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Karl Lesch * 1896

Venusberg 18 (Hamburg-Mitte, Neustadt)

HIER WOHNTE
KARL LESCH
JG. 1896
IM WIDERSTAND / KPD
VERHAFTET 31.10.1933
KZ FUHLSBÜTTEL
ERMORDET 30.11.1933

Karl Heinrich Johannes Lesch, born on 15 Mar. 1896 in Hamburg, imprisoned in 1933, died on 30 Nov. 1933 in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp (allegedly by suicide)

Venusberg 18 (Venusberg 17)

Karl Lesch grew up near the port of Hamburg. He was born as the son of Hasche Lesch (born on 25 Oct. 1858, died on 28 Mar. 1945) and Elise, née Menk (born on 16 Feb. 1858 in Putlitz, died on 11 Jan. 1929), at Eichholz 99 in a rear building. His parents, who were of the Lutheran faith, had married in Altona on 8 May 1885. Hasche Lesch worked as a lighterman (Ewerführer). He came from Erfde, a village in Schleswig-Holstein. Karl had four older siblings, Frida (born on 4 Sept. 1885, died on 20 Nov. 1973), Alice (born on 10 Nov. 1887, died on 23 Mar. 1960), and Franziska (born on 9 Mar. 1891), as well as the brother Hans Friedrich Carl (born on 3 June 1894, died on 2 Apr. 1936).

Karl Lesch went to sea as a steward for a while and then worked as a molder (foundry worker). He was a member of the German Communist Party (KPD) and the International of Seamen and Harbor Workers (Internationale der Seeleute und Hafenarbeiter – ISH).

When Karl married Lony Seyler (born on 3 Aug. 1898) from Hamburg on 14 Feb. 1920, he still lived with his parents at Martin-Lutherstrasse 5a (today Martin-Luther-Strasse). The marriage with Lony was divorced on 22 June 1931. Karl Lesch got married a second time on 15 Sept. 1931, to Auguste Clara Meyer (born on 1 Mar. 1899), who came from Ilversgehofen, Erfurt-Nord. At the time of their wedding, both lived at Eckernförderstrasse 13 (today Simon-von-Utrecht-Strasse) in the St. Pauli quarter, later at Venusberg 17.

For political reasons, Karl Lesch was sentenced to a fine of 20 RM (reichsmark) during the Weimar Republic: On 15 June 1931, together with others, he had distributed a KPD leaflet at the St. Pauli Landungsbrücken (St. Pauli Piers) entitled "Kampf oder Barbarei” ("Struggle or Barbarism”) and failed to convey the contents of the leaflet to the competent authorities for their information, as required by a decree of the President of the Reich dating from Mar. 1931. Since Karl Lesch neither could pay the fine nor intended to do so, he began serving a two-day prison sentence at the end of 1931.

Even before the Nazi Party (NSDAP) came to power, KPD functionaries tried to set up, parallel to the party that was still legal, an illegal organizational apparatus with printing shops, quarters, and cover addresses in case a KPD ban was imposed. Karl Lesch took over this task for Hamburg as head of organization; Anton Saefkow (see corresponding entry) was responsible for implementation in the Wasserkante district.

Before and after the Reichstag elections on 5 Mar. 1933, several Communist-oriented opponents of the Nazis were arrested. Karl Lesch was taken into "protective custody” ("Schutzhaft”) twice, but released again. On 31 Oct. 1933, his third arrest took place. Karl Lesch was committed to the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp. Less than a month later, on 30 Nov. 1933 at 7:15 a.m., he was found hanged in his cell. The official version was "suicide.” However, an anonymous letter sent to a large number of public prosecutors, pastors, lawyers, and other well-known personalities in Hamburg in the summer of 1934 read, "allegedly suicide. The underwear bloody, the clothes torn.”

Arrests and first interrogations in order to extort names of others were usually carried out accompanied by severe mistreatment, and often the death of the prisoners was readily accepted. An investigation after the war brought no clarity as to whether Karl Lesch was driven to his death by mistreatment and torture or whether was murdered by the guard detail.

Translator: Erwin Fink
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: July 2020
© Susanne Rosendahl

Quellen: StaH 332-5 Standesämter 6250 u 9429/1878; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 2400 u 942/1896; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 9867 u 198/1933; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 13587 u 550/1931; StaH 351-11 AfW 21807 (Lesch, Auguste Clara); StaH 213-11 Amtsgericht Hamburg 04995/32; StaH 113-2 A II 4b; Diercks: Gedenkbuch, S. 29, S. 34; Hochmuth/Meyer: Gestapo-Gefängnis Fuhlsbüttel S. 17, S. 24.