Kurt Nehrling
Encyclopedia
Kurt Nehrling was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 Social Democratic
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

 politician and member of the German resistance
German Resistance
The German resistance was the opposition by individuals and groups in Germany to Adolf Hitler or the National Socialist regime between 1933 and 1945. Some of these engaged in active plans to remove Adolf Hitler from power and overthrow his regime...

 against Hitler. Nehrling was responsible for supplying information to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 and was most famously known for hiding banned books. He was later caught by the SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...

 and killed at the Dachau Concentration Camp.

Biography

Kurt Nehrling was born in Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...

 to restaurateurs Max and Emma Nehrling. His parents' restaurant, Zum Goldenen Stern in the Jakobstrasse, was a popular workers' tavern
Tavern
A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, and in some cases, where travelers receive lodging....

 and served as a meeting place for members of the Social-Democratic People Association (a local chapter of the SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

). This exposure was surely to have an influence on young Kurt's future political career.
From 1901 to 1905, membership in the local chapter of the SPD increased dramatically from 120 to 616. The party therefore created an autonomous social and cultural environment in the worker-populated areas of the Weimar. In 1907, the Social Democrats, trade unions, and associations laid the foundation for their own building, the "Community Center". Two years later, a local group of the Socialist Worker Youth was founded there.

Nehrling joined the SPD in 1919. In the years following World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, he worked at the district administration of Weimar. There he became acquainted with Marie Prox, the daughter of Emil Prox, the chairman to the Social Democratic People Association. In 1921, Nehrling married Prox but tragedy struck two years later when Marie died from complications of childbirth with their second child. Nehrling, however, continued to maintain strong relations with his father-in-law. Although Prox is not very well remembered today, Nehrling's son later recalled his significance on his father's life:

Emil Prox, the father-in-law of my father, was Social Democrat. After my memory from family discussions [...] Grandpa Prox was the first social-democratic assigning to of the city. It lies near that Emil Prox introduced and affected its young son-in-law considerably to social-democratic ideas. Emil Prox died 1942. My father inherited the extensive library. A part of the inherited books had to be hidden immediately with a reliable neighbour. Emil Prox lies in the family grave Marie Nehrling on that Weimar cemetery. The gravestone inscription is only with difficulty readable: Emil Prox, assigning to A.D.


In 1923, Nehrling was working as an employee in the Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....

n Ministry of Economic Affairs when he met and later married his second wife, Hedwig Nehrling.

In 1929, Nehrling became ill with Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

. This was a long illness, finally breaking in 1931. Although employed in the Thüringer government, the National Socialists
National Socialist German Workers Party
The National Socialist German Workers' Party , commonly known in English as the Nazi Party, was a political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. Its predecessor, the German Workers' Party , existed from 1919 to 1920...

 broke all relationship with the SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

 in 1933 and terminated all non-National Socialist employment. Kurt and Hedwig Nehrling had immense financial problems in these years. In their dwelling they opened Homestead Way 16 (today Kurt Nehrling road) a provisional linen shop. Later moving to a corner shop at the Zeppelinplatz. At this time Kurt Nehrling joined the Social-Democratic Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold
Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold
The Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold was a Social Democratic paramilitary force formed during the Weimar Republic in 1924....

, a front fighter organization formed to defend the Republic from National Socialist control.
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