Helmut Kirschey

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Helmut Kirschey
Born	(1913-01-22)January 22, 1913 Elberfeld, Wuppertal, Rhine,  German Empire
Died	August 23, 2003(2003-08-23) (aged 90) Gothenburg,  Sweden
Nationality	German
Citizenship	German (1913-1933) Swedish (1955-2003)
Movement	Anarcho-syndicalism, Communism

Helmut Kirschey (22 January 1913 - 23 August 2003^[1]) was a German anarchist and resistance fighter.

Biography[]

When Helmut Kirschey was four years old, his father, who was a member of the SPD, died as a soldier in World War I. His mother was left with six children, four boys and two girls. She became a member of the USPD and, at the end of 1920, joined the KPD. She also acted as an advisor to the , which looked after the pension and pension claims of war victims and widows. In May 1924 she was elected as a city councilor of the KPD in Elberfeld. On August 23, 1924, she died of an appendix operation at the age of 40.^[1]

All sons followed their mother's political commitment and joined communist organizations. Helmut Kirschey, however, left the Young Communist League of Germany (KJVD) in 1931 and became a member of the (SAJD) and the Free Workers' Union of Germany (FAUD), as the anti-authoritarian style there contrasted with the authoritarian spirit in the communist movement. In response to the Nazi movement, which was particularly violent in Wuppertal, the anarcho-syndicalists founded their own combat group, the Black Squad. The group bought some weapons, but after the police found one of the weapons in a raid near Kirschey, he was sentenced to several months in prison in 1932.^[1][2]

In March 1933, after the "seizure of power" by the Nazi Party, Kirschey was imprisoned again for several months and then emigrated to the Netherlands in November 1933.^[3] In August 1936 he went to Spain and initially worked in the service of the German anarcho-syndicalists in Barcelona, which had been given the task of organizing all German-speaking foreigners. In February 1937 he joined the International Company of the Durruti Column.^[3][1][2] Together with other German anarcho-syndicalists, he was arrested after armed clashes between Stalinists and anarchists in June 1937 and imprisoned in communist secret prisons in Barcelona and Valencia, and later a state prison in Segorbe until April 1938.^[3][1] He then stayed in France and the Netherlands until he managed to enter Sweden at the beginning of 1939, where he joined the Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden (SAC).^[3][2] Nevertheless, he continued the fight against National Socialism in cooperation with the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF).^[1] In 1940 he met his future wife in Gothenburg.^[1]

In the 1950s, Kirschey separated from the syndicalist movement for political reasons and because of personal disappointments. In 1968 he joined the Communist Party of Sweden after taking a position against the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops.^[1]

In the last years of his life, Helmut Kirschey became a public figure in Sweden and enjoyed great respect. He was a sought-after contemporary witness in schools, universities and in political youth organizations. In 1998 he published his memoirs, written by the journalist , for which he received the culture award of the Swedish Workers' Education Association.^[1]

In 2006 a one-hour documentary A las barricadas about the life of Helmut Kirschey was released.^[2]

Literature[]

• Kirschey, Helmut; Jändel, Richard (2000). Andreas G. Graf and Dieter Nelles (ed.). "A las Barricadas". Erinnerungen und Einsichten eines Antifaschisten (in German). Bocholt und Bredevoort. ISBN 978-3980849845.

References[]

External links[]

• Biography by the German Resistance Memorial Center