Bruno Guido Camillo Tesch (22 April 1913 – 1 August 1933) was a German

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

and member of the

Young Communist League of Germany The Young Communist League of Germany (, abbreviated KJVD) was a political youth organization in Germany. History The KJVD was formed in 1920 from the Free Socialist Youth () of the Communist Party of Germany, A prior youth wing had been forme ...

. At age 20, he was convicted of murder and executed in connection with the

Altona Bloody Sunday Altona Bloody Sunday (german: Altonaer Blutsonntag) is the name given to the events of 17 July 1932 when a recruitment march by the Nazi SA led to violent clashes between the police, the SA and supporters of the Communist Party of Germany ...

riot (''Altonaer Blutsonntag''), a

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi ral ...

(SA) march on 17 July 1932 that turned violent and led to 18 people being shot and killed. His conviction was overturned in November 1992.

Life

Born in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, to an Italian mother, Tesch spent his childhood in Italy before moving to live with his stepfather in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

in 1925, where he was an apprentice

plumber A plumber is a tradesperson who specializes in installing and maintaining systems used for potable (drinking) water, and for sewage and drainage in plumbing systems.

. Finding himself unemployed after his

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...

was over, he entered the Freiwilliger Arbeitsdienst (FAD), or Volunteer Work Service. Politically radical, he joined the

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

Worker Youth (''Sozialistische Arbeiterjugend'') in 1930, but soon switched to the

(''Kommunistischer Jugendverband Deutschlands'').

Altona Bloody Sunday

On 17 July 1932, a violent confrontation happened between the

(SA) and

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe d ...

(SS), the police, and

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

(KPD) supporters in Altona, later known in German history as the

(German: ''Altonaer Blutsonntag''). Some Communists, with Tesch among them, tried to disrupt a march by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

through a working-class area in Altona. Arguments and shoving escalated, culminating in gunfire that killed two SA members and 16 others, the latter group likely by uncontrolled police gunfire. Tesch, who was involved in the violence, was later alleged to have fired shots in the incident. After the

National Socialist German Workers Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

seized power, the case was brought before the National Socialist Special Court (''

Sondergerichte A ''Sondergericht'' (plural: ''Sondergerichte'') was a German "special court". After taking power in 1933, the Nazis quickly moved to remove internal opposition to the Nazi regime in Germany. The legal system became one of many tools for this ai ...

'') in Altona. Although the investigation turned up no solid proof of Tesch's guilt, and it could not be proved that Tesch had brought a weapon to the demonstration, he was nonetheless sentenced to death along with

Walter Möller Walter Möller (7 April 1920 - 16 November 1971) was a German politician who served as the Mayor of Frankfurt from 1970 until his death in 1971. Life Möller was born to Karl and Maria Möller (née Ploennigs), a working-class couple living i ...

Karl Wolff Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff (13 May 1900 – 17 July 1984) was a German SS functionary who served as Chief of Personal Staff Reichsführer-SS (Heinrich Himmler) and an SS liaison to Adolf Hitler during World War II. He ended the war as the Supre ...

and August Lütgens. When

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

refused to commute the sentences of the four, on 1 August 1933, in the courthouse courtyard – now home to Altona's Local Court – they were beheaded. These were the first officially declared executions in the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

Memorials and acquittal

Arnold Zweig Arnold Zweig (10 November 1887 – 26 November 1968) was a German writer, pacifist and socialist. He is best known for his six-part cycle on World War I. Life and work Zweig was born in Glogau, Prussian Silesia (now Głogów, Poland), the son ...

's 1947 book ''The Axe of Wandsbek'' was written about Altona Bloody Sunday and was subsequently filmed in East Germany in 1951 (and, again, in West Germany in 1981). In

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, a school in

Klausdorf Klausdorf is a former municipality in the district of Plön, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approximately 20 km northwest of Plön, and 5 km east of Kiel. On 1 March 2008, it was merged with Raisdorf to form the town Sc ...

as well as a street in

Wismar Wismar (; Low German: ''Wismer''), officially the Hanseatic City of Wismar (''Hansestadt Wismar'') is, with around 43,000 inhabitants, the sixth-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the fourth-largest city ...

were named after Bruno Tesch. Despite political resistance, a former

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

in Hamburg-Altona was named after Bruno Tesch. All those sentenced to death had their convictions overturned on 13 November 1992 by the Hamburg State Court. Further sentences meted out by the Sondergericht in connection with the ''Altonaer Blutsonntag'' were reversed on 21 June 1996 and 29 June 1998. A

Stolperstein A (; plural ; literally 'stumbling stone', metaphorically a 'stumbling block') is a sett-size, concrete cube bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution. The project, initiat ...

was created in his honor and is located at Max-Brauer-Allee 89 in Hamburg-Altona-Nord.

References

External links

Biography at German Resistance Memorial CenterBiography at Stolpersteine Hamburg
(in German)

(in German)

(in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tesch, Bruno 1913 births 1933 deaths Politicians from Kiel People from the Province of Schleswig-Holstein German people of Italian descent Executed German people People executed by Germany by decapitation People from Schleswig-Holstein executed by Nazi Germany German anti-fascists Lists of stolpersteine in Germany People executed by Nazi courts

Life

Altona Bloody Sunday

Memorials and acquittal

See also

References

External links