Willy Kölker

Willy Kölker, around 1915

Willy Kölker (born April 9, 1893 in Iserlohn ; † July 10, 1980 there ) was a German fighter pilot , businessman , politician and officer in the air force. He scored 22 confirmed kills in the First World War . He was a lieutenant in active service in the imperial army, captain d. R. of the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic and Major d. R. of the Wehrmacht.

Origin, youth and education

Willy Kölker was born on April 9, 1893 in Iserlohn as the second son of the factory owner Dietrich Wilhelm Julius Kölker and his first wife Wilhelmine Henriette Emma, ​​née Graumann.

The father, Julius Kölker, was one of the relatively rare economic "upstairs". Willy Kölkers older brother, Julius Kölker , was the regional training director of the Cologne-Aachen district and head of the NS- Ordensburg Vogelsang . A cousin was the NS district leader Hein Diehl .

Kölker attended the Iserlohn Realgymnasium (today: Märkisches Gymnasium Iserlohn ), where he also obtained his school-leaving certificate in 1912. He began a commercial apprenticeship in the office of his grandfather's buckle factory, Heinrich Wilhelm Graumann. During his training he became very interested in politics. He became a member of the German National Handicrafts Association (DHV).

First World War

From 1912 to 1914 he served in the 3rd Westphalian Infantry Regiment "Freiherr von Sparr". As an ensign, he retired from active service in 1914. Immediately after the outbreak of war, he again reported to the flags. He switched from the infantry to the air force and did basic training again, this time as a pilot in the Flieger-Ersatzabteilung 5. He served as a fighter pilot in the Flieger-Schutzstaffel 3, through which he came to the Jagdstaffel 12 after his 8th aerial victory. It was there that he met his future best man, Paul Billik . After Paul Billik was transferred to head of Jagdstaffel 52 in December 1917, Kölker applied for the post as deputy squadron commodore under Billik. After he himself made 22 confirmed kills, he was shot down at the end of the war and was taken into British captivity, from which he was released de jure New Year 1920. In fact, however, he had been "at large" at least since Easter 1919.

Post-war years

During the war and in the post-war period, the sales market for women's clothing had ceased because people now had to concentrate on essential, basic and essential goods, because the period from the collapse in 1918 to the seizure of power in 1933 was less characterized by structural change in the Sauerland industry than through strong economic fluctuations and crises. This led to a series of bankruptcies and takeovers, from which the father's factory was not spared, but also to the emergence of new industries, which, however, mostly did not survive long.

When his life, which had been shaped by Prussian militarism, came to an abrupt end with the end of the war, Kölker initially embarked on a civilian life. But he soon realized that a life outside of the military did not suit him. Therefore, he again followed the "call to the flag", as he called it himself, and became active in the Freikorps. Kölker became a lieutenant and detachment leader in the Maercker Freikorps and thus actively involved in the smashing of the strikes in Halle an der Saale in 1919.

At Easter 1920 he got engaged to the manufacturer's daughter Elisabeth Stopfsack. On October 26, 1921, the civil marriage took place in Iserlohn, on the same day the ecclesiastical marriage took place in the Reformed Church in Iserlohn. Best man was among others Paul Billik .

In the summer of 1924 Willy Kölker joined the Iserlohner Odd Fellow Lodge ("Westfalia No. 1") (umbrella organization: Independent Order of Odd Fellows ), of which he became secretary in 1925. On December 31, 1931, he resigned his membership with the Odd Fellows.

In the 1920s Kölker performed numerous military exercises. In 1924 he was appointed first lieutenant. R. promoted, 1926 to captain d. R., in 1933 major d. R.

National Socialism

Kölker came from an anti-Semitic family and reinforced his social, religious and ethnic prejudices during his time in the German National Sales Aid Association. On January 1, 1932, he joined the NSDAP and used his popularity as a flying ace and lieutenant d. R. for his political purposes. On March 12, 1933, he ran for the city council. He became the local group leader of the NSDAP local group Iserlohn-Bömberg (office: Vinckestrasse 8). In 1933 he was parliamentary group leader of the NSDAP in the city council.

In 1935, after expropriation, he became managing director of the Böcher department store, formerly the Jewish fur and fashion department store Alsberg (Unnaer Str. 5 - 7, Iserlohn). In the church election in July 1933, he successfully ran for the list of German Christians . He ran again for the next electoral term, but this election failed. As a consequence, he resigned from the church.

His son, Willi Kölker junior, served from 1942 to 1945 under Colonel General Kurt Student , a good friend and war comrade of Willy Kölker senior, as a Fahnenjunker-Oberjäger in the 1st / 9th Parachute Regiment.

After 1945

In the course of the denazification he was interned for about three months in the " Civil Internment Camp (CIC) " No. 7, Camp Roosevelt in Hemer, and then for another 3½ months in the prison camp in the former Esterwegen concentration camp . The Arbitration Chamber imposed a lifelong professional ban on him, which he did not adhere to.

In 1947 Willy Kölker became managing director of the Hadamzik ​​tobacco company, where he was dismissed without notice in 1951 for embezzlement. In 1951 he became the second managing director of "Deutsche Tabakwaren AGmbh". Here he lost his job when they learned of his professional ban imposed by the court.

Awards

military awards:

• Prussian military pilot badge
• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
• Royal House Order of Hohenzollern , Honorary Commander Cross 2nd Class
• Honor goblet for the winner in the dogfight
• Cross of honor for front fighters

paramilitary awards:

• Teutonic Knights Cross
• Green fishing line with a Westphalian horse
• Schlageter shield of the Schlageter-Gedächtnis-Bund eV

civil awards:

• NSDAP service award in bronze
• Golden party badge of the NSDAP

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hans-Hermann Stopsack: From the water wheel to the factory , p. 425 ff.
2. ^ Landesarchiv NRW, Main State Archive Düsseldorf, NW 1103 - No. 4026
3. ^ Landesarchiv NRW, Main State Archive Düsseldorf, NW 1103 - No. 4027 a)
4. ↑ Josef Bergenthal: Das Sauerland , p. 225 ff.
5. ↑ Hans-Hermann Stopsack: From the water wheel to the factory , p. 455 f.
6. ↑ registry office Iserlohn: Marriage Register No 359/1921. .
7. ↑ Stadtarchiv Iserlohn: ( PDF  ( 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. )  
8. ↑ Rudi early biter: Opfergang German paratroopers; P. 29, p. 43, p. 144 d), p. 145, p. 239 f.