William Zipperer

Johannes William Zipperer ([ ˌvɪljam ˈt͡sɪpəʁɐ ], born December 27, 1884 in Dresden ; † January 12, 1945 ibid) was a German communist and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

The trained relief engraver William Zipperer had been a member of the SPD since 1906 and was elected its city councilor in 1914. During the First World War he was involved in the Spartakus group , was elected to the USPD district executive in 1917 and to the workers 'and soldiers' council in Leipzig in 1918. On January 4, 1919, at the founding meeting of the Leipzig local group, he was elected first chairman of the KPD local group, which he co-founded. From 1923 to 1925 he worked as an editor for the “Sächsische Arbeiterzeitung” in Leipzig and headed the UNS bookstore. Before 1933 he was expelled from the KPD as an “ultra-leftist”.

After the National Socialists came to power , William Zipperer became active in the communist resistance. He was temporarily detained in the same year. His engraving workshop in Leipzig became a meeting point for resistance fighters and workers from the Leipzig armaments factories. With the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, he tried as a conscript, together with the optician Karl Jungbluth (1903–1945) and the carpenter Arthur Hoffmann (1900–1945), to sabotage work in armaments factories by causing production disruptions and producing rejects.

After the establishment of the Leipzig resistance group around the anti-fascists Georg Schumann , Otto Engert , Kurt Kresse and Georg Schwarz (see: Schumann-Engert-Kresse Group ) in 1941, William Zipperer also joined it. The group, which was one of the largest communist resistance groups in the German Reich , later called itself "National Committee Free Germany Leipzig", which was based on the National Committee Free Germany .

Arrest and execution

Due to the intensive work of the resistance group, the Gestapo search was intensified, especially in Berlin and Leipzig. It was possible to smuggle a spy into the ranks of the Leipzig anti-fascists . On July 18 and 19, 1944, 59 anti-fascists were arrested in Leipzig.

On November 22nd and 23rd, 1944, the trial of Arthur Hoffmann, Georg Schwarz, William Zipperer, Karl Jungbluth and Alfred Frank took place before the second senate of the People's Court in Dresden . They were sentenced to death and permanent loss of honor for “degrading military strength, preparing for high treason and favoring the enemy” and were executed on January 11 and 12, 1945 in the Dresden district court on Münchner Platz. Zipperer's grave is located in Leipzig's southern cemetery .

Honors

On August 1, 1945, a street in the Leipzig districts of Lindenau and Leutzsch , where William Zipperer had lived with his family, was named after him.

supporting documents

1. ↑ Copy of the judgment  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

literature

• Ilse Krause: The Schumann-Engert-Kresse Group. Documents and materials of the illegal anti-fascist struggle (Leipzig 1943 to 1945) . Dietz, Berlin 1960.
• Luise Kraushaar et al .: German resistance fighters 1933–1945. Biographies and letters. Volume 2. Dietz, Berlin 1970, pages 454-456.
• Zipperer, William . In: Hermann Weber , Andreas Herbst : German Communists. Biographisches Handbuch 1918 to 1945. 2nd, revised and greatly expanded edition. Dietz, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-320-02130-6 .
• Horst Riedel: Stadtlexikon Leipzig from A to Z , 2nd, revised and expanded edition, published by PRO LEIPZIG, Leipzig 2012, ISBN 978-3936508031 , p. 662.

Web links

• Short biography (Leipzig Lexicon)