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Stolpertonstein
Sprecher: Thomas Fitschen
Biografie: Hildegard Thevs
;)
© Privatbesitz
Jonni (Jonny) Rummel * 1924
Horner Landstraße 416 (Hamburg-Mitte, Billstedt)
HIER WOHNTE
JONNI RUMMEL
JG. 1924
VERHAFTET
’WEHRKRAFTZERSETZUNG’
ERSCHOSSEN FEB. 1945
KÖNIGSBERG
further stumbling stones in Horner Landstraße 416:
John Trettin
Jonny Rummel, born on 15 Dec. 1924 in Hamburg, shot on 8 Feb. 1945 in Königsberg (today Kaliningrad in Russia)
Horner Landstrasse 416 (Horner Landstrasse 492)
With a blunt pencil, Jonny Rummel wrote a barely legible farewell letter to his mother on 8 Feb. 1945:
"Dear Mother,
Today I want to write to you a few last lines. As you might know, we withdrew in the East all the way to just outside of Königsberg. Having had been separated, I did not know where my unit was. Therefore, I walked into the city of Königsberg and found a private quarter with a woman, staying with her a few days because my nerves were completely shattered. With me were two other comrades who also stayed with the woman for a few days.
On 3 February, the Wehrmacht patrol went through the houses, arresting the three of us. We were court-martialed and interrogated there. The court-martial sentenced the three of us to death for undermining the military strength [Zersetzung der Wehrkraft]. We submitted a plea for clemency but it was turned down. We will be shot today, 8 Feb. 1945, at 10:30 a.m.
Because of only a few days that we rested we now have to lose our lives.
Dear Mother, I do regret that I have to write you this because I do not want to put this on you without you knowing. You will also get a letter from the court-martial.
May God protect you so that you will survive the war and live in peace and good health for a long time.
And now, my dear Mother, at the close of my last letter, I send you my warmest greetings and kisses, Your son Jonny. Be brave and may God protect you.”
Jonny Rummel, whose life ended so early, followed his sister Else (born on 20 Feb. 1922) as the second child of his mother Katharina in Hamburg on 15 Dec. 1924. Katharina Rummel, née Janzen, born on 20 Jan 1895, was a native of Chortitza, a Mennonite colony on the Dnieper River in Ukraine, without herself being a Mennonite. Her marriage with Emil Rummel was divorced. On 15 Sept. 1928, she entered a second marital union, with the construction worker John Trettin. Two half brothers joined the two siblings Else and Jonny in 1928 and 1929: Walter and Karl-Heinz.
Jonny Rummel’s stepfather belonged to the German Communist Party, working as a party treasurer in the Horn quarter. Because of this activity and illegal possession of arms, he was arrested on 10 Sept. 1933, and eight weeks later, on 6 Nov. 1933, he was found dead in his cell at the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp.
Jonny experienced this as a boy just under nine years old. He stopped attending the eight-grade elementary school (Volksschule), contributing to the family’s livelihood by working as a gofer until he was drafted into the German Wehrmacht. The court-martial assessed his "resting for a few days” in Königsberg, after he had been separated from his unit, as "undermining of military strength” ("Wehrkraftzersetzung”), sentencing him to death. The sentence was carried out on 8 Feb. 1945.
Regrettably, the Stolperstein bears the name of "Jonni.” Corrected only by the farewell letter, it is the spelling used in his stepfather’s restitution file (Wiedergutmachungakte).
Translator: Erwin Fink
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.
Stand: October 2018
© Hildegard Thevs
Quellen: Zentralregister der Standesämter; StaH, 351-11 AfW, 200195; mündliche Mitteilungen der Angehörigen Else Wulf, Yvonne und Rolf Trettin, 23. und 29. Okt. 2009; http://chortiza.heim.at/kolonie.htm, Zugriff am 13.2.2010.
