Gert Schramm
Encyclopedia
Gert Schramm is a survivor of Buchenwald concentration camp
, where he was the only black prisoner. He is the son of a German woman and an African-American father and was arrested in violation of Nazi racial purity laws.
and Bad Langensalza
. After graduating from the Volksschule
, he worked as a helper in a car repair shop. According to the Nuremburg Laws, he was denied the right to any vocational training as a Mischling ersten Grades, (mixed race of the first grade). He was also living evidence of illegal interracial "incest" that carried a death penalty for his father and himself.
Brankson made several visits to Thuringia after his contract was up. During one visit in 1941, he was arrested for violation of Nazi racial laws
and deported to Auschwitz, where he apparently died, there being no further trace of him.
under the Rassenschande
laws and held in "protective custody
" in several Gestapo prisons. He was interrogated several times, denied food and drink and was hit in the face. On July 20, 1944, he was deported to Buchenwald concentration camp
, where the number 49489 was tattooed onto his left arm. His sentence was an unspecified time, to be not less than fifteen years.
Schramm was put in with the political prisoners, a decision he credits with saving his life. Forced to work in a stone quarry where the survival rate of prisoners was very low. Every day, ten to fifteen men were carried out, dead. He was moved to an easier job by the Communist kapo
Willi Bleicher and another Communist prisoner, Otto Grosse, organized others to surround him during the daily roll call, when the prisoners were counted. Unhealthy ones and those who stood out risked being sent to an extermination camp or killed on the spot. Schramm once saw a prisoner, a young Jew from Leipzig named Wolfgang Kohn, get stomped to death by an SS guard, simply because he had moved during roll call. As the only Negro prisoner, he already stood out and after weeks in the stone quarry, he was in a weakened state. By surrounding him and moving him to an easier job, he was protected.
es. He was there when a thousand citizens from Weimar were forced to visit Buchenwald to see what had transpired there. He remembers thinking, "Now have a look what happened here with your acquiescence." Footage of this event exists.
in a coal mine, but then chose to move to East Germany, three years after the construction of the Berlin Wall
. There, he worked at the Barnimer Busgesellschaft (Barnim Bus Company) in Eberswalde
, Brandenburg
and resumed his education, becoming a certified mechanic and later, a Meister
.
He became a shop foreman and department head, went to work at a civil engineering combine
, where he worked his way up to department head of the vehicle fleet at the Eberswalde civil engineering combine. With the help of another former Buchenwald prisoner, Hermann Axen, who had been among the group of Communist prisoners who protected Schramm, he started his own business in 1985, "Schramms Reisen," a taxi company now run by his son.
Schramm, a widower, lives near family members in Eberswalde. He has four grown children, is a grandfather and great-grandfather. He is a Schützenbruder
, is involved with the local volunteer fire brigade and is a lay judge
. He visits schools to talk about Buchenwald and he is on the prisoners' advisory board of the Buchenwald Memorial Foundation.
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
, where he was the only black prisoner. He is the son of a German woman and an African-American father and was arrested in violation of Nazi racial purity laws.
Early years
Schramm was born to Marianne Schramm and Jack Brankson, an engineer from an American steel company who was in Thuringia on a contract. Schramm grew up in WitterdaWitterda
Witterda is a municipality in the Sömmerda district of Thuringia, Germany....
and Bad Langensalza
Bad Langensalza
Bad Langensalza is a city in the County of Unstrut-Hainich, Thuringia, Germany, with a population of c. 18,500 .-History:...
. After graduating from the Volksschule
Volksschule
A Volksschule was an 18th century system of state-supported primary schools established in the Habsburg Austrian Empire and Prussia . Attendance was supposedly compulsory, but a 1781 census reveals that only one fourth of school-age children attended. At the time, this was one of the few examples...
, he worked as a helper in a car repair shop. According to the Nuremburg Laws, he was denied the right to any vocational training as a Mischling ersten Grades, (mixed race of the first grade). He was also living evidence of illegal interracial "incest" that carried a death penalty for his father and himself.
Brankson made several visits to Thuringia after his contract was up. During one visit in 1941, he was arrested for violation of Nazi racial laws
Racial policy of Nazi Germany
The racial policy of Nazi Germany was a set of policies and laws implemented by Nazi Germany, asserting the superiority of the "Aryan race", and based on a specific racist doctrine which claimed scientific legitimacy...
and deported to Auschwitz, where he apparently died, there being no further trace of him.
Arrest at age 15
In May 1944, at the age of 15, Schramm was arrested by the GestapoGestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
under the Rassenschande
Rassenschande
Rassenschande or Blutschande was the Nazi term for sexual relations between Aryans and non-Aryans, which was punishable by law...
laws and held in "protective custody
Protective custody
Protective custody is a type of imprisonment to protect a prisoner from harm, either from outside sources or other prisoners. Many administrators believe the level of violence, or the underlying threat of violence within prisoners, is a chief factor causing the need for PC units...
" in several Gestapo prisons. He was interrogated several times, denied food and drink and was hit in the face. On July 20, 1944, he was deported to Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
, where the number 49489 was tattooed onto his left arm. His sentence was an unspecified time, to be not less than fifteen years.
Schramm was put in with the political prisoners, a decision he credits with saving his life. Forced to work in a stone quarry where the survival rate of prisoners was very low. Every day, ten to fifteen men were carried out, dead. He was moved to an easier job by the Communist kapo
Kapo (concentration camp)
A kapo was a prisoner who worked inside German Nazi concentration camps during World War II in any of certain lower administrative positions. The official Nazi word was Funktionshäftling, or "prisoner functionary", but the Nazis commonly referred to them as kapos.- Etymology :The origin of "kapo"...
Willi Bleicher and another Communist prisoner, Otto Grosse, organized others to surround him during the daily roll call, when the prisoners were counted. Unhealthy ones and those who stood out risked being sent to an extermination camp or killed on the spot. Schramm once saw a prisoner, a young Jew from Leipzig named Wolfgang Kohn, get stomped to death by an SS guard, simply because he had moved during roll call. As the only Negro prisoner, he already stood out and after weeks in the stone quarry, he was in a weakened state. By surrounding him and moving him to an easier job, he was protected.
Liberation
Schramm was one of the prisoners left at the camp, a better chance of surviving than those made to leave in the death marchDeath march
A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees. Those marching must walk over long distances for an extremely long period of time and are not supplied with food or water...
es. He was there when a thousand citizens from Weimar were forced to visit Buchenwald to see what had transpired there. He remembers thinking, "Now have a look what happened here with your acquiescence." Footage of this event exists.
After 1945
After the liberation of Buchenwald and the end of the Second World War, Schramm returned to his mother in Bad Langensalza. He then worked at the Wismut uranium mine in the Soviet occupation zone. From 1956 to 1964, he worked in EssenEssen
- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...
in a coal mine, but then chose to move to East Germany, three years after the construction of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
. There, he worked at the Barnimer Busgesellschaft (Barnim Bus Company) in Eberswalde
Eberswalde
Eberswalde is a major town and the administrative seat of the district Barnim in the German Federal State of Brandenburg, about 50 km northeast of Berlin. Population 42144 , geographical location . The town is often called Waldstadt , because of the large forests around it, including the...
, Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
and resumed his education, becoming a certified mechanic and later, a Meister
Meister
Meister means master in German . The word is akin to maestro. Many modern day German police forces use the title Meister. During the Second World War, Meister was the highest enlisted rank of the Ordnungspolizei.Meister has been borrowed into English slang, where it is used in compound nouns...
.
He became a shop foreman and department head, went to work at a civil engineering combine
Combine (enterprise)
Combine has several related meanings:* A big industrial enterprise that combines several different enterprises that are related to each other by a technological process or through an administration....
, where he worked his way up to department head of the vehicle fleet at the Eberswalde civil engineering combine. With the help of another former Buchenwald prisoner, Hermann Axen, who had been among the group of Communist prisoners who protected Schramm, he started his own business in 1985, "Schramms Reisen," a taxi company now run by his son.
Schramm, a widower, lives near family members in Eberswalde. He has four grown children, is a grandfather and great-grandfather. He is a Schützenbruder
Schützenverein
A Schützenverein is in German language countries a voluntary association featuring sport-shooting either on Olympic levels or historic weapons....
, is involved with the local volunteer fire brigade and is a lay judge
Lay judge
A lay judge is a person assisting a judge in a trial. Lay judges are used in some civil law jurisdictions, such as Germany, Sweden and Finland. Japan began implementing a new lay judge system in 2009....
. He visits schools to talk about Buchenwald and he is on the prisoners' advisory board of the Buchenwald Memorial Foundation.