Willi Brümmer

Stolperstein for Willi Brümmer in front of Stobraer Straße 21

Willi (Max) Brümmer (born January 24, 1893 in Obertrebra , † June 16, 1936 in Apolda ) was a German resistance fighter against the Nazi regime .

Life

Willi Brümmer was born by his mother Friedrike Therese Brümmer in the poor house in Obertrebra. Nothing is known about the father. After attending elementary school, he learned the trade of knitter . At the beginning of the First World War he was drafted into the imperial army as a soldier . When he returned to civilian life, he worked for master knitter Kurt Geißler. He sympathized with the KPD and supported them in votes such as the referendum against the expropriation of the princes . In July 1933 he joined the Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten and remained a member until its dissolution in 1935. He was also a member of the German Labor Front (DAF). His best friend, Otto Kleine - also a knitter at the Geissler company - had visited relatives in Asch / CSR in March 1936 and had contacts there with representatives of the KPD's foreign leadership . At their request, Kleine agreed to help rebuild a “ Red Aid ” in Apolda and the surrounding area, which had been disbanded when the Nazis came to power. Kleine asked his friend Willi Brümmer if he would come to Asch next time. He was immediately interested in participating in the rebuilding of the KPD. During the visit to Asch on April 24th, it was agreed that Brümmer would take care of setting up the organization, while Kleine took aid with him to support Apolda families whose relatives were being held as political prisoners. It was also agreed that Brümmer would organize the formation of cells among the Catholic youth, former Social Democrats and Bible Students , from which a new founding of the KPD could emerge. The connections that Brümmer, Kleine and others made reached as far as Jena , Eisenberg , Naumburg and Weimar. When Kleine and Brümmer drove to Asch again at the end of May 1936, it was decided that not only aid money, but also pamphlets , newspapers and brochures would be brought from Asch to Apolda and distributed to the groups already in place. However, by issuing the passports , which weren't exactly cheap, Kleine and Brümmer had made themselves suspicious. Police officers reported their suspicions to the Gestapo , and the Gestapo has been closely watching the named people ever since. The suspicion arose that they were dealing with a ramified organization. On June 12, 1936, a courier appeared at Brümmer, who handed him numerous documents and brochures, which he carefully hid. However, the courier was arrested after leaving the house and also revealed his identification code during questioning. A few days later the Gestapo sent a disguised detective inspector to Brümmer, who allegedly had been commissioned by the KPD leadership in Asch to question him about the state of the organizational structure. Believing that he had a real courier in front of him, Brümmer disclosed the names of the members and other internal information about his organizational work. A little later Brümmer was arrested. The interrogating Gestapo man conducted his interrogation in such a way that Brümmer had to believe that they already knew everything, so that he disclosed names and contexts and also promised an extensive confession . The Gestapo also made the arrested child believe that Brümmer had told them everything. So they played the two off against each other, who each told them everything in good faith that the interrogator already knew everything. For Brümmer, the realization that he had given it all must have been very depressing . He may also have been tortured while in detention . Despair over his situation and the awareness that he had betrayed many friends led him to hang himself in his cell . On the morning of June 17, 1936, he was found hanged in his cell. He was then transferred to the anatomy department in Jena, but not buried in Apolda. There is no grave of him. While Brümmer its judicial punishment by his suicide had deprived his friend Otto Small was 14 years prison sentenced of which he spent nine years in " Red Ox " by Hall was serving.

In 1914 Willi Brümmer married Emma Diederich from Neudietendorf . They had no children, but took on a girl as foster parents . Nothing could be determined about the whereabouts of his wife and foster daughter.

memory

• On August 18, 2009, a stumbling block was laid on the doorstep of Brummer's last apartment at Stobraer Strasse 21 in Apolda .

literature

• "found 4" Peter Franz , Udo Wohlfeld: Deadly Resistance. Apoldaer Arbeiter 1933–1945 , Apolda 2009, pp. 70ff., ISBN 3-935275-10-2

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Birth register of the municipality of Flurstedt from January 25, 1893