Friedrich Schlotterbeck
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Albert Friedrich Schlotterbeck (January 9, 1909 – April 7, 1979) was a German
author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
who wrote prose fiction, plays, and radio plays, and was a local leader of the German Resistance during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.


Biography

Born in
Reutlingen Reutlingen (; ) is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous Reutlingen (district), district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it had an estimated population of 116,456. Reutlingen has a Reutlingen University, univ ...
in the
Kingdom of Württemberg The Kingdom of Württemberg ( ) was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Electorate of Württemberg, which existed from 1803 to 1806. Geogr ...
as the son of a metal worker, he joined the KJD, the German Communist Youth Party, in 1923, and 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 ...
(KPD) in 1927. He studied in
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
from 1929 to 1930, returned to organize groups against the Nazis, and was arrested by the Nazi government. He was held in various
Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...
from 1934 to 1943, when he was released from the Welzheim concentration camp. He continued his anti-Nazi activities with the Schlotterbeck Group, but the group was captured by the authorities and deported to Dachau, where all captured members were summarily executed, including Schlotterbeck's entire family (except for a three-year-old girl) and his fiance, Else Himmelheber, on November 30, 1944. Schlotterbeck managed to flee to
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
. After 1945 he led the Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime (VVN), an association of victims of Nazi persecution, in US-occupied
Württemberg-Baden Württemberg-Baden was a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was created in 1945 by the United States occupation forces, after the previous states of Baden and Württemberg had been split up between the US and French occupation zones. ...
. He moved to
Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
in 1948 and was active in low-level political functions, but was removed from the SED, the
Socialist Unity Party of Germany The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (, ; SED, ) was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from the country's foundation in 1949 until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. It was a Mar ...
, in 1951, and imprisoned from 1953 to 1956. Author of an autobiography, ''Je dunkler die Nacht, desto heller die Sterne: Erinnerungen eines deutschen Arbeiters 1933-1945'' (1945), and ''Im Rosengarten von Sanssouci'' (1968).Literaturport.de, "Friedrich Schlotterbeck"
/ref> His autobiography was translated by Edward Fitzgerald as ''The Darker The Night, The Brighter The Stars: A German Worker Remembers (1933-1945)'' (London: Gollancz, 1947).


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schlotterbeck, Friedrich 1909 births 1979 deaths People from Reutlingen People from the Kingdom of Württemberg Communist Party of Germany politicians Socialist Unity Party of Germany politicians Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime members Communists in the German Resistance German male writers