The Bästlein-Jacob-Abshagen Group was a
German resistance German resistance can refer to:
* Freikorps, German nationalist paramilitary groups resisting German communist uprisings and the Weimar Republic government
* German resistance to Nazism
* Landsturm, German resistance groups fighting against France d ...
group that developed around the core members
Bernhard Bästlein
Bernhard Bästlein (; 3 December 1894 in Hamburg – 18 September 1944 in Brandenburg an der Havel) was a German Communist and resistance fighter against the Nazi régime. He was imprisoned very shortly after the Nazis seized power in 1933 and wa ...
,
Franz Jacob and
Robert Abshagen
Robert Abshagen (12 January 1911 in Hamburg – 10 July 1944) was a German Resistance fighter against National Socialism and a Communist.
Biography
Abshagen first worked in insurance, then as a sailor and finally, as a construction worker. He j ...
. It fought the
National Socialist
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 ...
(Nazi) regime from 1940 till the end of the war in 1945. It consisted of about 300 members in over 30 groups in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
factories, making it the biggest regional Nazi resistance group in the history of Hamburg.
History
In 1940, Bästlein, Jacob, Abshagen and
Gustav Bruhn were released from
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...
. They immediately set about building a Resistance organization after secret meetings with the remnants of various Resistance groups of the
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...
and other small groups.
[Short biography of Bästlein.](_blank)
German Resistance Memorial Center. Retrieved March 22, 2010[Short biography of Jacob.](_blank)
German Resistance Memorial Center. Retrieved March 22, 2010[Short biography of Bruhn.](_blank)
German Resistance Memorial Center. Retrieved March 22, 2010 The plan was to help promote the overthrow of the
Nazi
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 ...
regime and end the
war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
by concentrating on large Hamburg companies. Through extensive contacts, they were able to build a conspiratorial network in over 30 firms, primarily in the Hamburg shipyards. Their declared goals were to mobilize the workers, support the foreign
forced laborers and the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
prisoners of war and to
sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...
the weapons production. The group consisted of Communist Party members, some
Social Democrats
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...
, independents and foreign forced laborers. The group promoted a socialist Germany allied with the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, using leaflets that were, as a rule, distributed internally. Through
Wilhelm Guddorf, they had contacts outside Hamburg, with the
Rote Kapelle in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
and
Leo Drabent
Leo Drabent (15 June 1899 – 20 November 1944) was a German peace campaigner and Communist Party of Germany, Communist activist.
He was beheaded at the Brandenburg-Görden Prison after campaigning against the Second World War, war, which ended ...
and
Hermann Böse
Hermann Böse (May 4, 1870, Hemelingen – July 17, 1943, Bremen) was a German music teacher and conductor at the Hermann-Böse-Gymnasium, which was named after him, as well as a communist activist. He was also conductor of the ultra left ...
in
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
.
![Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command%2C_1942-1945._CL3400.jpg)
In October 1942, the activities of the group were discovered by the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
and more than 100 of their then roughly 200 members were arrested. Franz Jacob went
underground
Underground most commonly refers to:
* Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth
Underground may also refer to:
Places
* The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston
* The Underground (S ...
in Berlin and with
Anton Saefkow
Anton Emil Hermann Saefkow (; 22 July 1903 – 18 September 1944) was a German Communist and a resistance fighter against the National Socialist régime. He was arrested in July 1944 and executed on 18 September by guillotine.
Early life
An ...
, established a new network of cells.
[Short biography of Saefkow.](_blank)
German Resistance Memorial Center. Retrieved March 22, 2010
After heavy
air raids on Hamburg in July and August 1943, the city was in shambles. 900,000 Hamburg residents had no more roof over their heads and water, gas and electricity were no longer guaranteed, much less food. The jails were in no better shape, so the decision was made to
furlough
A furlough (; from nl, verlof, "leave of absence") is a temporary leave of employees due to special needs of a company or employer, which may be due to economic conditions of a specific employer or in society as a whole. These furloughs may be s ...
2,000 prisoners for two months, including about 50 Resistance fighters.
[Kathleen Marowsky]
"Die Bästlein-Jacobs-Abshagen Gruppe — Ein Beispiel des kommunistischen Widerstands in Hamburg im 'Dritten Reich'"
Historical website about Hamburg. Retrieved March 23, 2010
. Retrieved March 22, 2010 Many of the furloughed prisoners immediately sought to resume their political work, underground. After a few months, most of them were arrested again.
From May 1944, there were a number of trials known as the "Hamburg Communist Trials", in which numerous were given a
death sentence
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...
and were hanged. In total, 70 members of the group were murdered between 1942 and 1945. Nevertheless, the group was able to sustain its activity till the final days of the war and Hamburg was surrendered to the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
without a fight.
Other key group members were
Walter Bohne,
Gustav Bruhn,
Hans Hornberger,
Oskar Reincke,
Kurt Schill and
Heinz Priess.
Honors and memorials
On September 8, 1946, 27 urns from murdered Resistance fighters from Hamburg were buried in a cemetery in
Ohlsdorf. Included in that number were urns from Bernhard Bästlein, Franz Jacob and Heinz Priess. Other urns were later added for Robert Abshagen and other members of the group.
![Stamps of Germany (DDR) 1964, MiNr 1016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Stamps_of_Germany_%28DDR%29_1964%2C_MiNr_1016.jpg)
During the postwar years, the shop committee of
Blohm & Voss
Blohm+Voss (B+V), also written historically as Blohm & Voss, Blohm und Voß etc., is a German shipbuilding and engineering company. Founded in Hamburg in 1877 to specialise in steel-hulled ships, its most famous product was the World War II battle ...
had a
commemorative plaque
A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other ...
made, honoring the 11 murdered shipyard workers, which included eight members of the Bästlein-Jacob-Abshagen Group. In 1964, the postal service of the
German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
released a series of postage stamps on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the execution of Saefkow, Jacob and Bästlein. There had already been a memorial series on athletes, which had honored Walter Bohne. During the 1980s, Hamburg's Office of Memorials, as part of its program, ''Stätten der Verfolgung und des Widerstandes'' ("Persecution and Resistance Sites"), unveiled a memorial plaque at the
Thalia Theater in Hamburg, which had been one of the bases of the group.
Berlin has streets named for both Bernhard Bästlein and Franz Jacob and there have been
Stolpersteine placed at former homes of Bästlein, Jacob and Abshagen.
Map link to Franz-Jacob-Str., Berlin.
Google Maps. Retrieved March 22, 2010
See also
* Saefkow-Jacob-Bästlein Organization The Saefkow-Jacob-Bästlein Organization was an underground German resistance movement acting during the Second World War, that published the illegal magazine, '' Die Innere Front'' ("The Internal Front").
In the 1940s, the Communist Party of Germ ...
* List of Germans who resisted Nazism
This list contains the names of individuals involved in the German resistance to Nazism, but is not a complete list. Names are periodically added, but not all names are known. There are both men and women on this list of ''Widerstandskämpfe ...
* Katharina Jacob
Bibliography
* Ursula Puls. ''Die Bästlein-Jacob-Abshagen-Gruppe. Bericht über den antifaschistischen Widerstandskampf in Hamburg und an der Wasserkante während des Zweiten Weltkrieges''. Dietz, Berlin, German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
(1959)
* Ursel Hochmuth Ursel is a Flemish surname:
Place
Ursel, town in Flanders, part of Knesselare.
Name
* Noble house d'Ursel, Duke of Ursel, see too: D'Ursel Castle.
** Lancelot II of Ursel
** Charles-Joseph, 4th Duke d'Ursel
** Marie Joseph Charles, 6th Duke d ...
. ''Widerstandsorganisation Bästlein-Jacob-Abshagen''. Ursel Hochmuth and Gertrud Meyer, Editors, ''Streiflichter aus dem Hamburger Widerstand 1933–1945'', Frankfurt am Main 1969, p. 342
* Ursel Hochmuth: ''Niemand und nichts wird vergessen. Biogramme und Briefe Hamburger Widerstandskämpfer 1933–1945. Eine Ehrenhain-Dokumentation'', Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes – Bund der Antifaschistinnen und Antifaschisten e.V. Land Hamburg, VSA-Verlag, Hamburg (2005)
References
External links
"Memorialising the Holocaust" (Study trip to Berlin)
University of Leeds, Department of German (March 2002)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bastlein-Jacob-Abshagen Group
German resistance to Nazism
World War II resistance members
German resistance members
Lists of stolpersteine in Germany