Fritz Thurm (2 July 1883 – 13 June 1937) was a German Social democrat politician and resistance fighter in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

Biography

Thurm was born in

Fraustadt Wschowa (pronounced , german: Fraustadt) is a town in the Lubusz Voivodeship in western Poland with 13,875 inhabitants (2019). It is the capital of Wschowa County and a significant tourist site containing many important historical monuments. His ...

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (german: Provinz Posen, pl, Prowincja Poznańska) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920. Posen was established in 1848 following the Greater Poland Uprising as a successor to the Grand Duchy of Posen, w ...

, German Empire (now Wschowa, Poland). He was trained as a bookprinter and joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in 1905. He worked for the public health insurance (AOK) of

Berlin-Lichtenberg Lichtenberg () is a quarter (''Ortsteil'') of Berlin in the homonymous borough (''Bezirk'') of Lichtenberg. Until 2001 it was an autonomous district with the localities of Fennpfuhl, Rummelsburg, Friedrichsfelde and Karlshorst. History The h ...

from 1913 on and served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

from 1915 to 1918. He became a member of the

Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, USPD) was a short-lived political party in Germany during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. The organization was establis ...

(USPD) and was elected town councillor and deputy mayor of Lichtenberg in 1919 but not appointed by the Upper President of the

Province of Brandenburg The Province of Brandenburg (german: Provinz Brandenburg) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1945. Brandenburg was established in 1815 from the Kingdom of Prussia's core territory, comprised the bulk of the historic Margraviate of Brandenburg ...

. Thurm rejoined the SPD in 1922 and was elected and appointed town councillor of Lichtenberg in 1926. In March 1933 he was dismissed from this position after the

Nazi takeover Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the ''Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Bei ...

.stolpersteine-berlin.de
Stolperstein Kreutzigerstr 28 (Friedh) Fritz Thurm

As a leading member of the underground SPD party executive in Berlin Thurm distributed illegal publications and was arrested in autumn 1933. After his release in spring 1934 Thurm remained unemployed. In January 1936 he took part in a commemoration at the

Karl Liebknecht Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht (; 13 August 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a German socialist and anti-militarist. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) beginning in 1900, he was one of its deputies in the Reichstag fro ...

memorial at

Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde The Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery (german: Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde) is a cemetery in the borough of Lichtenberg in Berlin. It was the cemetery used for many of Berlin's Socialists, Communists, and anti-fascist fighters. History W ...

and was arrested 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 ...

. Thurm was imprisoned in

Berlin-Moabit Moabit () is an inner city locality in the borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. As of 2016, around 77,000 people lived in Moabit. First inhabited in 1685 and incorporated into Berlin in 1861, the former industrial and working-class neighbourhood i ...

and in the

Lichtenburg concentration camp Lichtenburg was a Nazi concentration camp, housed in a Renaissance castle in Prettin, near Wittenberg in the Province of Saxony. Along with Sachsenburg, it was among the first to be built by the Nazis, and was operated by the SS from 1933 to ...

. He was released from custody on 17 April 1937 and died on 13 June 1937 as a result of the injuries sustained during detention. Thurm was buried at Berlin-

Baumschulenweg Baumschulenweg () is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') within the Berlin borough (''Bezirk'') of Treptow-Köpenick. Until 2001 it was part of the former borough of Treptow. Its name means road (''weg'') of the plant nurseries (''Baumschulen''). I ...

cemetery, his funeral was attended by a large crowd of sympathizers. The Fritz-Thurm-Weg in Berlin-

Karlshorst Karlshorst (, ; ; literally meaning ''Karl's nest'') is a locality in the borough of Lichtenberg in Berlin. Located there are a harness racing track and the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin (''HTW''), the largest University of Applied ...

is named in his honour, a

Stolperstein A (; plural ; literally 'stumbling stone', metaphorically a 'stumbling block') is a sett-size, concrete cube bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution. The project, initi ...

is placed in front of his former residence Kreutzigerstrasse 28, Berlin

Friedrichshain Friedrichshain () is a quarter (''Ortsteil'') of the borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in Berlin, Germany. From its creation in 1920 until 2001, it was a freestanding city borough. Formerly part of East Berlin, it is adjacent to Mitte, Pr ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thurm, Fritz 1883 births 1937 deaths People from Wschowa People from the Province of Posen German military personnel of World War I Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Independent Social Democratic Party politicians German resistance members Lichtenburg concentration camp survivors People from Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg