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He and his accomplices would have done everything possible to end the war as soon as possible to the detriment of
Germany. This is the reason we had the weapons cache. The factories necessary to the war effort and train routes were to be blown up, to bring the front closer. The most recent members of
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began arresting members of the group, and finally, Steinbrück as well. By 15 October they had made 63 arrests, including 19 teenagers. Of those, thirteen German males, including several teenagers, were executed without trial in a public hanging next to
Ehrenfeld railway station on 10 November 1944.
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In the summer of 1944, a number of young people, including teenagers, came into contact with
Steinbrück. Although being 23 and quite young himself, Steinbrück could easily function as a father figure for some due to the massive rise in the number of orphans in those years. Some of the teenagers had
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On the run, Steinbrück met a deserter, Roland Lorent, who had just killed a local Nazi leader and was also looking to hide. The two teamed up and conceived a plan to go on a "Nazi hunt". They stole bicycles and gathered weapons. They collected a few teenaged members of the group and went to get
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During a general identification check on 29 September 1944, an army patrol was informed about the group's cellar warehouse. The patrol searched the basement rooms and confiscated numerous weapons. Steinbrück and a
Russian forced laborer were able to escape, but the next day, the criminal police
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was a sanctuary for enemies of the Nazi regime, including escaped prisoners, forced laborers, deserters, and Jews. Steinbrück, who escaped from a concentration subcamp in
Cologne in July 1943, came to Ehrenfeld and met a woman who took him in. He began to stockpile weapons and foodstuffs in the
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searched the apartment where
Steinbrück had been staying, arresting the woman whose place it was. Two Jewish women who were in hiding in the building were also arrested. In order to arrest the fugitives, the police posted a guard in front of the house.
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The activities of the group began to gain momentum. They stole food and vehicles and sold goods on the black market. Later, they bought guns. As the group expanded, so did the number and scope of the thefts. One particular heist was the
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Cilli, Steinbrück's girlfriend, but without having investigated the situation at her place. When they got there, they found a police guard. Both
Steinbrück and Lorent opened fire, seriously injuring the guard. A member of the
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Steinbrück and twelve of his followers were executed without trial on 10 November 1944, in front of hundreds of onlookers. Among the victims were six teenagers, members of the
Edelweiss Pirates:
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That evening, they tried to steal some explosives, but the guard on duty foiled their efforts. On 3 October 1944 Lorent was arrested. On 8 October 1944 the
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A plaque in
Ehrenfeld honors the memory of those executed there on 25 October and 10 November 1944. A street next to
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The group, which consisted of over one hundred people, centered on Hans
Steinbrück, an escaped
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Hitler's Foreign Workers: Enforced Foreign Labor in Germany Under the Third Reich
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prisoner. Its members included young people, including teens active in the local
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104:. On 10 November 1944, thirteen members of the group were publicly hanged in
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cellar of a bombed-out house and stayed in close contact with escaped
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Memorial plaque to Edelweiss Pirates and Ehrenfeld Group members
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Steinbrück described the goals of his group to the Gestapo as,
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Map link to Bartholomäus-Schink-Straße, 50825 Cologne, Germany
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our hard-scrabble club knew of these plans and supported them.
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Anti-Nazi German resistance group, active summer-autumn 1944
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resistance group, active in the summer and autumn of 1944.
408:"The Edelweiss Pirates: A Story of Freedom, Love and Life"
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Cologne Museum official website. Retrieved April 1, 2010
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and they began to form a core group around Steinbrück.
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group, escaped detainees from forced labor camps, and
231:Franz Rheinberger, born 22 February 1927, age 17
356:"Die Ehrenfelder Steinbrück-Gruppe fliegt auf"
255:Heinrich Kratina, born 15 January 1906, age 38
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228:Johann Müller, born 29 January 1928, age 16
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225:Gustav Bermel, born 11 August 1927, age 17
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243:Roland Lorent, born 12 March 1920, age 24
234:Adolf Schütz, born 3 January 1926, age 18
334:(Nov. 11, 1994) Retrieved April 1, 2010
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161:of butter, selling it afterward on the
249:Josef Moll, born 17 July 1903, age 41
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389:. Cambridge University Press, 1997.
373:Google Maps. Retrieved April 1, 2010
281:List of Germans who resisted Nazism
271:in Cologne is named after Schink.
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330:("Edelweiss Pirates and others")
140:Ruins from bombing, Cologne, 1943
240:, born 25 November 1927, age 16
45:[ˈeː.ʁənˌfɛl.dɐˈɡʁʊ.pə]
291:Resistance during World War II
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74:[ˈʃtaɪ̯n.bʁʏkˌɡʁʊ.pə]
424:German resistance to Nazism
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120:bombings, the district of
321:"'Edelweißpiraten' u. a."
269:Ehrenfeld railway station
173:Denouement and conclusion
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326:June 7, 2011, at the
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116:Largely destroyed by
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319:Klas Ewert Everwyn.
211:List of the executed
434:History of Cologne
429:Ehrenfeld, Cologne
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122:Ehrenfeld, Cologne
94:concentration camp
37:Ehrenfelder Gruppe
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385:Herbert, Ulrich.
286:German Resistance
147:Edelweiss Pirates
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360:(in German)
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165:for 12,000
418:Categories
297:References
167:Reichsmark
155:Butterraub
131:Communists
112:Background
324:Archived
275:See also
159:quintals
195:Gestapo
106:Cologne
70:German:
41:German:
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263:Legacy
118:Allied
62:German
33:German
391:ISBN
102:Jews
87:Nazi
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