Otto Kühne (12 May 1893, 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 ...

– 8 December 1955, in Brandenburg an der Havel) 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 ...

militant, who led a

maquis Maquis may refer to: Resistance groups * Maquis (World War II), predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance * Spanish Maquis, guerrillas who fought against Francoist Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War * The network ...

group of German antifascist fighters in the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

region of

Lozère Lozère (; oc, Losera ) is a landlocked department in the region of Occitanie in Southern France, located near the Massif Central, bounded to the northeast by Haute-Loire, to the east by Ardèche, to the south by Gard, to the west by Aveyron, ...

in 1943 and 1944 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. A railwayman by profession, Kühne had been a communist deputy during the

Reichstag fire The Reichstag fire (german: Reichstagsbrand, ) was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of ...

, and had subsequently fled to France.

The maquis de Lozère

At the beginning of the war, Kühne was interned by the

Vichy regime Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

and sent to a foreign workers' camp in

Chanac Chanac () is a commune in the Lozère department in southern France. See also *Communes of the Lozère department The following is a list of the 152 communes of the Lozère department of France France (), officially the French Re ...

in the

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

, where he formed a resistance group with former members of the

International Brigades The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed f ...

which was first attached to the ''

Combat Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...

'' network in spring 1942. He was in contact with the leadership of the

KPD 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 with the

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

-based Free Germany Committee. In spring 1942, Kühne was one of the founders of the Maquis de Bonnecombe. At the time he used the false name "Monsieur Schumann" and attempted to develop contacts with the

Parti communiste français The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Unit ...

. This was not without difficulties; his initial attempts were met with mistrust, for fear of infiltration by

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 ...

moles Moles can refer to: *Moles de Xert, a mountain range in the Baix Maestrat comarca, Valencian Community, Spain *The Moles (Australian band) *The Moles, alter ego of Scottish band Simon Dupree and the Big Sound People *Abraham Moles, French engineer ...

. Nonetheless, the German anti-fascists found strong support among the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

-majority population of Cévennes. Kühne quickly became the leader of this maquis, with a reputation for solidity, intransigence and inflexibility. He became the political officer for the "Montaigne" maquis which merged three German maquis at the beginning of 1944. Kühne fought in the battles of 7–8 April 1944 at

Saint-Étienne-Vallée-Française Saint-Étienne-Vallée-Française (; oc, Sent Estève de Valfrancesca) is a commune in the Lozère department in southern France. The Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson passed through the village on 2 October 1878, as recounted in his book ...

(Lozère), where the German maquis destroyed a patrol of the

Feldgendarmerie The ''Feldgendarmerie'' (, "field gendarmerie") were a type of military police units of the armies of the Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number o ...

and in an ambush against the Waffen SS on 5 June 1944 at La Rivière. He was leading a small group of about 10 maquisards when the maquis dispersed to evade an attempted encirclement by the SS reacting to these maquis operations. When the various elements of the German maquis reformed at the

Plan de Fontmort A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal. ...

, a high place of resistance of the Camisards, Kühne took command. He worked with the French "Bir Hakeim", although this was not without conflict. The GMR and the milice were tracking them in the mountains. The

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

attacked the "Bir Hakeim" group at La Borie-La Parade on Pentecost Sunday. The fighting left 61 dead; those maquisards who surrendered were executed. Kühne's group lost about ten men. He also fought in the battles for

French liberation From 1939 to 1940, the French Third Republic was at war with Nazi Germany. In 1940, the German forces defeated the French in the Battle of France. The German occupied the north and west of French territory and a collaborationist régime under Ph ...

, welcoming deserters from the Wehrmacht (particularly

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

ns) in the Mende region. At that time, he connected with the

FTP-MOI The Francs-tireurs et partisans – main-d'œuvre immigrée (FTP-MOI) were a sub-group of the ''Francs-tireurs et partisans'' (FTP) organization, a component of the French Resistance. A wing composed mostly of foreigners, the MOI maintained an arm ...

. His resistance name became "Robert", and he was given military responsibility within FTP-MOI for the Lozère, the

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Ardèche Ardèche (; oc, Ardecha; frp, Ardecha) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019.Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

with a bronze star. By the next month, he had more than 2,000 FTP fighters under his command. Kühne seems not to have participated in the liberation of

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...

in person, or in the parade of 4 September (unlike other German anti-fascists). He quickly returned to Lyon, where he participated in the "Free Germany Committee" (CALPO).

Bibliography

* Evelyne et Yvan Brès, ''Un maquis d'antifascistes allemands en France (1942-1944)'', Les Presses du Languedoc - Max Chaleil éditeur, 1987 (French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhne, Otto 1890s births 1955 deaths Politicians from Berlin Communist Party of Germany politicians Socialist Unity Party of Germany politicians Communists in the German Resistance