Martin Weise (12 May 1903 – 15 November 1943) was a German journalist, member of 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) and a resistance fighter against the Nazis 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 ...

. From 1929 to 1934, Weiss published the socialist

Die Rote Fahne ''Die Rote Fahne'' (, ''The Red Flag'') was a German newspaper originally founded in 1876 by Socialist Worker's Party leader Wilhelm Hasselmann, and which has been since published on and off, at times underground, by German Socialists and Commun ...

newspaper. He was arrested and sent to a concentration camp until 1939. When he was released, he decided to resist and made contact with Wilhelm Guddorf and the

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

based group around

Bernhard Bästlein Bernhard Bästlein (; 3 December 1894 – 18 September 1944) was a German Communist and German resistance to Nazism, resistance fighter against the Nazism, Nazi régime. He was imprisoned very shortly after the Nazis seized power in 1933 and was i ...

and

Robert Abshagen Robert Abshagen (12 January 1911 in Hamburg – 10 July 1944) was a German Resistance fighter against National Socialism and a Communist. Biography Abshagen first worked in insurance, then as a sailor and finally, as a construction worker. He j ...

He became associated with an anti-fascist resistance group that was run by

Harro Schulze-Boysen Heinz Harro Max Wilhelm Georg Schulze-Boysen (; Schulze, 2 September 1909 – 22 December 1942) was a left-wing German publicist and Luftwaffe officer during World War II. As a young man, Schulze-Boysen grew up in prosperous family with two sibl ...

and

Arvid Harnack Arvid Harnack (; 24 May 1901 – 22 December 1942) was a German jurist, Marxist economist, Communist, and German resistance fighter in Nazi Germany. Harnack came from an intellectual family and was originally a humanist. He was strongly influen ...

, that was later called the Red Orchestra 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 ...

Life

Wiese was the son of a teacher. As a secondary school pupil, Weise joined the

Wandervogel ''Wandervogel'' (plural: ''Wandervögel''; English: "Wandering Bird") is the name adopted by a popular movement of German youth groups from 1896 to 1933, who protested against industrialization by going to hike in the country and commune with na ...

movement, then the (FSJ), then later still in 1927, the

(KPD), becoming a committed communist. Weise began studying history and philosophy in 1922. However, he had to abandon his studies in 1924 for financial reasons. Before becoming unemployed in 1928, Weise worked for a few years as a clerk in an insurance company. From 1929 to 1933 he was a district councillor for the KPD 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 ...

in Bertlin. From 1930, he wrote articles for the central organ of the KPD, ''

''. Weise was one of the editors who continued to publish this newspaper illegally after the Nazis Seizure of control in 1933. On 5 April 1934, he was sentenced by the Berlin Court of Appeal, to three years in prison, which he spent in the Brandenburg prison. He learned that his fiancée Baroness , who had worked as a courier for the KPD, had committed suicide in prison on 27 May 1936, after succumbing to Gestapo abuse while in custody. After his release from prison in 1937, he was transferred to

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners t ...

. After his release from the concentration camp in April 1939, Weise re-established contact with his friends, including Wilhelm Guddorf. Weise and Guddorf established links with the Hamburg communists,

and

. Together they collaborated on the pamphlet "Organised the Revolutionary Mass Struggle" (Organisiert den revolutionären Massenkampf). Together with

John Sieg John Sieg (February 3, 1903 – October 15, 1942) was an American-born German Communist railroad worker, journalist and resistance fighter, who publicized Nazi atrocities through the underground Communist press and fought against National Sociali ...

, Fritz Lange and

Walter Husemann Walter Husemann (2 December 1909 – 13 May 1943) was a German communist and German resistance to Nazism, resistance fighter against the Nazi regime. As a young man, Husemann trained an industrial toolmaker, before training as a journalist. He ...

, Weise regularly distributed the underground journal '' Die Innere Front'' (The Home Front) in Berlin from the end of 1941, which contained appeals, information about the general situation and references to the broadcast frequencies of Moscow radio.

Death

Weise was arrested in December 1942. On 8 October 1943 the 2nd Senate of the People's Court condemned him to death because of "preparation for high treason and because of enemy favouritism". Weise was executed by beheading in Brandenburg prison on 15 November 1943.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weise, Martin 1903 births 1943 deaths Executed Red Orchestra members People from Torgau Executed communists in the German Resistance German journalists People from Saxony executed by Nazi Germany People executed by Nazi Germany by guillotine