The Bästlein-Jacob-Abshagen Group was a German resistance group that developed around the core members Bernhard Bästlein, Franz Jacob and Robert Abshagen. It fought the

National Socialist Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...

(Nazi) regime from 1940 till the end of the war in 1945. It consisted of about 300 members in over 30 groups in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

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 t ...

. 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 (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...

and other small groups.Short biography of Bästlein.
German Resistance Memorial Center. Retrieved March 22, 2010Short biography of Jacob.
German Resistance Memorial Center. Retrieved March 22, 2010Short biography of Bruhn.
German Resistance Memorial Center. Retrieved March 22, 2010 The plan was to help promote the overthrow of the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

regime and end the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

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 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

prisoners of war and to

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...

the weapons production. The group consisted of Communist Party members, some

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

, independents and foreign forced laborers. The group promoted a socialist Germany allied with the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, 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 of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and Leo Drabent and Hermann Böse in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

. In October 1942, the activities of the group were discovered by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, 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 F ...

and more than 100 of their then roughly 200 members were arrested. Franz Jacob went underground in Berlin and with Anton Saefkow, established a new network of cells.Short biography of Saefkow.
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 , "leave of absence") is a temporary cessation of paid employment that is intended to address the special needs of a company or employer; these needs may be due to economic conditions that affect a specific employer, or to thos ...

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 and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

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 an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

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. 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, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...

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 East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

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 A (; plural ) is a concrete cube bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution. Literal translation, Literally, it means 'stumbling stone' and metaphorically 'stumbling block'. ...

placed at former homes of Bästlein, Jacob and Abshagen.Map link to Franz-Jacob-Str., Berlin.
Google Maps. Retrieved March 22, 2010

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,

(1959) * Ursel Hochmuth. ''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 movements Lists of stolpersteine in Germany

History

Honors and memorials

See also

Bibliography

References

External links