Hermann Maaß (23 October 1897 – 20 October 1944) was a German member of the

Resistance Resistance may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Either of two similarly named but otherwise unrelated comic book series, both published by Wildstorm: ** ''Resistance'' (comics), based on the video game of the same title ** ''T ...

against the Nazi régime.

Biography

Maaß was born in

Bromberg Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (german: Provinz Posen, pl, Prowincja Poznańska) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920. Posen was established in 1848 following the Greater Poland Uprising as a successor to the Grand Duchy of Posen, w ...

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

(modern Bydgoszcz, Poland), he volunteered for the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and was wounded in a

gas attack Chemical warfare (CW) involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as Chemical weapon, weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from nuclear warfare, biological warfare and radiological warfare, which together make up CBRN defen ...

in 1918. After the war he studied philosophy, psychology, and sociology at the

Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

and the political science institute (Hochschule für Politik).Biography
at

Memorial to the German Resistance The German Resistance Memorial Center (german: Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand) is a memorial and museum in Berlin, capital of Germany. History It was opened in 1980 in part of the Bendlerblock, a complex of offices in Stauffenbergstrasse (fo ...

Maaß worked as general manager of the Reich Committee of German Youth Associations (Reichsausschuß der deutschen Jugendverbände). After the Nazis seized power in 1933 he lost this position because all youth organizations were forced to conform to the party line. Maaß now became a close associate of

Wilhelm Leuschner Wilhelm Leuschner (15 June 1890, in Bayreuth, Bavaria – 29 September 1944, in Berlin- Plötzensee) was a trade unionist and Social Democratic politician. An early opponent of Nazism, he organized underground resistance in the labour movement. ...

, the former minister of the interior of the

People's State of Hesse The People's State of Hesse (german: Volksstaat Hessen) was one of the constituent states of Weimar Republic, Germany from 1918 to 1945, as the successor to the Grand Duchy of Hesse (german: Großherzogtum Hessen) after the defeat of the German ...

. Maaß turned down a teaching position at the

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

to continue his fight against National Socialism from within Germany. He organized resistance among former labor unionists and had close contact to the

Kreisau Circle The Kreisau Circle (German: ''Kreisauer Kreis'', ) (1940–1944) was a group of about twenty-five German dissidents in Nazi Germany led by Helmuth James von Moltke, who met at his estate in the rural town of Kreisau, Silesia. The circle was com ...

Helmuth James Graf von Moltke Helmuth James Graf von Moltke (11 March 1907 – 23 January 1945) was a German jurist who, as a draftee in the German Abwehr, acted to subvert German human-rights abuses of people in territories occupied by Germany during World War II. He w ...

Peter Yorck von Wartenburg Peter Graf Yorck von Wartenburg (13 November 1904 – 8 August 1944) was a German jurist and a member of the German Resistance against Nazism. He studied law and politics in Bonn and Breslau from 1923 to 1926, gaining his doctorate in Breslau in ...

and

Adam von Trott zu Solz Friedrich Adam von Trott zu Solz (9 August 1909 – 26 August 1944) was a German lawyer and diplomat who was involved in the conservative resistance to Nazism. A declared opponent of the Nazi regime from the beginning, he actively participated in ...

. In the autumn of 1943, Maaß met

Claus von Stauffenberg Colonel Claus Philipp Maria Justinian Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (; 15 November 1907 – 21 July 1944) was a German army officer best known for his failed attempt on 20 July 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair. Despite ...

at his home.Im Geiste bleibe ich bei Euch
Sueddeutsche Zeitung, 18 July 2003 Bundesarchiv Bild 151-11-29, Volksgerichtshof, Adolf Reichwein

After the failure of Stauffenberg's attempt to kill Hitler, Maaß was arrested on 8 August 1944, and imprisoned at

Ravensbrück concentration camp Ravensbrück () was a German concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure o ...

. He was charged at the Volksgerichtshof for his involvement in the resistance movement next to

Adolf Reichwein Adolf Reichwein (3 October 1898 – 20 October 1944) was a German educator, economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, a ...

Julius Leber Julius Leber (16 November 1891 – 5 January 1945) was a German politician of the SPD and a member of the German resistance against the Nazi régime. Early life Leber was born in Biesheim, Alsace, out of wedlock, to Katharina Schubetzer and lat ...

and Gustav Dahrendorf. Maaß, Reichwein and Leber were sentenced to death on 20 October 1944, with Maaß and Reichwein executed the same day at 3.40 p.m. at

Plötzensee prison Plötzensee Prison (german: Justizvollzugsanstalt Plötzensee, JVA Plötzensee) is a juvenile prison in the Charlottenburg-Nord locality of Berlin with a capacity for 577 prisoners, operated by the State of Berlin judicial administration. The d ...

.Adolf Reichwein - Reformpädagoge, Erwachsenenbildner und Museumspädagoge, Widerstandskämpfer gegen das nationalsozialistische Regime
His 43-year-old wife died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

5 weeks after his death; they left behind 6 underage children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maass, Hermann 1897 births 1944 deaths People from Bydgoszcz People from the Province of Posen German Army personnel of World War I Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Executed members of the 20 July plot People executed by hanging at Plötzensee Prison