Judith Auer (née Vallentin) (19 September 1905 – 27 October 1944) was a

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 ...

fighter against 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 ...

régime in

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 ...

Early life

Auer was born in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

. Her father was the communist writer, Erich Vallentin.Short biography of Judith Auer
German Resistance Memorial Center, Berlin. Retrieved May 18, 2010 After her parents' untimely death in 1917,Judith Auer
Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes - Bund der Antifaschisten

Köpenick Köpenick () is a historic town and locality (''Ortsteil'') in Berlin, situated at the confluence of the rivers Dahme and Spree in the south-east of the German capital. It was formerly known as Copanic and then Cöpenick, only officially adopt ...

, Germany. Retrieved July 29, 2010 Judith was brought up by a well-to-do

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish family. She completed her ''

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

'' and began studies in

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

in the hopes of becoming a

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

. In 1924, as a student, she joined 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 ...

, and the next year, moved to Berlin. There, she met and married Erich Auer, a functionary in 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 ...

(KPD), in 1926. In 1927, she joined the KPD. In 1928, Auer went to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

with her husband and worked at the

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...

's offices. In 1929, her daughter Ruth was born. To earn money, Auer learned

typing Typing is the process of writing or inputting text by pressing keys on a typewriter, computer keyboard, mobile phone or calculator. It can be distinguished from other means of text input, such as handwriting and speech recognition. Text can b ...

and

shorthand Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''ste ...

and took a job at a KPD establishment.

Resistance activities

After

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

seized power in Germany in 1933 and the KPD was banned by the new régime, Auer eventually found herself working for

AEG Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG; ) was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in Berlin as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität'' in 1883 by Emil Rathenau. During the Second World War, AEG ...

at the Kabelwerk Oberspree ("cable works"), first as a shorthand typist, and later as a buying agent. It was here that Auer first came into contact with the resistance group around

Fritz Plön Fritz originated as a German nickname for Friedrich, or Frederick (''Der Alte Fritz'', and ''Stary Fryc'' were common nicknames for King Frederick II of Prussia and Frederick III, German Emperor) as well as for similar names including Fridolin ...

, a

welder In a broad sense, a welder is anyone, amateur or professional, who uses welding equipment, perhaps especially one who uses such equipment fairly often. In a narrower sense, a welder is a tradesperson who specializes in fusing materials together ...

, who himself had contacts with the resistance group around

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 A ...

, Franz Jacob,

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 ...

and

Karl Klodt Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austri ...

, the

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 ...

. Auer had also had a long friendship with Änne Weiß, who became Saefkow's wife. Auer managed her resistance group's finances and used business trips to do courier work, especially with a view to establishing links with resistance fighters in

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

, such as

Theodor Neubauer Dr. Theodor Neubauer (12 December 1890, Ermschwerd – 5 February 1945, Brandenburg an der Havel) was a German communist politician, educator, essayist, historian and anti-Nazi resistance fighter. Biography Early life Neubauer was born in th ...

. She also hid Franz Jacob in her flat for several months after he fled from

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

Arrest and execution

Auer was arrested at her workplace on 7 July 1944 and was later tortured. Along with Bruno Hämmerling and Franz Schmidt, she was sentenced to death at the Volksgerichtshof. Auer was hanged 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 ...

in Berlin on 27 October 1944.

Legacy

There are streets named for Auer in Berlin,

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

and

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

.Maplink to Judith-Auer-Straße, Jena, Germany
Google Maps. Retrieved May 18, 2010 In the former

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 ...

, there are several public institutions named after her, as well.

References

External links

*
Judith Auer geb. Vallenthin
at bda-koepenick.de

{{DEFAULTSORT:Auer, Judith 1905 births 1944 deaths Executed communists in the German Resistance Jewish socialists People executed by hanging at Plötzensee Prison Swiss Jews Executed Swiss women Swiss people executed abroad People from Zürich Swiss people executed by Nazi Germany Saefkow-Jacob-Bästlein Organization