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Fritz Dringelburg * 1904

Winsener Straße 184 d (Harburg, Sinstorf)

1934 Polizeigefängnis Berlin
1935-1936 Straflager Lingen
Strafbataillon 999
???

Fritz Dringelburg, born on 28 July 1904 in Harburg, drafted to the 999th Division Probation Battalion (Bewährungsbatallion Division 999), missing as of Sept. 1944

Sinstorf quarter, Winsener Strasse 184d

The worker Fritz Dringelburg got married to Gertrud Vogt, born on 19 July 1909 in Meckelfeld near Harburg. They had two children: Heinrich, born on 4 June 1926 in Harburg, and Inge, born on 8 June 1927 in Harburg. The family lived at Hörstener Strasse 38, since Apr. 1932 very close by, at Finkenweg 20 (today: Zehntland), and from Mar. 1938 onward at Meisenweg 23 (today: Flutende). At Winsener Strasse 184d, the couple operated a laundry.

Fritz Dringelburg was a Communist since 1928 and a member of the "Revolutionary Union Opposition” ("Revolutionäre Gewerkschafts-Opposition” – RGO) since 1931. After 1933, he became engaged in the resistance, but we do not know where and in what form, though assuming that he was not active in Harburg, for in that case he would have been among the accused of the so-called "Harburg high treason trials.” Communists very well known in the neighborhoods were often deployed in other areas.

Fritz Dringelburg was arrested and committed to the court prison on Buxtehuder Strasse on 1 Mar. 1935. On 7 Mar., he was transferred to the pretrial detention center in Berlin. The Court of Appeal in Berlin sentenced him to one year and three months in prison because of "preparation to high treason,” a penalty he served in the Lingen penal institution. From there, he was released to Harburg.

During the war, many political persecutees were drafted to serve in the 999th Division Probation Battalion (Bewährungsbatallion Division 999), a punishment battalion deployed in particularly dangerous regions in order to literally use them as "cannon fodder.” Generally, the conscripts had to go to the military training area at Heuberg on the Swabian Jura, where their sections were put together. Later on, when the demand for soldiers increased more and more, convicted criminals were drafted, eventually even directly from the prisons.

Fritz Dringelburg, too, was drafted on Heuberg to serve in the 999th Division Probation Battalion (17th Battalion) on 25 June 1943. He was sent to the eastern front, but withdrawn again because of political unreliability. Obviously, his superiors feared that Fritz Dringelburg might desert to the Soviet army. In July 1944, he was deployed from Baumholder (today Rhineland Palatinate) to Greece. He has been considered missing as of Sept. 1944.

After the war, Gertrud Dringelburg lived in Hamburg at Harburger Chaussee 73a in the Veddel quarter. She died on 13 Nov. 1973.

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

© Hans-Joachim Meyer

Quellen: StaH, 332-8 Meldewesen, A46; StaH, 351-11; AfW, Gertrud Dringelburg; StaH, 430-64 Amtsgericht Harburg II B 25; StaH,, Adressbücher Harburg-Wilhelmsburg und Hamburg; VVN, Komitee-Akten; Heyl/Maronde-Heyl, Abschlussbericht; Totenliste VAN.