Willi Rom

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Willi Rom , b. Romov, pseudonym Jakob Liebersohn (born December 1, 1911 in Frankfurt am Main ; † January 2, 1999 in Berlin ) was a German resistance fighter , interbrigadist and agent of the GRU .

Life

Willi Romov was the son of a metalworker. Even in his youth he had contact with the revolutionary movement. In 1928 he became a member of the KJVD and in 1930 of the KPD . From 1930 to 1933 he was a member of the KJVD district management Hessen-Frankfurt . During the struggle against the emerging fascist dictatorship of the presidential cabinets from 1931 onwards, he was arrested several times for political reasons. In 1932 he had his family name changed by a registry office.

In May 1933, Willi Rom was delegated by the KJVD Reichsleitung from Frankfurt am Main to the Saar area , where he took on the role of organizational manager of the KJVD district administration. This effectively made him deputy to the political director Erich Honecker . Later he was sent back to political work in the "Reich" and he took over the district management of the KJVD in the Ruhr area . Here he was able to establish connections with church circles, including a chaplain in Gelsenkirchen , with whose help a conference of representatives of the KJVD and the Catholic Youth Association (KJV) took place in the spring of 1934. After being arrested again, he managed to escape from Germany. From 1935 he worked for the KPD's foreign organization in France and Denmark and from there carried out resistance activities against the Nazi regime.

In October 1936 he volunteered for the International Brigades in Spain and fought there in the Thälmann Battalion on the Jarama Front and in the Battle of Guadalajara . From April 1937 to the autumn of 1939 he graduated from a military school in Moscow, where he was trained by the GRU to go to Sweden as a radio operator . From there he sent data on the German troops that were in Scandinavia . In addition to collecting data on the German troops that were in the country, contrary to Swedish neutrality, Rome was given the task of organizing sabotage on the railway lines in the center of the country, where transports of German military technology and German troops took place. Iron ore was also transported from Sweden to Germany via these railway lines, which were of fundamental importance for the German armaments industry. On July 19, 1941, when Germany had already invaded the Soviet Union, a German military transport consisting of 20 wagons with German technology was blown up near the Krylbo station , but according to the transport documents it was supposed to be used to transport vegetables.

To convey particularly valuable information, Rome went on rented boats in fjords in the area. Dozens of foreign ships with active radio traffic sailed in the fjords, making it difficult to locate. For a short time Rome managed to create a residence of six people, five of whom were Swedish citizens, including two women. One of the women was an Estonian who had adopted Swedish citizenship. She worked as a dancer in a cabaret in Stockholm and helped Rome attract suitable candidates. A fiasco occurred as a result of violations of the rules of conspiracy. In October 1941, Rome was arrested by the Swedish authorities at the instigation of the Gestapo . In July 1942 he was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for "espionage". He was tortured while in prison and injured his left arm. He managed to escape in July 1945 and cross the Finnish border into the USSR.

Rome completed a two-year training course at an officers' school of the Military Political Institute of the General Staff of the Soviet Army. In 1951 he received Soviet citizenship. In 1950 Willi Rom was sent to Germany for his next illegal assignment, where he stayed for a few years. His secret hiding place in the forest, where he kept documents, was discovered by a forester, so he had to return to Moscow and finish his secret service work. In 1961 he became a member of the CPSU. In 1963 he was demobilized. Until 1965 he lived with his family in Moscow. After his leave of absence in the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Army, he received citizenship of the GDR, moved there with his family and became a member of the SED. From 1971 he lived as a pensioner in Berlin.

Willi Rom was buried in the Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery.

Fonts (selection)

  • The Jarama Front and the Battle of Gudaljara. Memories of Willi Rom, former Spanish fighter in the Thälmann battalion. In: Bauern-Echo from August 7, 1971
  • Communist and scout for a stable peace. On the 30th anniversary of the death of the exemplary internationalist Richard Sorge. In: Neues Deutschland from November 9, 1974

literature

  • Jan Peters: Anti-fascist scouts in Sweden during World War II. In: Nordeurpa-Studien, supplement 7, Greifswald 1978, pp. 62–73
  • Julius Mader: The radio operators of the Rote Kapelle. Episode 15 and 16 (Willi Rom), in: Funkamateur 9/1975, 10/1975
  • Julius Mader: Röda Kapellets signalist i Sverige. In: Norskensflammen of December 29, 1977
  • Willi Rom radioed from Sweden. In: Berliner Zeitung of April 26, 1978
  • A festival rose for Willi Rom. In: Neues Deutschland from May 18, 1973
  • Michael F. Scholz : Would you like some Scandinavian experience? Post-exile and remigration. The former KPD emigrants in Scandinavia and their further fate in the Soviet Zone / GDR. Excerpt from Stuttgart 2000
  • Виктор Кузнецов: НКВД против гестапо Вместо предисловия. Доклад «гестапо - Мюллера» (Viktor Kuznetsov: NKVD against Gestapo. Report by the "Gestapo-Müller".)
  • Звезда вызывает "Центр". Радисты ВОВ. Сборник статей и материалов ( "Star" calls "Headquarters". Radio operator of the Great Patriotic War. Collection of articles and materials. Eksmo Publishing House)
  • Александр Иванович Колпакиди Энциклопедия военной разведки России Alexander Ivanovich Kollakidy: Encyclopedia of Military Reconnaissance of Russia

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b That was my life . In: Der Spiegel . No. 37 , 1980 ( online - Sept. 8, 1980 ).
  2. ↑ see also the Swedish article on the Krylbo explosion
personal data
SURNAME Rome, Willi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Romov, Willhelm (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German communist, GRU functionary and Spain fighter
DATE OF BIRTH December 1, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH January 2, 1999
Place of death Berlin