Johanna "Hanna" Kirchner (née Johanna Stunz; 24 April 1889 – 9 June 1944) was a German
opponent of the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...
régime.
Johanna Stunz came from a social-democratic family from
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...
,
Hesse-Nassau
The Province of Hesse-Nassau () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868 to 1918, then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944.
Hesse-Nassau was created as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 by combining the p ...
. Her grandfather was one of Frankfurt's first social-democratic aldermen. At 14, she joined the Socialist Worker Youth, and at 18 became a member of the
Social Democratic Party of Germany (''Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands'' – SPD). She worked avidly in the women's movement. In Frankfurt, she became friends with Eleonore Wolf, whose life was taking a similar path.
During the
First World War
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 fig ...
, Kirchner, now a mother of two daughters, busied herself in communal welfare, dedicating herself to needy women's and children's welfare. After that, she worked in the Workers' Welfare organization (''Arbeiterwohlfahrt''; AWO), which she founded together with
Marie Juchacz
Marie Juchacz (née Marie Gohlke; born Landsberg an der Warthe, 15 March 1879; died Düsseldorf, 28 January 1956) was a German social reformer.
She joined the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 1908, more than ten years before women acquired the ...
in 1919. Her special concern here was children who were underfed as a result of the war and the widespread
inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reductio ...
that struck Germany later. Many of these children suffered from damaged health and stunted growth. They had had their childhood taken away from them by events over which they had no control. Kirchner took many of these children to
Switzerland for their health. During the ''Ruhrkampf'', a brief
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...
in Germany in 1920, Kirchner helped evacuate thousands of children from the
Ruhr district
The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a wikt:polycentric, polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population d ...
, sending them to stay with families in
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Da ...
.
In 1933,
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
came to power, and the dedicated anti-fascist had to go underground, as her help in freeing an anti-Nazi from 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 or ...
became known, leading to the danger of her possible arrest. She fled, without her family, to
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is ...
, which was then still under
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide Intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by ...
administration. There she worked at kitchen jobs and as a waitress, also caring for German émigrés through, among other means, the Persecuted Anti-Fascists' Aid Committee (german: für verfolgte Antifaschisten).
When the
Second World War
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
broke out in 1939, Kirchner fled to
Forbach
Forbach ( , , ; gsw, Fuerboch) is a commune in the French department of Moselle, northeastern French region of Grand Est.
It is located on the German border approximately 15 minutes from the center of Saarbrücken, Germany, with which it co ...
,
Metz
Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand Est ...
(both in
Alsace-Lorraine,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
), and then finally
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
. Even while abroad, she helped the resistance movement in Germany: she led the Saar Refugees' Committee (''Saarflüchtlingskommitee''), drew up plans and reports for the SPD's executive in exile, and produced and distributed illegal leaflets.
Even though Kirchner belonged to the SPD and Eleonore Wolf did illegal work for 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), they worked quite closely together in the
Saar
Saar or SAAR has several meanings:
People Given name
*Saar Boubacar (born 1951), Senegalese professional football player
*Saar Ganor, Israeli archaeologist
*Saar Klein (born 1967), American film editor
Surname
* Ain Saar (born 1968), Esto ...
region as they organized the emigration of many officials of the workers' movement out of the
Reich
''Reich'' (; ) is a German noun whose meaning is analogous to the meaning of the English word " realm"; this is not to be confused with the German adjective "reich" which means "rich". The terms ' (literally the "realm of an emperor") and ' (l ...
. (See:
Red Help
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
). From this they also published, under Wolfgang Abendroth's editorship "die Einheit der Arbeiterbewegung in der antifaschistischen Arbeit" (''The Unity of the Workers' Movement in Anti-Fascist Work'').
In 1942, Kirchner was arrested by the
Vichy Régime
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 t ...
and handed over to the Gestapo. She was sentenced to ten years' hard labour ("Zuchthaus") for
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
, the first year of which she spent in a
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...
in
Cottbus
Cottbus (; Lower Sorbian: ''Chóśebuz'' ; Polish: Chociebuż) is a university city and the second-largest city in Brandenburg, Germany. Situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree, Cottbus is also a major railway junction with exte ...
, which she shared with several female members of the
Red Orchestra resistance group, whose goal was to hasten the Nazi régime's collapse. These women's solidarity greatly helped Kirchner overcome the ordeal of being thrown in prison. However, Kirchner's case was brought back before the ''
Volksgerichtshof'' in 1944. This time,
Roland Freisler
Roland Freisler (30 October 1893 – 3 February 1945), a German Nazi jurist, judge, and politician, served as the State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of Justice from 1934 to 1942 and as President of the People's Court from 1942 to 1945.
A ...
, the Chief Justice at the ''Volksgerichtshof'', sentenced her to death, and she was beheaded 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 de ...
in
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
. The judgment accused Kirchner of having "treasonably rooted herself in the evilest Marxist high-treason propaganda". It also accused her of "treasonably gathering cultural, economic, political, and military intelligence and communicating" the same.
"Keep
Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...
's words in mind," wrote Kirchner in a letter to her children on the day of her death, "'Die and become'. Don't cry for me. I believe in a better future for you."
Legacy
Since 1990, the city of Frankfurt am Main, Kirchner's birthplace, has yearly awarded the Johanna Kirchner Medal to those who fight against
oppression
Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment or exercise of power, often under the guise of governmental authority or cultural opprobrium. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced. Oppression refers to discrimination w ...
, and stand up against
terror
Terror(s) or The Terror may refer to:
Politics
* Reign of Terror, commonly known as The Terror, a period of violence (1793–1794) after the onset of the French Revolution
* Terror (politics), a policy of political repression and violence
Emoti ...
,
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...
, and
murder.
Further reading
* Plener, Ulla (2005). Johanna Kirchner. In: Plener, Ulla (ed.): Frauen aus Deutschland in der französischen Résistance. Eine Dokumentation (= Arbeiterbewegung: Forschungen, Dokumente, Biografien). Berlin: Ed. Bodoni, , pp. 59–63
* Dertinger, Antje; Trott, Jan von (1985). Und lebe immer in Eurer Erinnerung. Johanna Kirchner. Eine Frau im Widerstand. Berlin, Bonn: Dietz.
External links
*
Lore Wolf on her meeting with Johanna Kirchner in Berlin-Moabit Prison*
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20050309102643/http://asf-rhein-sieg.de/historie/h_09.html Page about women in the German resistance(in German)
Short biography in Memorial center of the German Resistance
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirchner, Johanna
1889 births
1944 deaths
Executed German women
People from Hesse executed at Plötzensee Prison
People condemned by Nazi courts
Politicians from Frankfurt
People from Hesse-Nassau
People executed by guillotine at Plötzensee Prison
People executed for treason against Germany
Burials at Frankfurt Main Cemetery