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Franz Rudschinat * 1894

Stresowstraße 14 (Hamburg-Mitte, Rothenburgsort)

HIER WOHNTE
FRANZ RUDSCHINAT
JG. 1894
MEHRMALS VERHAFTET
’HOCHVERRAT’
KZ FUHLSBÜTTEL
1939 EMSLANDLAGER
1941 SACHSENHAUSEN
ERMORDET 3.9.1942

Franz Rudschinat, born on 13 July 1894 in Wilkoschen/East Prussia, death on 3 Sept. 1942 in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp

Stresowstrasse 14 (Stresowstrasse 30)

Like his younger brother Hermann (born on 30 Sept. 1901), Franz Rudschinat moved to Hamburg-Rothenburgsort at an unknown time. Both described themselves as "having no creed” or, respectively, "believing in God” ("gottgläubig”), [a Nazi alternative to other Christian denominations]. Their parents, Carl and Auguste Rudschinat, née Paulat, passed away before 1933. On 17 Sept. 1921, Franz Rudschinat married the widow Hulda Wolters, née Heidmann, ten years his senior and residing at Stresowstrasse 30; she was a native of Hansfelde near Lübeck. Two women from Hardenstrasse 62 acted as witnesses to the marriage, apparently without the spouses having any family relations to them. Franz Rudschinat was a delicate man about 1.56 meters (just under 5 ft 2 in) in height with an oval-shaped face and brown eyes and hair; he kept his beard trimmed.

As a worker, he was politically active in the German Communist Party (KPD) and in its milieu, respectively. He was arrested for the first time on 10 Sept. 1934 and sentenced three times for "preparation to high treason” ("Vorbereitung zum Hochverrat”) in 1935, 1936, and 1938. Having served a three-month sentence in 1935, Franz Rudschinat was released to freedom, but after serving the second sentence, this time nine months, in Feb. 1937, he was "returned” to the Gestapo and apparently indicted a third time directly from this "protective custody” ("Schutzhaft”). On 22 Apr. 1938, the Higher Regional Court (Oberlandesgericht) sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment and loss civil rights for "continued preparation to high treason.” With the period of pretrial detention, one year and six months, calculated against his sentence, the date of release was set for 22 Oct. 1941 at 05:20 p.m.

The Fuhlsbüttel penitentiary registered his committal on 27 Apr. 1938. On 12 July 1939, he was "transferred” to Papenburg, to the Aschendorfermoor [a bog], one of the Emsland camps, from there to Bremen-Oslebshausen, and finally to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The dates of these transfers are not known. Franz Rudschinat died in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp on 3 Sept. 1942.
His brother Hermann, deployed as a sailor at the Kiel naval shipyard, was killed in action in the Gulf of Finland on 21 Nov. 1941.


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

Stand: October 2018
© Hildegard Thevs

Quellen: VAN-Totenliste 1968; StaH 242-1 II, Abl. 13, Aufnahmekarte Hamburger Vollzugsanstalten; 332-5 Standesämter, 1158+23/1942, 9999+285/1948; 351-11, Amt für Wiedergutmachung, 7320.