Marta Damkowski (also Martha Damkowski, née Marta Bröker; 16 March 1911 – 9 August 1979) was a German

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

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

and a

Social Democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

politician.

Life

From its foundation in 1923, Marta was a member of the Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft der Kinderfreunde (RAG) ("National Association of Friends of Children"), which was connected with the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

(SPD). After completing a commercial apprenticeship, Marta joined the

Socialist German Workers Youth Socialist German Workers Youth (, abbreviated SDAJ) is a political youth organization in Germany. It is a Marxist–Leninist organization and related to the Deutsche Kommunistische Partei (German Communist Party). SDAJ is a member of World Fe ...

(SDAJ) in 1927. In 1928 she joined the International Socialist Militant League (ISK). After the Nazi party came to power in 1933, Marta was active in the resistance work of the ISK in various places, until she was arrested in 1937. In 1938 she was sentenced in the People's Court to thirteen months in prison. She was released in 1940, and shortly afterwards married Herbert Damkowski (who had been sentenced to prison along with Marta in 1938). Herbert was later killed in battle in 1944, while part of a

penal military unit A penal military unit, also known as a penal formation, disciplinary unit, or just penal unit (usually named for their formation and size, such as ''penal battalion'' for battalions, ''penal regiment'' for regiments, ''penal company'' for companie ...

. In 1945 Marta joined the German Social Democratic Party (SPD). She acted as the female secretary of the SPD from 1946 to 1949. Between 1947 and 1953 Marta was elected to the

Hamburg Parliament The Hamburg Parliament (; literally “Hamburgish Citizenry” or, more poetically, “Hamburgish Burgess (title), Burgessry”) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the German state of Hamburg according to the constitution of Hamburg. ...

. She was also a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

, working for the department of Justice in Hamburg, and temporarily acting as governor of the women's prison in Hahnöfersand near Hamburg. Marta was politically engaged with the

women's movement The feminist movement, also known as the women's movement, refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by inequality between men and women. Such issues are women's ...

(especially regarding sexual education and the law on abortion) and other socio-political issues. She was active in the Arbeitsgemeinschaft sozialdemokratischer Frauen (Working Group of Social Democratic Women).

Legacy

Marta Damkowski SophieSchollStiftung FriedhofOhlsdorf

*In 1986 a street in

Neuallermöhe is a quarter of Hamburg, Germany, in the borough of Bergedorf. In 2020 the population was over 23,000. Geography 200px, left, Viewing platform „Zuckerstangen“ Neuallermöhe limits to the Berlin-Hamburg Railway and Billwerder to the north. ...

in Hamburg was named after Marta Damkowski. *In

Ohlsdorf Cemetery Ohlsdorf Cemetery ( or (former) ) in the Ohlsdorf, Hamburg, Ohlsdorf quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany, is the biggest rural cemetery in the world and the fourth-largest cemetery in the world. Most of the people buried at the cemetery are c ...

in Hamburg, among the memorials for the victims and opponents of the Nazi regime, there is a memorial stone for Marta Damkowski and her husband, Herbert (grid reference Bn 73 No. 342).Kissenstein ''Herbert und Martha Damkowski''
at ''genealogy.net''

Notes

References

*Jan Foitzik: ''Zwischen den Fronten. Zur Politik, Organisation und Funktion linker politischer Kleinorganisationen im Widerstand 1933 bis 1939/40''. Bonn 1986, S. 262 *Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke, eds., ''Hamburgische Biografie: Personenlexikon'' (Wallstein, 2008). *Rita Blake and Brita Reimers, ''So lebten Sie! Spazieren auf den Wegen von Frauen in Hamburgs Alt- und Neustadt'' (Christians Verlag, 2003). *Sabine Lemke-Müller, ''Ethik des Widerstands: der Kampf des Internationalen Sozialistischen Kampfbundes (ISK) gegen den Nationalsozialismus: Quellen und Texte zum Widerstand aus der Arbeiterbewegung 1933–1945'' (J.H.W. Dietz, 1996)

External links

Hamburger Sozialdemokratinnen und Sozialdemokraten in Verfolgung und Widerstand 1933 - 1945
(in German_
Biografie mit Porträt zu Marta Damkowski
bei ''frauenbiografien hamburg''.de (in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Damkowski, Marta Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians German anti-fascists German resistance members 1911 births 1979 deaths Female anti-fascists