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Rudolf Krooß * 1910
Schiffbeker Weg 9 (Hamburg-Mitte, Billstedt)
HIER WOHNTE
RUDOLF KROOß
JG. 1910
IM WIDERSTAND
SPANIENKÄMPFER
TOT 1938
AM EBRO
further stumbling stones in Schiffbeker Weg 9:
Fiete Schulze
Rudolf Krooß, born 10 Jan. 1910 in Hamburg, died 31 Aug. 1938 on the Ebro in Spain
Schiffbeker Weg 9 (Rahlstedter Weg)
Rudolf Krooß was born on 10 January 1910 in Hamburg, and lived in the Schiffbek area of Billstedt. After his elementary schooling he worked as a machinist at the Norddeutsche Jute Spinnerei and Weberei. He lost his job in 1932. He remained active in the union and in the KPD (Communist Party of Germany), where he acted as treasurer for his local branch. He was taken into "protective custody” on 5 March 1933. After his release on 22 December he returned to his activities with the KPD, which had gone underground.
While with the Communist Youth he met and fell in love with Wilma Schulze (*2 February 1914), the daughter of the KPD functionary Fiete Schulze. It wasn’t the political work that bound the two, but rather Rudolf’s lust for life. Wilma loved his happy nature and liked to go dancing with him. They married on 25 August 1934.
Fiete Schulze took an interest in the young couple’s lives from his prison cell. He gave them good advice on living together and for raising their daughter Rita, who was born on 3 January 1935. Fiete hoped that Rudolf Krooß would be able to spend more time with his child than he had been able to do with his children. But this wish was not to be fulfilled.
One month after his father-in-law’s execution on 6 June 1935 in Hamburg, Rudolf Krooß emigrated to Prague. It was demanded of Wilma Krooß that she renounce her father, otherwise she would be arrested as soon as Rita was one year old. She refused and followed her husband with the baby in December 1935.
She was met at the Czechoslovakian border by two men. After giving them the code word, they took her luggage and led her through the frontier zone. It was icy and the snow lay high on the ground. Wilma, who was a small woman, carried her child the entire way, since Rita cried when one of the men carried her. They reached their destination near Prague safely, where they were reunited with Rudolf for a short time. The family resumed their flight to the USSR, and arrived in Moscow in May 1936, where they once again lived together for a short time. They met with Fiete Schulze’s friends there, and passed on his final words, as he had requested in a letter to his daughter and Rudolf Krooß.
With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Rudolf Krooß volunteered with an International Brigade. He fought against the Franco regime as a lieutenant in the Etkar André Batallion of the XIth International Brigade. He died in August 1938 on the Ebro. It is unclear whether he died as a result of wounds or of typhoid fever, which he contracted in a field hospital.
Wilma Krooß and her daughter remained in the Soviet Union. She earned a livng with various jobs, like driving a tractor and as an interpreter. Wilma and Rita returned to Hamburg in May 1946. They lived with Wilma’s grandparents in Billstedt. Rita suffered greatly as a child, since she spoke only very little German and the other children didn’t want to play with "the Russian.” Wilma Krooß met Rudolf Giffey, a former acquaintance. He had also been persecuted by the Nazi regime, and had spent the years of the regime in various concentration camps. In 1944 he had been tried by the Volksgerichtshof in Berlin, together with Marie Prieß and her son Heinz. Wilma Krooß and Rudolf Giffey married in October 1947. One year later their son Werner was born.
Translator: Amy Lee
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.
Stand: October 2016
© Christiane Chodinski
Quellen: StaH, 351-11 AfW, 021914; Hochmuth/Meyer, Streiflichter; mündliche Mitteilungen von Angehörigen.
