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291:, and most particularly in the Ruhr region where the focus was on communist resistance, organised through the (illegal) trades union movement in the economically important coal mines. He was a co-founder and secretary of the "Communist Committee for German Free Trades Union Miners". In 1938, he was elected to membership of the executive of "The Miners' International".
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a few days earlier, had failed because he was sick in bed. It turned out that several comrades, including Seng, had been arrested on 20 January and subjected to torture in order to persuade him to set up that meeting. When the meeting had failed to take place Seng had also been persuaded to disclose
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Wilhelm Knöchel and a relatively small number of his associates were the only ones who successfully made the attempt to establish a communist resistance group in
Germany during this period. During January, several members of the group were captured, starting on 12 January 1943 with Alfons Kaps. Kaps
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Following his arrest, it is likely that
Wilhelm Knöchel was subjected to the same levels of extreme torture as Seng (and others arrested at the same time). On 17 February 1943, he offered his Gestapo interrogators a deal that would involve his working for them as a
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which enabled him to engage directly in political discussions with workers in a number of different factories. Three of his contacts from his time in
Amsterdam were still active in the Ruhr region. From his base in Berlin, where he teamed up with
449:, himself. The hearing lasted just ten minutes, and ended with Knöchel being sentenced to death, found guilty under the all too familiar charge, in those times, of "Preparing to commit high treason". Other members of the group, including
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was interrogated and severely tortured and, it is inferred, provided information that led his interrogators to other resistance group members. On 30 January 1943, Wilhelm Knöchel was also arrested, in the Berlin apartment of comrades
330:. However, wartime conditions mean that communications channels between Amsterdam, where Knöchel had been living since 1936, and the remaining network of party activists across the border in Germany, were degraded or broken.
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to set up a "western leadership team" for the exiled party: most of the political activity in question was nevertheless undertaken, under conditions of extreme and growing danger, by comrades operating "underground" in the
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During his time in the Ruhr region, in 1922, Wilhelm Knöchel married a war widow who came to the marriage with two children. The couple's third child, Inge, was born in 1921. His wife died young in 1930, however.
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region. In 1930, following the death of his first wife, he returned to
Offenbach de Main, where it was arranged that his daughter should be brought up by relatives. Knöchel was employed as a party official.
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in Moscow in
October 1935. (It had been misleadingly identified in party communications as the "Brussels Conference" during the planning process in order to confuse the
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to establish what became identified in some sources as the "Knöchel-Seng group", he was also able to retain far-reaching contacts with exiled party leaders in
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membership. By this time. most of the active members of the German
Communist Party had either been arrested or had fled into exile, and in 1936, he was sent to
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393:. As he wrote at one stage to his partner Cilly Hansmann (1908 – 1984), who undertook courier work for him, "Are those guys in Moscow sitting on the moon?".
192:, Knöchel joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany. By 1920, he had relocated in search of work to the industrially vital and internationally critical
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had become illegal. Knöchel remained an active member, working from 1934 as a senior advisor for the underground party team in
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Eine
Ausstellung zu Ehren der vom "Volksgericht" zum Tode verurteilten Kommunisten Hans Grüning und Wilhelm Knöchel
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184:, shortly after which he was badly wounded. He also worked as a mines maintenance engineer. In 1919, with the
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and, on a much more restricted basis, by radio, with fellow members of the party
Central Committee in
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401:. The arrest of this exceptionally productive anti-Nazi activist represented a major triumph for the
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coast. During the summer of 1944, he was taken back to Berlin where, on 12 June 1944, he faced the
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780:. Karl Dietz Verlag., Berlin & Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin
874:. Karl Dietz Verlag, Berlin & Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin
840:. Karl Dietz Verlag, Berlin & Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin
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were sentenced to death at the same time. Wilhelm Knöchel was executed/murdered at the
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and, disguised as an itinerant specialist silver polisher, travelled illegally via
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200:. Between 1924 and 1930, he was a member of the party leadership team for the
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An edition of "Der
Friedenskämpfer" (“The Fighter for Peace”), in German
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affected by acute economic hardship and, especially in the cities, a
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405:. An attempt to lure him to a meeting, set up by his senior comrade
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139:. His trial lasted ten minutes. He was executed/murdered at the
670:. Offenbacher Stadtinformation Gesellschaft mbH. Archived from
445:. Knöchel's "trial" was conducted by the court president,
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In late 1931 or early 1932, Wilhelm Knöchel relocated via
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Peter
Steinbach; Johannes Tuchel; Ursula Adam (1998).
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581:"Wilhelm Knöchel 08. November 1899 - 24. Juli 1944"
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124:; 8 November 1899 – 24 July 1944) was a German
931:Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians
333:On 8 January 1942, Wilhelm Knöchel re-entered
719:. Stadtteilgruppen der DKP Hombruch und Barop
360:. During 1942, he undertook several trips to
251:. This meant that by the time he returned to
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916:Executed communists in the German Resistance
614:Knöchel, Wilhelm (8. 11. 1899 - 24. 7. 1944)
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868:"Beuttel, Wilhelm * 10.8.1900, † 27.7.1944"
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546:"Knöchel, Wilhelm * 8.11.1899, † 12.6.1944"
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233:. While he was away, in January 1933, the
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834:"Kowalke, Alfred * 11.4.1907, † 6.3.1944"
741:Das KPD-Dezernat der Gestapo Duesseldorf
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180:. In 1917, he was conscripted into the
800:"Alfons Kaps 03. April 1901 - 03.1944"
774:"Seng, Willi * 11.2.1909, † 24.5.1944"
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926:Prisoners of Nazi concentration camps
744:. disserta Verlag. pp. 341–340.
190:succession of revolutionary uprisings
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921:German Army personnel of World War I
487:"Sitzen die in Moskau auf dem Mond?"
453:, Alfons Kaps, Alfred Kowalke, and
936:Communist Party of Germany members
872:Handbuch der Deutschen Kommunisten
838:Handbuch der Deutschen Kommunisten
778:Handbuch der Deutschen Kommunisten
668:"Stolperstein für Wilhelm Knöchel"
550:Handbuch der Deutschen Kommunisten
274:.) He was elected a candidate for
89:Social Democratic Party of Germany
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951:Lists of stolpersteine in Germany
804:Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand
585:Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand
299:In January 1939, he attended the
128:activist and organizer who after
956:Member of the Knöchel-Seng-Group
160:Wilhelm Knöchel was born into a
459:Brandenburg-Görden penitentiary
410:Knöchel's Berlin hiding place.
176:. He qualified and worked as a
141:Brandenburg-Görden penitentiary
617:. C.H.Beck. pp. 113–114.
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911:People from Offenbach am Main
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143:, a short distance outside
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399:Charlotte and Erich Garske
223:International Lenin School
198:Communist Party of Germany
156:Early life and provenance
113:[ˈvɪlhɛlmˈknœçl̩]
62:Brandenburg-Görden Prison
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443:special "People's Court"
282:where he teamed up with
272:German security Services
209:National Socialist years
178:factory machine operator
738:Thomas Gebauer (2011).
708:Walter Tüsfeld (1983).
710:"Der Friedenskaempfer"
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58:24 July 1944 (aged 44)
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266:Knöchel attended the
168:, a short distance up
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310:, which was held in
268:Brussels Conference
137:resistance activist
69:Cause of death
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255:membership of the
751:978-3-942109-74-1
674:on 31 August 2019
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461:on 24 July 1944.
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427: [
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343:Ruhr region
328:Switzerland
320:Netherlands
304: [
242:transformed
194:Ruhr region
905:Categories
496:References
451:Willi Seng
407:Willi Seng
375:Willi Seng
362:Düsseldorf
339:Düsseldorf
238:took power
235:Nazi Party
134:government
77:Occupation
643:ignored (
633:cite book
383:Amsterdam
379:Stockholm
370:Wuppertal
295:War years
289:Rhineland
280:Amsterdam
246:one-party
227:Comintern
174:Frankfurt
72:Execution
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587:, Berlin
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95:Children
80:Activist
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261:Hamburg
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347:Berlin
231:Moscow
145:Berlin
713:(PDF)
474:Notes
439:Dutch
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366:Essen
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316:Paris
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172:from
170:river
880:2019
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786:2019
746:ISBN
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680:2019
645:help
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593:2019
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368:and
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130:1933
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