German Resistance

Fritz Benner was born on 6th April 1906 in Solingen, Germany. By profession he was a belt operator. In 1927/28 he and his brother Willi joined the anarchosyndicalist Free Workers' Union of Germany (FAUD) in Wuppertal. His brother Eugen (usually known as August) also became involved. At this time the FAUD was past its height and only counted a few dozen members in Wuppertal.

Berner, Rudolf (Rube) AKA Frank Tireur

Born on 14 July 1907 in Skövde (West Sweden), Rudolf Berner grew up in a small farmer and working-class family of many children. He attended school and learned painting and crafts.

Georg Elser
Born Hermaringen, Germany, 1903, died Dachau, Germany 9 April 1945

Hans Schmitz was born in Wuppertal, Germany in 1914.

His father,* a leading activist in the anarcho-syndicalist union the FAUD, was a devout Catholic and a convinced pacifist from both a religious and ideological standpoint (!). Despite this, as Hans Schmitz reports, he carried a weapon as a member of the “Red Ruhr Army” during the right-wing Kapp putsch.

Georg Katharina Glaser
Born Georg Kreuz Glaser, 30 June 1910 – Germany, died 18 January 1995 - Paris

Georg was born on 30th June 1910, Guntersblum, Rheinhesse, Germany. Georg later changed his middle name which means Cross to that of Katharina in honour of his beloved mother.

After World War II, the police archives were taken by the Americans and when these were opened to scholars they found that German anarchist resistance through the ages had been extremely large. There had been an extremely active and influential working class anarchist movement in a line from that under Bismarck to that under Hitler.

Hitler’s power may lay us low,
And keep us locked in chains,
But we will smash the chains one day,
We’ll be free again
We’ve got fists and we can fight,
We’ve got knives and we’ll get them out
We want freedom, don’t we boys?
We’re the fighting Navajos!

All the leaflets published by the White Rose group of anti-fascists in Germany, including other documents and texts related to the group

Transcript of a short interview with Walter Mayer, a member of the German youth anti-Nazi organisation, the Edelweiss Pirates.