Willy Anker

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Willy Anker (also: Willi Anker; born January 17, 1885 in Kleinbauchlitz ; † June 4, 1960 in Meißen ) was a German politician and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

Anker completed an apprenticeship as a turner in 1902 . In 1907 he joined the SPD , where he volunteered. From 1923 to 1933/45 he was Meißner SPD local chairman and until 1933 department head of the Meißner Volkszeitung . He publicly stood up for the protection of the Weimar Republic against its internal enemies from right and left.

After Hitler came to power, the Volkszeitung was occupied by the SA in March . Willy Anker was arrested in May 1933. He was imprisoned in the notorious Hohnstein concentration camp until the end of July , after which he was under house arrest and later under police supervision. His employment opportunities were limited. After the assassination attempt on July 20, 1944 , he was arrested again as part of the Gewitter campaign, but was released after 10 days after signing a declaration of loyalty.

On April 27, 1945, the Meißner superintendent Herbert Böhme asked the SS commandant to renounce the defense of the city. He was sentenced to death by the NSDAP district leader and, because a court martial no longer came about in Meißen, he was brought to the Dresden district court for judgment, from which he was released on May 7th when the Red Army marched in.

On May 6, 1945, when Meißen was finally to be evacuated and defended, Anker, accompanied by the young anti-fascist Fritz Walter, gained access to the council meeting as spokesman for the citizens waiting in front of the town hall for the final decision. He demanded the withdrawal of the evacuation order and the renunciation of any resistance to the entry of the Red Army. A National Socialist Leadership Officer (NSFO) from Deputy General Command of the 2nd Army Corps in Dresden, which wanted to enforce the evacuation and defense, announced that he would be shot. Because the officer then ordered the residents to flee from the town hall balcony, for which he had to hear protests, Anker applauded those waiting on the town hall balcony after him to refuse this order. Anker only escaped the threatened death because a Wehrmacht courier arrived and prompted the officer with an alarming message to leave the house immediately. But the order to flee remained. But the citizens no longer obeyed him. And the Red Army could move in without a fight. That saved Meissen from further victims and destruction.

On May 9, 1945, Anker was appointed second deputy mayor by the Soviet city ​​commandant. At the end of May he was involved in the accession of over sixty social democrats to the KPD and eventually became a member of the SED . From 1948 to 1950 he was city councilor for trade and supply until his retirement.

Honors

Between 1975 and 1990 a street in Meißen was named after Willy Anker. At the same time there was a memorial plaque on the town hall. In addition, the 6th high school in Meißen got the addition "Willy-Anker-Oberschule".

In June 2011, a floor slab was placed in front of the town hall in memory of citizens who had raised their voice for the preservation of their city at this location in April / May 1945, so that, thanks to their courage, Meissen was almost undamaged. Names were not mentioned.

Web links

literature

  • Gerhard Steinecke : Willy Anker. A life in conflict , biography, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Sachsen 2013, 128 pages
  • Gerhard Steinecke : Our Meißen 1929-2004. Meißner Tageblatt Verlags GmbH 2004, chap. 2 and 3.
  • Gerhard Steinecke: In memory of the end of the war 60 years ago - April / May 1945: Meißner Land war theater. In: Meißner Official Journal. 4/2005 of April 22, 2005, p. 6.
  • Gerhard Steinecke: Contributor to the history of the city: Willy Anker - connected to the new power? Meißner Tageblatt June 15, 2006.
  • VVN file “Willy Anker”. Saxon State Archives, Main Archives Dresden.
  • Jeanette Michelmann: The activists from the very beginning. The Antifa 1945 in the Soviet zone of occupation between the occupying power and the exiled KPD. Diss., Philos. Faculty of the University of Jena 2001, Section 3.2.4. (as a PDF file here )
  • Mike Schmeitzner: Willy Anker and other Meißner Social Democrats under Hitler and Stalin. Lecture on November 6, 2006 in Meißen, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
  • Günter Naumann: City Lexicon Meißen . Sax-Verlag, Beucha 2009, ISBN 978-3-86729-013-5 , pp. 75 .
  • Tourist city guide: Meissen. VEB TOURIST Verlag, Berlin and Leipzig 1981, pp. 17-19.
  • Hans-Joachim Mrusek : Meissen. VEB EA Seemann Verlag, Leipzig 1978, p. 88 f.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://willy-anker-meissen.de/dokumentation-teil-1/
  2. ^ Meißner city council does not name any names in Neues Deutschland from April 3, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Anchor, Willy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Anchor, Willi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politicians and resistance fighters against National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Kleinbauchlitz
DATE OF DEATH June 4th 1960
Place of death Meissen