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Harry Reese * 1911

Hammer Straße 3-5 (Wandsbek, Marienthal)

HIER WOHNTE
HARRY REESE
JG. 1911
VERHAFTET 21.11.1944
MILITÄRGEFÄNGNIS ALTONA
"FAHNENFLUCHT"
ERSCHOSSEN 4.4.1945
RAHLSTEDT-HÖLTIGBAUM

Harry Reese, born on 4 Mar. 1911 in Hamburg, shot on 4 Apr. 1945 in Hamburg-Rahlstedt, Höltigbaum

Hammer Strasse 3/5

Harry Reese grew up in well-ordered circumstances. His father Louis, born on 21 Oct. 1876, came from Bodenwerder, District of Hameln, his mother, Friederike, née Stahmer, born on 23 Nov. 1874, from Siek in Stormarn. They had married in Hamburg on 12 Oct. 1900, and lived in what is today Rothenburgsort.

On 21 Apr. 1901, their first child was born, Louise, who only lived to be nine years old though. One year after her death, Harry was born on 4 Mar. 1911. In the meantime, his father had worked his way up from assistant loadmaster to office clerk. He moved to Hohenfelde and from there to more upscale residential areas and set up his own business trading in car oils and greases.

Harry received a good school education: He attended the Matthias-Claudius-Realgymnasium [a high school focused on science, math, and modern languages] in Wandsbek up to fourth year (grade 8, Untertertia) and completed his schooling in 1928 at the Oberrealschule [a secondary school without Latin] in Oldesloe with the grade 11 leaving examination (Obersekundarreife), which would have entitled him to attend school up to high school graduation (Abitur). Instead, from 1 Oct. 1928 to 30 Sept. 1930, he did an apprenticeship at the Gebr. [Bros.] Nissen automobile trading company at Holsteinischer Kamp 20/40 in Barmbek-Süd. This was followed by employment at Zentral-Ölverkaufs-Gesellschaft, an oil sales company, as a warehouse clerk and traveling salesman until 31 Aug. 1934.

During this time, he first came into conflict with the law: At the age of 20, he was prosecuted for driving an unregistered car, which also involved evasion of motor vehicle tax. The sentence was suspended and remitted on 14 Feb. 1934.

On 30 Oct. 1934, Harry Reese enlisted as a soldier in Panzerabwehrabteilung 12 (anti-tank unit) in Schwerin and became a sergeant of the reserve.

However, he continued to come into conflict the law: Three offenses involved bodily harm, the last "in conjunction with improper driving.” The offense for which he was convicted in 1938 was also related to his love of cars: He had sold a car to a neighbor that did not belong to him. When the fraud was discovered, he fully compensated the buyer.

Harry Reese was described as intelligent and at the same time irresponsibly reckless. He enjoyed a good reputation among customers and acquaintances, displayed impeccable conduct in the military, and showed remorse to the court he faced in 1938. All of this had a mitigating effect on his sentence when he was convicted of forgery of private documents, fraud, and tax evasion on 5 Apr. 1938. The sentence was two months in prison and a fine of 400 RM (reichsmark), or in lieu of that 40 days’ detention.
Harry Reese was living with his parents at Hammer Strasse 3 in Marienthal at the time. He chose the prison sentence and fine and paid it off the amount in installments.

From 29 Aug. 1938, he served as an instructor with the 14th Company of Anti-Tank Company 225 in the Boehn Barracks in Hamburg-Rahlstedt and later transferred to an infantry company. When his mother died in 1940, he kept the apartment they shared. In 1942, he married Elfriede P., who was two years his senior.

After a mission in Russia, Harry Reese was trained as a mountain infantryman and sent to Croatia, where he served as a staff sergeant.
In the summer of 1943, the apartment in Hammer Strasse was entirely destroyed by Allied air raids. His wife found accommodation at Carolinenstrasse 21, where she moved into a room. In Sept. 1944, she again suffered bomb damage, whereupon her husband was granted special leave.

He then departed for Austria to be assigned to a new assignment, and in November contacted his wife again by phone, saying he was in Hamburg on his way to Mölln, where his father was seriously ill in a military hospital. On 21 Nov. 1944, he was caught and imprisoned for desertion in the military prison in Altona. The court of the Wehrmacht military command sentenced him to death by firing squad on 15 Mar. 1945. The sentence was carried out on 4 Apr. 1945 on the firing range of the Boehn barracks in Rahlstedt-Höltigbaum.

Harry Reese’s death was not registered in the civil register until he was already buried in the Ohlsdorf cemetery. This makes it clear that the civil and military administration of Hamburg was already in the process of dissolution at the time of his execution. There are two death register entries, one dated 19 Oct. 1945 on notification of the Wehrkreiskommando (military district command) X, Wehrkreisauskunftsstelle (military district inquiry office) and Krieggräberfürsorge (war graves commission) in Hamburg dated 3 Oct. 1945 to the Wandsbek Registry Office, No. 907; the second dated 18. Dec. 1945 at the Rahlstedt Registry Office, No. 344, by notification from the court of the Wehrmacht Commandant’s Office in Hamburg dated 25 Apr. 1945. The entry was declared invalid on 25 Mar. 1946, since the death had already been recorded at the Hamburg-Wandsbek District Court. (The entries also differ in the details of the marriage).

Harry Reese was probably reburied at the initiative of his wife on 6 Nov. 1945 to AD 26, No. 92.

His father died on 28 Sept. 1960 in Mölln. On 27 July 2002, the "Law Amending the Law toward the Annulment of Nazi Unjust Verdicts in Criminal Justice” ("Gesetz zur Änderung des Gesetzes zur Aufhebung nationalsozialistischer Unrechtsurteile in der Strafrechtspflege”) came into force, which also rehabilitated Harry Reese.

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

Stand: May 2021
© Herbert Diercks mit Hildegard Thevs

Quellen: VAN-Totenliste 1968; VVN-Akte, KZ Gedenkstätte Neuengamme, Archiv; AB; StaH, 213-11Staatsanwaltschaft LG – Strafsachen, 2118/39; 332-8 Meldewesen, Hausmeldekartei K 2480, K 2538, Steuer- und Meldekartei K 4861; 351-11 Amt für Wiedergutmachung, 35151; 332-5 Standesämter, 4414/344-1945; Friedhofsverwaltung Ohlsdorf;
https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2012/39010668_kw20_kalender_17mai2002-208558, Abruf 12.7.2020.