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Jonny Stüve
© Privatbesitz

Jonny Stüve * 1902

Alter Teichweg 180 (Hamburg-Nord, Dulsberg)

HIER WOHNTE
JONNY STÜVE
JG. 1902
VON GESTAPO
VERHAFTET 1944
ERMORDET 25.7.1944
POLIZEIGEFÄNGNIS
FUHLSBÜTTEL

Jonny August Wilhelm Stüve, b. 2.6.1902 in Hamburg, his death, by alleged suicide, taking place in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp on 7.25.1944

Alter Teichweg 180

The commemorative stone for the cabinet maker Jonny Stüve lies in front of the multi-family house at Alten Teichweg 180. There stood the house in which he lived with his wife Margarete and his children Ursula and Peter; it was destroyed in a bombardment during the summer of 1943. By this point in time, he was already living underground, a communist active in the resistance, but nevertheless living with his family in a two-room apartment.

Jonny August Wilhelm Stüve was born on 6 February 1902 in Hamburg. From a special edition of the criminal police blotter of 3 February 1943, we know that he was 5’8” tall, blonde and blue-eyed. A portrait photo shows a groomed and correctly dressed gentleman in a suit with hat, tie, and white shirt, wearing spectacles with round lenses.

When Jonny Stüve married Margarete Dzuber of Hamburg (b. 6 October 1908), is not determinable from the existing documents. On 29 July 1928, he became the father of a daughter, who was baptized with the name Ursula. On 5 June 1937, a son Peter came into the world.

Jonny Stüve worked as a foreman at Blohm & Voss. He was a member of the German Communist Party (KPD) and belonged to the Bästlein-Jacob-Abshagen-group. The resistance movement around the former Hamburg parliamentarian Bernhard Bästlein (1894–1944) was among the largest regional resistance groups in Hamburg. It was active mainly on the docks and in the metallurgical industry, organized in factory cells. The goal of the group was to educate its members politically and to enlighten others. In addition, it organized sabotage of production in factories. Forced foreign laborers got humanitarian support. The factory cell at Blohm & Voss was said to have 60-80 members and Jonny Stüve was supposed to have belonged to its leadership. In October 1942, the Gestapo succeeded in breaking up the group. More than 100 of its approximate 200 members were arrested. Jonny Stüve was able to flee and went underground.

In the framework of the postwar reparations procedures, members of the works council at Blohm & Voss were questioned about their former colleague. On 4 August 1951, the Special Auxiliary Committee of the Office of Reparations introduced this statement:

"Dear Karl. I have discussed the case of Jonni Stüver [sic] with various co-workers. They confirm that St[üve] was in the resistance group. Shortly before the wave of arrests at Blohm & Voss, Co-worker St. fled. St. stayed hidden with Co-worker Hans Matschke (Brehmsweg) in a workers’ housing estate for months. Later he attempted to make his way out of the country but was arrested near Bramfeld by Commissar Helms and later died in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp. Co-worker Trollau also confirmed that St. was in the resistance movement. St. worked with us in the cabinet-making division, unfortunately no one can remember the exact dates. Incidentally, St. stands on the memorial tablet for victims of the Hitler regime. Greetings, Carl Dittmer.”

After going underground, it is to be assumed that Jonny Stüve had little or no contact with his family before July 1943. In any case, Margarete Stüve later could not say under what circumstances her husband lived in the first months of his flight. On 2 August 1956 she gave the following statement for the record:

"My husband lived illegally for approximately 1¾ year from 1942 onward. He belonged, as far as I know, to the resistance movement at Blohm & Voss. In order to avoid arrest in the year 1942, he left his workplace and stayed with co-workers as well like-minded friends. I do not know in what circumstances he lived during this time. In July 1943, he came to our home. He could take this risk because the Gestapo officer who had pursued the resistance group members at Blohm & Voss, had been transferred to Denmark. The Gestapo officers who succeeded him were not so diligent and did not assume that my husband was at home with me in 1943. Our apartment consisted of two rooms. My husband stayed here for only three weeks. Then the apartment was destroyed in an air raid. He and I found shelter with my mother who also lived in a two-room apartment, which had not been bombed. My mother gave my husband free run of the apartment, but he never went into the streets during the day; just at night would he leave the house to get some air. During air raid alarms in the night he sought out the city park. During these alarms it was not possible for him to enter the bunker or other public bomb shelters. It is my view that in the 10 months my husband spent in our and my mother’s apartment, and although the conditions were somewhat better, he must have felt like a prisoner. As I have already mentioned, he had to remain absolutely hidden. He had no ration cards and I had to feed him with ours.”

It is striking that Margarete Stüve says not one word about her children. Perhaps, the two had been placed elsewhere in 1943. This seems likely in that Jonny Stüve’s last letter inquires as to whether his son still remembers him (see below). Moreover, it is difficult to imagine that the parents shared with their six-year old son the secret of his father’s living underground.

If the testimony of his former co-workers is to be believed, Jonny Stüve attempted to leave the country. This is not verifiable. However, it is certain that he did not go unprepared, for his wife could later state quite exactly what he took with him.
a pair of men’s shoes
a hat
1 winter coat
1 loden coat
2 suits
3 shirts
3 sets of underwear
3 pair of stockings
6 handkerchiefs
1 bicycle
1 armband watch
1 valise
400 RM in cash

In a memo to the Reparations Office, she also named a Mrs. I. Dreher from Hamburg-Borstel, with whom her husband supposedly stayed for a longer period of time. When exactly that was in not certain.

It is possible, however, that she made contact through Dreher to Frieda Wölken in Bramfeld, in whose house Jonny Stüve was arrested by the Gestapo on 18 July 1944. In any case, Frieda Wölken gave a certain Trudl Dreher as a witness for her claim form to the Special Auxiliary Committee of the Office of Reparations in 1959. Gertrud Dreher also belonged to the circle around the Bästlein-Jacob-Abshagen Group.

Frieda Wölken, née Schmedemann (1.2.1895-1967), was a member of the KPD and supposedly was among those who were not silenced. In the summer of 1944, she lived alone in her house at Friedhofsweg (today, in Soll) 42. Her daughter and grandchildren had been evacuated to the countryside. Her husband was drafted to military service.

In the fall of 2009, Stolpersteine, Inc. serving Bramfeld succeeded in locating a granddaughter of Frieda Wölken. She imparted the name of a contact, a friend of the family, who still remembered well what was said about the arrest of Jonny Stüve. According to the story, Frieda Wölken had put Jonny Stüve in an upper floor of her house. On 18 July 1944, two officials rang the doorbell. Stüve hid on the top floor. Frieda Wölken was out shopping. The officials waited. When she came back to the house, she was forced to open up and let them in. Jonny Stüve was arrested.
On 20 July, he wrote to his wife from the Fuhlsbüttel police prison:

"Dear Grete
Unfortunately, I must inform you that on 7.18 I was arrested and taken to Fuhlsbüttel. Bad luck! I can imagine that this news will shake you up badly, but that will change nothing. How are the children? Write me, please, how Peter is doing in school. Have you already had your vacation this year? Please inform my parents. I send you my most heartfelt greeting. Dear Grete! Don’t despair, rather grit your teeth. The children need you! But I don’t have to tell you that. You’ve always been a fabulous mother. I hope we can still spend many years together. I surely don’t know how my case will turn out, but one day this worst sort of hardship will pass. How is our daughter Ursula doing right now? Please write me about all the details, what she is doing, and how it’s going. Please give her my best wishes for her birthday on 29 July and, anyway, ‘head high” and keep on studying hard. It’s the only way to get a foundation for the future. I am curious as to how Peter is developing. Hopefully, we will have as much joy from him as from Ursula. Maybe you can make clear to him what kind of situation I am in. Can he still even remember me? Give my mother a sincere greeting and the warmest greeting and kiss from your husband, who makes such worry and heartache for you.
Jonny Stüve”

In the early morning hours of 4 August 1944 – that is, 16 days after Stüve’s arrest – Frieda Wölken was taken into custody by the Gestapo and incarcerated in Fuhlsbüttel.
Supposedly, she had shouted out to the neighbors on the street in order that they might be informed and thus indirectly let the family have the news. On 19 October 1959, in the framework of a reparation procedure, she stated for the record the following basis for her arrest: "I had hidden a resistance fighter by the name of Stübe [sic] in my house. One day the well-known Gestapo official Helms came to my home and found Stübe. He was arrested. And a few days later, me, too. In the framework of the Tippmann and Associates Trial, I was also tried. The trial did not come to a conclusion because of the collapse.”

Frieda Wölken was released from investigative detention by the British Military Government. The pending trial for "preparation of high treason” was thrown out.
Jonny Stüve is supposed to have ended his life on 25 July 1944. After all that we know today about the conditions of incarceration in Fuhlsbüttel, it can be assumed, that he was tortured before his death. The documentary entry "suicide” must be seen in this context. It cannot be excluded, nor can it be proven, that he died from the consequences of torture.


Translator: Richard Levy
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: January 2019
© Ulrike Hoppe, Britta Burmeister

Quellen: StaH 351-11 (AfW), Abl. 2008/1, Jonny Stüve, 060202; StaH 351-11 (AfW), Abl. 2008/1 Gretchen Fick, 220314; StaH 351-11 (AfW), Abl. 2008/1, 190974; StaH 351-11 (AfW), Abl. 2008/1, 160906; Privatbesitz Erika Franke; Interviews (Stadtteilarchiv Bramfeld) mit Erika Franke (2009) und Irma Kruse (2009).