Karl Ibach (April 3, 1915 – May 3, 1990) was a German member of the resistance against the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

and later, a writer and politician.

Biographical details

Ibach was born in

Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the Germany, German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929. History The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "''elverfelde''" was ...

, today part of

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

, Germany. At the age of 16, he joined the

Young Communist League The Young Communist League (YCL) is the name used by the youth wing of various Communist parties around the world. The name ''YCL of ountry' originates from the precedent established by the Communist Youth International. Examples of YCLs includ ...

and later, the Communist Party (''Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands'' or KPD). He had planned to become a bookseller, but in spring 1933, was arrested and detained at the Kemna concentration camp in Wuppertal, becoming one of the youngest prisoners at the age of 18. He spent 74 days at Kemna and was not tortured. Ibach was apparently seen by the SA guards as having been a misguided teenager and was allowed to work in the camp administration office.David Magnus Mintert (2007), p. 237 He was released in October 1933, when the SA released a large number of prisoners. He continued his resistance activities, fleeing to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, but was arrested again shortly after returning to Germany. He was charged with suspicion of preparing to commit

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

and was convicted in Hamm to an 8-year sentence in a Zuchthaus. Until 1943, he was imprisoned in

Nazi concentration camp 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 ...

s and Zuchthouses, in Esterwegen,

Börgermoor Emslandlager ("Emsland camps") were a series of 15 moorland Nazi concentration camps, labor, punitive and POWs-camps, active from 1933 to 1945 and located in the districts of Emsland and County of Bentheim (district), Bentheim, Lower Saxony, Germa ...

and Zuchthaus Waldheim. In 1943, he was transferred to Lager Heuberg and Punishment Division 999, where he was drilled for later military deployment to the front to defend the

. In 1944, Ibach became a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

and was released in 1947. In 1948, Ibach published a report about his experiences at Kemna. For more than three decades, his and Willi Weiler's published reports were the only published sources of information about the history of the regional concentration camp system. Karl Ibach was a co-founder and director of the

Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Unio ...

. From 1950 to 1971, he was the director of the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

branch. From 1954 to 1969, he was the vice chairman of the ''Zentralverband demokratischer Widerstandskämpfer- und Verfolgtenorganisationen'' (Central Association of Democratic Resistance Fighters and Persecuted Organizations) and a member of the presidium of the ''Fédération Internationale Libre des Déportés et Internés de la Résistance'' (Free International Federation of Deportees and Internees of the Resistance) in the

Barmen Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form the city of Wuppertal. Barmen, together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the first electric ...

neighborhood of Wuppertal. He became a member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

in 1957 and supervised the electoral district 76,

Landesliste In Germany, the state list or state electoral proposal, ( ''German'': Landesliste or Landeswahlvorschlag) is the list of candidates of a party for the election to the Bundestag, or the elections to those state parliaments with mixed-member proport ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

from 1957 to 1980.

Recognition and honors

Ibach's book was republished in 1980 with a foreword by

Johannes Rau Johannes Rau (; 16 January 193127 January 2006) was a German politician who served as President of Germany from 1999 to 2004. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he previously served as the Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia fro ...

, then Minister-President of

and later

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

, who was from Wuppertal."Vorkriegszeit und Zweiter Weltkrieg in Wuppertal: KZ Kemna"
ZeitSpurenSuche.de Retrieved January 7, 2012 In 1985, Ibach was awarded the Honorary Ring of the city of Wuppertal. The street above Beyenburger Straße in Wuppertal, across from the former grounds of Kemna concentration camp is named after Karl Ibach and is the location of the memorial for the camp.
Jugendring Wuppertal e.V. Retrieved January 6, 2012

Sources

* Peter Steinbach, ''Karl Ibach. Zur Biographie eines Widerstandskämpfers'', Wissenschaftsverlag Richard Rothe, Passau 1990 * Karl Ibach, ''Kemna: Wuppertaler Konzentrationslager 1933–1934'', Peter Hammer Verlag, Erstauflage 1948, Wuppertal

Footnotes

References

External links

*

German teaching materials about Kemna concentration camp with postcard from Karl Ibach. Retrieved January 5, 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ibach, Karl Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians German resistance members German communists Kemna concentration camp survivors 1990 deaths 1915 births Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Esterwegen concentration camp survivors Börgermoor concentration camp survivors