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Paul Karl Bach * 1903
Detmerstraße 28 (Hamburg-Nord, Barmbek-Nord)
KZ Fuhlsbüttel
ermordet 20.07.1934
Paul Karl Bach, born on 11 Mar. 1903, murdered on 20 July 1934 in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp
Detmerstraße 28
Until he was five years old, Paul Bach enjoyed a carefree childhood living with his parents in Wandsbek. Then his mother died of consumption, and from that time onward, Paul Bach grew up in an orphanage. Later, he had the opportunity to train as a carpenter.
Because of his occupation, Paul Bach traveled widely in North Germany and came to the town of Klein Lobke near Hannover, where he met the daughter of the worker Wilhelm Klages, Frieda Gretchen Klages. Paul Bach and Frieda got married, and in 1926, their daughter Louise Grete was born in Klein Lobke.
In 1927, the family moved to Hamburg, where they lived in Barmbek at Detmerstrasse 28. That same year Paul Bach also began his work for the German Communist Party (KPD). In 1930, he was sent to attend the KPD’s Party School in Berlin. Following his return, he assumed the post of chief treasurer. Together with his colleague Walter Gröber he held this post from 1933 onward until his imprisonment.
Since the assumption of power by the Nazis in 1933, Paul Bach had been experiencing persecution. Eventually, the Gestapo picked him up at his home on 18 July 1934 to take him into custody in the Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp. The reason given was that Paul Bach apparently posed the threat of committing high treason. Only two days later, on 20 July, his wife Gretchen received the news of her husband’s supposed suicide. Fellow inmates, however, told her later that her husband died of the use of force applied by the SS.
Translator: Erwin Fink
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.
© Carmen Smiatacz
Quellen: StaHH 351-11, AfW, Abl. 2008/1, 11.03.03 Bach, Paul Karl; Diercks: Gedenkbuch "Kola-Fu", S. 15; VVN, Hinterbliebenenkartei; VVN, B1 Bach, Louise; Totenliste Hamburger Widerstandskämpfer und Verfolgter 1933–1945.
