Willi Betsch
Willi Betsch (born February 20, 1921 in Heidelberg ; † February 29, 1992 ) was a German local politician ( SED ) and resistance fighter against National Socialism . He was a co-founder of the youth group in the Saefkow-Jacob-Bästlein organization and the district mayor of Berlin-Lichtenberg .
Life
Betsch, the son of a factory worker and a farm worker, was raised by Catholic sisters after their parents separated early. He was finally adopted by a farmer "in place of his son" and had to work as a servant. He was initially active in the Catholic youth movement. In 1941 he went to Berlin, began a toolmaker -Teaching and worked as an apprentice at the company Oskar Walther. During his apprenticeship he got in touch with the resistance group around Robert Uhrig . Together with his friend Herbert Fölster , Anton Saefkow took him to Helmut Wagner in early 1944 . Together with Fölster and Wagner, Betsch was responsible for setting up a youth group in the Saefkow-Jacob-Bästlein organization , which included Elfriede Eidberger , Ruth Auer and Edith Weiß . Meetings and political discussions and training courses took place with Frieda Rust and Elfriede Eidberger's parents. The youth group also went hiking together in the area around Berlin.
Betsch (code name “Caesar”) was also involved in the distribution of illegal materials from the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and in the dispatch of field post letters from the National Committee “Free Germany” . Betsch was arrested on July 7, 1944 and sentenced to ten years in prison on September 21, 1944 by the First Senate of the “ People's Court ” in the “Fölster Case” . Betsch was imprisoned in the Brandenburg-Görden prison. There he was liberated by Red Army soldiers on April 27, 1945 .
Betsch joined the KPD in 1945 and became a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in 1946 . He was one of the first activists and worked in the youth committee of the Reinickendorf district . He was a functionary in the Central Council of the Free German Youth (FDJ) and worked in the government chancellery. From 1955 he was a full-time party functionary. From 1963 to 1967 he was the first secretary of the SED company party organization in the VEB Bergmann-Borsig in Berlin-Wilhelmsruh . Betsch graduated from the Party School "Karl Marx" the diploma of a company scientist and completed an engineering degree. From July 1967 to April 1970 Betsch was mayor of the Berlin-Lichtenberg district . Then he was party secretary of the company party organization in VEB Elektro-Apparate-Werke Berlin-Treptow "Friedrich Ebert" until November 1980 . At the beginning of July 1980 he was elected a member and in 1984 secretary of the Berlin district committee of the GDR's anti-fascist resistance fighters .
Awards
- Patriotic Order of Merit in Silver (1965) and Gold (1979)
- Medal "Builders of Berlin - Capital of the GDR" (1984)
- Gold medal for the Patriotic Order of Merit (1986)
- Medal for fighters against fascism 1933 to 1945
literature
- Ursel Hochmuth : Illegal KPD and movement “Free Germany” in Berlin and Brandenburg 1942–1945 . Hentrich & Hentrich, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-933471-08-7 , p. 117.
- Hans-Joachim Fieber et al. (Ed.): Resistance in Berlin against the Nazi regime 1933 to 1945. A biographical lexicon . Volume 1 [A-B]. Trafo Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-89626-351-X , p. 153.
Individual evidence
- ↑ A day in a lifetime . Portrait of Willi Betsch in the Berliner Zeitung of April 16, 1967, p. 16.
- ↑ Elfriede Fölster, b. Eidberger: »Guitar romance« as a disguise. The role of the youth group in the Saefkow-Jacob-Bästlein-Organization - pictures at an exhibition. In: Our sheet . Issue 42, September 2009 ( Memento from February 4, 2017 in the Internet Archive ), p. 2.
- ↑ New district mayor confirmed. In: New Time . July 12, 1967, p. 6.
- ↑ New mayor. In: New Time. April 4, 1970, p. 12.
- ^ SED delegates conference in the EAW "Friedrich Ebert". In: New Germany . November 28, 1980, p. 8.
- ^ Advice to anti-fascist resistance fighters. In: New Germany. July 3, 1980, p. 8.
- ↑ Antifascists were honored. In: Berliner Zeitung. July 12, 1984, p. 12.
Oskar Ziethen (1907–1921) | Otto John (1921–1925) | Alfred Siggel (1926–1933) | Herbert Volz (1933–1935) | Fritz Behaghel (1935–1938) | Karl Dorsch (1938–1945) | Franz Stimming (1945) | Günter Riesebrodt (1945–1946) | Helmut Schwenn (1946–1947) | Wilhelm Pomezny (1947–1948) | Richard Schalkowski (1948–1950) | Horst Hilbert (1951–1954) | Willi Jahnke (1955–1959) | Franz Bachmann (1959–1962) | Kurt Schumann (1963–1965) | Horst Hilbert (1965–1967) | Willi Betsch (1967–1970) | Heinz Müller (1970–1976) | Günter Milke (1976–1990) | Peter Hlavaty (1990) | Christian Kind (1990–1992) | Gottfried Mucha (1992–1995) | Wolfram Friedersdorff (1995–2000)
Since January 1, 2001, the Lichtenberg district has been part of the new Lichtenberg district .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Betsch, Willi |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German local politician (SED), resistance fighter against the Nazi regime |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 20, 1921 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Heidelberg |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 29, 1992 |