Willi Milke

Willi Milke , actually Wilhelm , (born September 16, 1896 , † January 12, 1944 in prison in Berlin-Tegel ) was a German communist resistance fighter against National Socialism and a victim of Nazism .

Life

Milke came from simple social backgrounds. After attending elementary school, he learned a trade in metalworking . He joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and was active against the emerging National Socialism . After the transfer of power to the NSDAP , he continued this resistance illegally . He found a connection to the resistance group " Bästlein-Jacob-Abshagen " and took part in the organization of help for the politically persecuted and the support of foreign forced laborers . In his company, the Hamburg oil works (“Hobum”), he led one of the “industrial groups” (IG) formed by the resistance. When the two parachutists Erna Eifler and Wilhelm Fellendorf , who had been deposed by the Soviet Union , could not find a connection with the Red Chapel resistance group, which had since been broken up, they sought contact and shelter at the Bästlein network in Hamburg . Together with Herbert Bittcher , Milke provided them with accommodation and support. Because this became known to the Gestapo , both were sentenced to death by the People's Court . On the day of the verdict, Milke and Bittcher evaded execution by choosing to commit suicide .

Honor

• At Wilstorfer Straße 4 in front of the Phoenixwerk and at Eddelbüttelstraße 24 in Hamburg-Harburg , his last residential address, the action artist Gunter Demnig laid a stumbling stone each in memory of him.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Ursula Puls : The Bästlein-Jacob-Abshagen Group: Report on the anti-fascist resistance struggle in Hamburg and on the waterfront during the Second World War , Dietz, 1959. Retrieved September 5, 2011