Английская Википедия:Franz Leuninger

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Franz Leuninger (28 December 1898Шаблон:Spnd1 March 1945) was a German trade unionist, politician and resistant against the Nazis' rise to power and regime. Working as a bricklayer after school, he became a member of the trade union for construction workers early on, serving as its regional leader in Silesia in the 1920s. He was a member of the city council of Breslau for the Zentrumspartei from 1930, and ran for the German Reichstag in 1933, as a strong opponent of the Nazi party.

After the 20 July 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler, he was arrested as one of the personalities planned for leading positions in a new beginning. Months later, he was sentenced to death and executed. He is remembered as a man who sacrificed his life consciously, based on his Christian faith, to fight against an unjust regime. He was introduced as a martyr of the 20th century by the Catholic Church, and a school and streets were named after him.

Early life and career

Leuninger was born in Mengerskirchen in the Westerwald region, the third of nine childrenШаблон:Sfn of the farmer and smith Weinand Leuninger and his wife Elisabeth.Шаблон:Sfn He was raised with a strong Christian background, laying the foundation for his belief in human rights such as dignity and freedom of conscience (Menschenwürde und Gewissensfreiheit).Шаблон:Sfn After elementary school, despite his abilities, the family could not afford to enroll him in higher education.Шаблон:Sfn He took jobs in building farm roads in his hometown, then, not even 14 years old,Шаблон:Sfn helping one of his brothers in construction work in Remscheid.Шаблон:Sfn He then worked as a bricklayer in the Siegerland region.Шаблон:Sfn In the winter season, when construction stopped, he assisted his father in smithing.Шаблон:Sfn

During the First World War, he was drafted and served until the end of the war. He ended the war with the rank of Unteroffizier.Шаблон:Sfn Afterwards, he worked as bricklayer in the Aachen region.Шаблон:Sfn He joined a Christian trade union for construction workers early on, the Christlicher Bauarbeiterverband, a subdivision of Christian trade unions.Шаблон:Sfn He became its local secretary in Aachen in 1922.Шаблон:Sfn In 1924, he married Anna Paulina Meuser in Mengerskirchen.Шаблон:Sfn He rose to district secretary, and worked in the same function in Euskirchen. He was then called to service in Krefeld, where the couple moved into a first apartment together, and three sons were born, Franz, Walter and Herbert.Шаблон:Sfn From 1927, not even 30 years old, he led the trade union in Breslau where he was responsible for Silesia.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn He was a member of the Deutsche Zentrumspartei, elected to the city council of Breslau in 1930. In March 1933, he ran for the German Reichstag; in his campaign, he was a strong opponent of the Nazi party.Шаблон:Sfn He warned urgently of the consequences of them taking over the government, foreseeing the damage to the trade unions in particular, and democracy, justice and freedom in general.Шаблон:Sfn He said in an election meeting in 1932 that all present would lose their homeland (Heimat) if Hitler came to power. Шаблон:Sfn Some were irritated by the combination of union manager and Zentrumspartei, but Leuninger clarified that his sense for justice would demand him to stay faithful to the interests of workers even against party interests.Шаблон:Sfn

Under the Nazis

After the Nazis came to power, free trade unions were banned, and Leuninger was laid off.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn After being unemployed for a short time, he took over the management of a non-profit housing association (Siedlungsgesellschaft) called Deutsches Heim (German home),Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn for which he had already worked voluntarily.Шаблон:Sfn In this position, he was able to offer jobs to people who criticized the regime.Шаблон:Sfn He came into contact with the resistance groups around Carl Goerdeler, the mayor of Leipzig, Ludwig Beck, the Army's Chief of General Staff and a leader in the anti-Hitler resistance, and the Christian trade unionist Jakob Kaiser.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

In World War II, Leuninger was drafted to serve in the army in the Invasion of Poland.Шаблон:Sfn He wrote in a letter to his brother stating "There is nothing that justifies war, and all means are permitted to prevent a war.Шаблон:Sfn Back in Breslau, he agreed to be ready to take over the position of Ober-Präsident of Silesia in the Шаблон:Ill in the democratic new beginning which the lotters hoped would follow a successful revolution.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn After the failure of the assassination attempt on Hitler on 20 July 1944, Leuninger was arrested on 26 September, accused of not having reported the peace negotiations of which he was aware. This was a crime of high treason under the penal code of the time.Шаблон:Sfn He remained in custody for several months, while his wife escaped to the West, and their sons were drafted.Шаблон:Sfn He was tried by the People's Court on 28 February 1945.Шаблон:Sfn He was sentenced to death, and executed the following day on 1 March 1945 in Plötzensee Prison in Berlin, at the age of 46.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In a sermon in an ecumenical memorial service at the site on 20 July 1999, Karl Meyer said that Leuninger walked to his execution singing psalms.Шаблон:Sfn

Leuninger belonged to those killed when the end of the war was already near.Шаблон:Sfn Hermann von Lüninck, who was in prison with him, wrote: "He lived the last days with admirable strength, which can only be explained by his deep Christian faith ... Franz Leuninger was a man who sacrificed his life for us and for his fatherland with great awareness and clear will." ("Mit bewundernswerter, nur aus seinem tief-christlichen Glauben erklärlichen Stärke hat er die letzten Tage gelebt ... Franz Leuninger war ein Mensch, der sein Leben ganz bewusst und klaren Willens für uns und für sein Vaterland geopfert hat.")Шаблон:Sfn

Memorial

Файл:Mengerskirchen Franz-Leuninger-Schule.jpg
The Franz Leuninger School in Mengerskirchen

The Catholic Church acknowledged Franz Leuninger as a witness of faith (Glaubenszeuge) in a semi-official work entitled the Шаблон:Ill. Шаблон:Ill, commissioned by the German Bishops' Conference to produce the work, memorialized those who died for their Christian ideals as victims of violence (Gewaltopfer).Шаблон:Sfn Moll spoke in Remscheid on 23 October 2016, opening an exhibition at Шаблон:Ill commemorating Leuninger and two others related to Remscheid, Sister Francis van den Berg and the priest Шаблон:Ill.Шаблон:Sfn

Biographer Günter Buchstab gave a brief portrait of Leuninger as a deeply religious Catholic, who understood Christianity as an entailing an obligation to show solidarity with his fellow men. According to Buchstab, as a trade unionist, Leuninger fought tenaciously and courageously for a more just social order, for the improvement of the situation of the construction workers he represented and their families and as a patriot and upright democrat, he was a determined opponent of political extremism.[1]

The primary school of his birthplace Mengerskirchen in the Limburg-Weilburg district has been named after him. A street near Berlin's Plötzensee Prison, where he was judicially murdered, was named Leuningerpfad after him in 1962,Шаблон:Sfn as was in 1984 a street in Hannover's Wettbergen suburb.[2]

References

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Cited sources

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Further reading

External links

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  1. ↑ Шаблон:Harvnb ...ein tiefgläubiger Katholik, verstand Christentum als solidarische Verpflichtung für seine Mitmenschen. Als Gewerkschafter kämpfte er hartnäckig und mutig für eine gerechtere soziale Ordnung, für die Verbesserung des Geschicks der von ihm vertretenen Bauarbeiter und ihrer Familien. ... Als Patriot und aufrechter Demokrat war er ein entschiedener Gegner des politischen Extremismus.
  2. ↑ Шаблон:Ill: Leuningerstraße, in Die Straßennamen der Landeshauptstadt Hannover, Verlag Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1992, Шаблон:ISBN, Шаблон:P.
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