Friedrich Rehmer (2 June 1921 in Berlin – 13 May 1943 in

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 ...

) was a German factory worker and

resistance fighter A resistance movement is an organized group of people that tries to resist or try to overthrow a government or an occupying power, causing disruption and unrest in civil order and stability. Such a movement may seek to achieve its goals through ei ...

against the Nazi regime. While attending an evening school in

Schöneberg Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Te ...

, Rehmer met a group of friends that included Ursula Goetze, Otto Gollnow, Hannelore Thiel, Liane Berkowitz, John Rittmeister and

Werner Krauss Werner Johannes Krauss (''Krauß'' in German; 23 June 1884 – 20 October 1959) was a German stage and film actor. Krauss dominated the German stage of the early 20th century. However, his participation in the antisemitic propaganda film '' Jud ...

. In December 1941, he became part of an anti-fascist network after meeting Harro Schulze-Boysen through Wolfgang Rittmeister, brother to John Rittmeister. The network was later called the Red Orchestra ("Rote Kapelle") by the

Abwehr The (German language, German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', though the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context) ) was the German military intelligence , military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ...

. Rehmer was executed in 1943.

Life

Rehmer grew up in

Neukölln Neukölln (), officially abbreviated Neuk, is one of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is located south-east of Berlin's center and stretches from the inner city southward to the border with Brandenburg, encompassing the eponymous quarter of Neu ...

area of Berlin to a working-class family. After school, he did an apprenticeship as a locksmith and worked as an adjuster. At the end of the 1930s, he still took part in excursions and activities of the now-banned

Bündische Jugend The German Youth Movement () is a collective term for a cultural and educational movement that started in 1896. It consists of numerous associations of young people that focus on outdoor activities. The movement included Scouting in germany, Germ ...

. From 1938 to 1940, he successfully attended the ''Heil'schen Abendschule'' at Berlin W 50, Augsburger Straße 60 in

to prepare for the

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

and where he met Liane Berkowitz. Afterwards, he was employed there as a substitute teacher because of his outstanding knowledge of geography and history. From joint schoolwork with his fellow pupil

Eva Rittmeister Eva Rittmeister (born 5 July 1913 in Zeitz, died 19 July 2004 in Remchingen) was a German pediatrics, paediatric nurse, later office worker who became a resistance fighter against the Nazis. During World War II, Rittmeister became involved a Ber ...

, an oppositional discussion circle developed under the guidance of her husband, the psychoanalyst John Rittmeister, to which Rehmer's fiancée Liane Berkowitz also belonged. On 5 June 1941, Rehmer was conscripted into the German army. and severely wounded on the Eastern Front with a leg injury. He was therefore unable to take part in his friends' note-taking campaign against the propaganda exhibition " The Soviet Paradise". In connection with the wave of arrests that followed the arrest of Harro Schulze-Boysen, he was arrested in November 1942 in the Britz military hospital and sentenced to death as a member of the Red Orchestra organisation by the 2nd senate of the

Reichskriegsgericht The Reichskriegsgericht (, RKG; ) was the highest German military law, military court in Germany between 1900 and 1945. Legal basics and responsibilities After the Kingdom of Prussia, Prussian-led Unification of Germany, the German Empire with e ...

on 18 January 1943 and executed on the 13 May 1943 in

. Rehmer was heavily incriminated by witness statements accusing him of

Wehrkraftzersetzung ''Wehrkraftzersetzung'' or ''Zersetzung der Wehrkraft'' ( German for "corroding of defensive strength") was a sedition offence in German military law during the Nazi Germany era from 1938 to 1945. ''Wehrkraftzersetzung'' was enacted in 1938 b ...

(sedition) in the military hospital with statements such as "The war is lost" and "Germans will still have to be ashamed of the crimes in the Soviet Union centuries from now". His fiancée Liane Berkowitz gave birth to their daughter Irina in prison. The child died in October 1943 in a children's home in

Eberswalde Eberswalde () is a major town and the administrative seat of the district Barnim in Brandenburg in north-eastern Germany, about northeast of Berlin. Population 42,144 (census in June 2005). The town is often called Waldstadt (forest town), beca ...

under unexplained circumstances.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rehmer, Friedrich 1921 births 1943 deaths Executed Red Orchestra members German Army personnel of World War II People from Berlin executed at Plötzensee Prison