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 (, ), 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 ...
.
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 Büchn ...
in 1927, and headed the cultural-political magazine ''
Die Tat
''Die Tat'' (''The Deed'' or ''The Action'') was a German monthly publication of politics and culture. It was founded in April 1909 and its publisher (from 1912 on) was Eugen Diederichs from Jena. From 1939 until 1944 ''Die Tat'' was continued a ...
'' ("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. Called "the king of clowns"Pat CashinGrockClown Alley (blog). (24 August 2006). Retrieved 22 April 2011 and "the greatest of Europe's clowns",Berlin Schauspielhaus. 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:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Greta'' (2018 film), a thriller film directed by Neil Jordan
* ''Greta'' (2020 film), a documentary film about activist Greta Thunberg Music
* Greta (band), hard rock band
* Greta (song), ...
Mildred Harnack
Mildred Elizabeth Harnack (; 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, whe ...
Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
on 12 September 1942, following the arrests of Harnack and many other members of the organization. He was executed at
Plötzensee Prison
Plötzensee Prison (, JVA Plötzensee) is a men's prison in the Charlottenburg-Nord locality of Berlin with a capacity for 577 prisoners, operated by the State of Berlin judicial administration. The detention centre established in 1868 has a lon ...
on 5 August 1943.
In
East Germany
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 ...
, Kuckhoff was honoured as a resistance member. In
Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
- Grünau a school was named after him. It bore his name from 1985 to 1990. In his home town
Aachen
Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants.
Aachen is locat ...
a street was named after him. There is also a street in
Halle (Saale)
Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (), is the second largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is the sixth-most populous city in the area of former East Germany after (East Berlin, East) Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Chem ...
named after him.
References
Further reading
* Ingeborg Drewitz: ''Leben und Werk von Adam Kuckhoff.'' Berlin 1968
* Karlheinz Jackste (Hrsg.): ''Adam Kuckhoff – Tradition und Aufgabe.'' Halle (Saale) 1977.