonially unveiled and handed over on June 9, 2020.

As part of the "Alliance for a Hamburg deserter monument" that it initiated, the association campaigned for the erection of the deserters' monument in the Hanseatic city. The goal was the war Klotz am Dammtor another counter-monument oppose. There were campaigns and a lively press response. In November 2015, the desert monument designed by Volker Lang was presented to the public at the Dammtor. Furthermore, the association has been organizing the Fuhlsbüttler Film Days since 1992 in November , which each year have a different, politically more left-wing thematic focus. The 2013 topic of desertion attracted a certain amount of national attention.

For years, the association has also made a name for itself through its commitment to buildings threatened by demolition. These efforts resulted in three cases in concrete initiatives to safeguard historic buildings: The citizens' initiative Save the Bärenhof the Ochsenzolle (demolished yet 2010) in Langenhorn, the rescue and restoration of the historic lintel of the oldest house in Fuhlsbüttel and the preservation of the Wagner Kate Klein Borstel . The lintel beam of the former coachman's pitcher at Alsterkrugchaussee 459, which was built in 1762 and demolished in 2001, graced the entrance area of ​​the former Fuhlsbüttel customer center - District Office Hamburg-Nord - Residential Office at Hummelsbütteler Landstrasse 46 and has been on the top floor of the stairwell since 2017 District Office Hamburg-Nord - Specialized Office for Youth and Family Aid at Fliederweg 9b. A Marian monogram is incorporated into the lintel beam and the inscription:

“Hans Daniel Behn - Anno 1762 - September 4th. God keep this building because the world is not at all faithful. What good can we do with disapproval, God will protect us. "

Association headquarters until 2017: Entrance building to the family pool in Ohlsdorf

On March 1st, 2016 the Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft was given an oil painting by the painter Karl Hennemann from the year 1951 by Claus Bredel, Willi Bredel's son , showing Willi Bredel's house in Schwerin at Weinbergstraße 2 and in the background Lake Schwerin .

In 2017, the company moved from its previous location in the historic entrance building of the outdoor pool in Ohlsdorf Im Grünen Grund 1 to the new location at Ratsmühlendamm 24 in Fuhlsbüttel.

Information center for Nazi forced labor

The association also operates the information center for Nazi forced labor . As of April 1, 1998, the Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft leased the site of a former forced labor camp in Fuhlsbüttel near the airport, thus preserving the last two forced labor barracks in Hamburg, which were largely preserved in their original state and which are now on the list of cultural monuments in Hamburg. Fuhlsbüttel are listed before the planned demolition. In 2003, after many years of preparatory work and renovation measures, the Willi Bredel Society opened a small museum on the subject of Nazi forced labor in Hamburg . The permanent exhibition in the NS Forced Labor Information Center is constantly being expanded to include new boards and objects. In addition, other permanent exhibitions on the subjects of forced labor in Hamburg, the history of the camp and its residents, the operating company and post-war use were designed and set up, so that currently (2019) five permanent exhibitions are shown. There are regular tours for groups of visitors and individuals by members of the forced labor working group of the WBG. In 2008 both barracks were placed under monument protection. The barrack, which is still completely preserved, is a RL IV type Reichsarbeitsdienstbaracke in wood construction, as they were built by the thousands in Germany during the war. The only partially preserved washing and toilet barracks are of a similar type. Both barracks are currently in need of renovation again (end of 2019).

Willi Bredel Library

Willi Bredel's library has had an eventful history that goes back to his years of exile in Moscow. After 1987 it was stored in Schwerin Castle . The Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft has owned the library since 1992. In 2009 it was given to the Fritz Hüser Institute by the Willi Bredel Society as a permanent loan.

Publications as editor

  • Herbert Diercks : Friedhof Ohlsdorf - On the trail of Nazi rule and resistance , results publishing house, Hamburg 1992, ISBN 3879160120
  • Silke Kaiser, Hans Matthaei: Bathing in the Alsterwasser - history of the bathing establishment Ohlsdorf , Hamburg 1992 (available from the Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft)
  • Karl-Heinz Zietlow: Don't forget injustice - Forced laborers and concentration camp prisoners in Hamburg-Langenhorn 1933–1945 - In cooperation with the Neuengamme Memorial and the Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft, Hamburg 1995 (available from the Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft, among others)
  • Fuhlsbüttel under the swastika , Dölling and Galitz , Hamburg 1996, ISBN 3-930802-21-X
  • Rolf Richter: Willi Bredel, A German Way in the 20th Century , Ingo Koch Verlag, Rostock 1998, ISBN 3-929544-30-X
  • Lucie Suhling : The Unknown Resistance , Amigos Verlag, Kiel 1998, ISBN 3-931903-13-3
  • Hans-Kai Möller: Willi Bredel - 1901–1964 - life data, photo testimonies, private library (available from the Willi Bredel Society, among others)
  • René Senenko: Willi Bredel's exile in Prague , Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-929703-00-9
  • Karl Heinrich Biehl: Forced labor in the Hanseatic Chain Factory (Hak) in Langenhorn - memory reports , company history , Hamburg 2005 (available from the Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft)
  • Ursula Suhling: Rebellious literature - source of moral power - Hedwig Voegt (1903 to 1988) . With a contribution by Dr. Evamaria Nahke. Epilogue Dr. Wolfgang Beutin (husband of Heidi Beutin ), Hamburg 2007 (available from the Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft)
  • Ursel Hochmuth and Ursula Suhling: Ehrenfeld for those persecuted by the Nazi regime . A burial and memorial site of the Geschwister-Scholl-Foundation on the Ohlsdorfer Friedhof, VSA-Verlag , Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-89965-526-1
  • Ursula Suhling: 999 criminal soldiers - deported from the Hanover train station . Hamburg anti-fascists in Wehrmacht uniform, VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2014, 80 p., Ill., ISBN 978-3-89965-613-8
  • Brochures, circulars, published annually since 1996 (available from the Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft)
  • Helmut Violence: Lists, the NSDAP membership of, among other things, members of the Bundestag and Landtag , members of the Hamburg and Berlin Senate, the Bremen and Hamburg citizenship, the People's Chamber and the European Parliament ( PDF files )
  • Memorial book for the grave field of Soviet prisoners of war at the Ohlsdorf cemetery , 2014 ( PDF file )
  • Ursula Suhling: Who were the 999s? Criminal soldiers in Wehrmacht uniform - deported from the Hanover train station. VSA-Verlag Hamburg 2017, 224 pp., Ill., ISBN 978-3-89965-789-0
  • Uwe Leps: The Forgotten Camp - Forced Labor in the Shadow of the Airport 1943 to 1945 , Hamburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-00-059388-8
  • Hans Matthaei (Hrsg.): DenkMal Friedhof Ohlsdorf - 33 places of remembrance and warning , VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-89965-833-0
  • René Senenko: War on War. International postcards 1918-1939 - catalog booklet for the exhibition (May 16 - June 19, 2018 at the HAW); Hamburg 2018. 20 pp., Ill., Without ISBN / ISSN
  • René Senenko: Oppressed peoples, unite! Historical postcards against colonialism 1918-1939 . Catalog booklet for the exhibition [17. – 29. May 2019 at the AGDAZ Hamburg]. Hamburg 2019, 20 pages, ill., Without ISBN / ISSN
  • René Senenko: Escape from the chain factory: Karl-Heinz Barthel and Otto Berger, prisoners in arms production in Hamburg-Langenhorn. Published on the day the Stolperstein was laid for Barthel and Berger, May 18, 2019 . Hamburg 2019, 16 pages, ill., Without ISBN / ISSN
  • Michael Holtmann: Housing for the armaments industry - Settlements for the Hanseatic chain works and the Messap - Langenhorn and its buildings , Hamburg 2020, ISBN 978-3-982055992

Audio book

  • Willi Bredel: The sacrifice. A contemporary chronicle , audio book as a double CD, read by Rolf Becker , audio book publishing company Dr. Dahms (Geerd Dahms), Hamburg 2013, ISBN 3940229075

Web links

Commons : Willi-Bredel-Gesellschaft  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Articles of Association of the Willi Bredel Society . Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  2. Against the current. Die Welt from April 18, 2012. Retrieved March 26, 2015 .
  3. ^ Association: Articles of Association and Literature: Circular letters and publications of the Willi Bredel Society . Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  4. Memorial column in memory of the forced labor at the Hanseatic Chain Works on gedenkstaetten-in-hamburg.de
  5. ^ Information from the Willi Bredel Society regarding the renovation of the stele
  6. Unveiling 2020 on youtube
  7. YouTube: Aktion Kriegsklotz Uwe Schmidt . Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  8. Hamburger Abendblatt: Monument for deserters planned . Archived from the original on January 18, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  9. Your fate is poignant. TAZ of November 22, 2013. Retrieved March 25, 2015 .
  10. Hans-Kai Möller: A painting and many open questions in: Rundbrief 2017 (PDF file), pp. 52–57
  11. ^ Willi Bredel Library on dortmund.de
  12. Newsletters can be viewed on the website