Adam Kuckhoff (, 30 August 1887 – 5 August 1943) was a German writer, journalist, and German resistance member of the anti-fascist resistance group that was later called the Red Orchestra by 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 ...

Life

Adam Kuckhoff published a popular edition of the works of

Georg Büchner Karl Georg Büchner (17 October 1813 – 19 February 1837) was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose, considered part of the Young Germany movement. He was also a revolutionary and the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büch ...

in 1927, and headed the cultural-political magazine '' Die Tat'' ("The Deed") in 1928–1929, which he gave a left-wing, socialist flavour. In 1931, he wrote the artistic novel ''Scherry'' about

Grock Grock (born Charles Adrien Wettach; 10 January 1880 – 14 July 1959) was a Swiss clown, composer, and musician. Called “the king of clowns”Pat CashinGrockClown Alley (blog). (August 24, 2006). Retrieved April 22, 2011 and “the greatest of ...

. Between 1931 and 1932, he was a dramatic adviser at the

Berlin Schauspielhaus The Konzerthaus Berlin is a concert hall in Berlin, the home of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Situated on the Gendarmenmarkt square in the central Mitte district of the city, it was originally built as a theater. It initially operated from ...

. His main work, the world

war novel A war novel or military fiction is a novel about war. It is a novel in which the primary action takes place on a battlefield, or in a civilian setting (or home front), where the characters are preoccupied with the preparations for, suffering th ...

''Der Deutsche von Bayencourt'' ("The German from Bayencourt") appeared in Germany in 1937. He and his wife

Greta Greta may refer to: *Greta (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name Places * Greta Bridge, village in County Durham, England * Greta, New South Wales, town in Australia ** Greta railway station ** Greta Army Camp, form ...

were involved with Arvid and

Mildred Harnack Mildred Elizabeth Harnack ( Fish; September 16, 1902 – February 16, 1943) was an American literary historian, translator, and member of the German resistance against the Nazi regime. After marrying Arvid Harnack, she moved to Germany in 1929, ...

and the Red Orchestra. He was arrested in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

on 12 September 1942, following the arrests of Harnack and many other members of the organization. He was executed 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 ...

on 5 August 1943. In

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 ...

, Kuckhoff was honoured as a resistance member. In

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 ...

-Grünau a school was named after him. It bore his name from 1985 to 1990. In his home town Aachen a street was named after him.

References

* * Ingeborg Drewitz: ''Leben und Werk von Adam Kuckhoff.'' Berlin 1968 * Karlheinz Jackste (Hrsg.): ''Adam Kuckhoff – Tradition und Aufgabe.'' Halle (Saale) 1977.

External links

Portrait by Dieter Götze
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuckhoff, Adam 1887 births 1943 deaths Red Orchestra (espionage) German male journalists German people of World War II German resistance members People condemned by Nazi courts People from Aachen People from the Rhine Province Executions at Plötzensee Prison University of Freiburg alumni Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Heidelberg University alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg alumni Executed people from North Rhine-Westphalia German male novelists 20th-century German novelists 20th-century German male writers 20th-century German journalists