Lina Haag
Encyclopedia
Lina Haag née Jäger is a former member of the Youth movement of the Communist Party of Germany
(KPD) in the small Württemberg
town of Schwäbisch Gmünd
in the 1920s. In 1927, she married fellow Communist Alfred Haag
. Alfred was a member of the regional Parliament for the KPD until Hitler's rise to power in 1933. Both he and Lina were arrested and spent many years in prison
s and concentration camps.
Both Haags showed extraordinary strength of spirit during their incarcerations. Lina spent many years in Remand Prison, during which time she met other prominent prisoners such as Liselotte Herrmann
. Lina was freed in 1938 after managing to turn her camp commandant at Lichtenburg
against the Stuttgart Gestapo.
Once released, she was reunited with her daughter, moved to Berlin, and secured a job. She visited the headquarters of the SS almost daily to petition for her husband's release. In 1940, she obtained permission for an audience with Heinrich Himmler
, who secured Alfred's release from the Mauthausen concentration camp. Alfred survived physical torture while detained there and also at Dachau concentration camp.
Alfred was soon drafted into the army and sent to the Eastern Front, and Lina and their daughter were bombed out of their home in Berlin. Lina was transferred to work in a hospital in Garmisch. While there, she wrote a memoir of her experiences in the form of an extended letter to Alfred, not knowing if she would ever see him again. The letter was eventually published in 1947 as A Handful of Dust or How Long the Night. Alfred was taken prisoner by the Red Army and eventually released in 1948.
The Haags lived in Munich until Alfred's death in 1982. In 2007, Lina was given the Dachau Award for Courage. She continues to live in Munich.
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
(KPD) in the small Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
town of Schwäbisch Gmünd
Schwäbisch Gmünd
Schwäbisch Gmünd is a town in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. With a population of around 62,000, the town is the second largest in the Ostalbkreis and the whole region of East Württemberg after Aalen...
in the 1920s. In 1927, she married fellow Communist Alfred Haag
Alfred Haag
Alfred Haag was a member of the Youth movement of the Communist Party of Germany in the small Württemberg town of Schwäbisch Gmünd in the 1920s, he married another communist; Lina Haag in 1927...
. Alfred was a member of the regional Parliament for the KPD until Hitler's rise to power in 1933. Both he and Lina were arrested and spent many years in prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
s and concentration camps.
Both Haags showed extraordinary strength of spirit during their incarcerations. Lina spent many years in Remand Prison, during which time she met other prominent prisoners such as Liselotte Herrmann
Liselotte Herrmann
Liselotte Herrmann was a German Communist resistance fighter during the Third Reich.- Early years :...
. Lina was freed in 1938 after managing to turn her camp commandant at Lichtenburg
Lichtenburg (concentration camp)
Lichtenburg was a Nazi concentration camp, housed in a Renaissance castle in Prettin, near Wittenberg in eastern Germany. Along with Sachsenburg, it was among the first to be built by the Nazis, and was operated by the SS from 1933 to 1939. It held as many as 2000 male prisoners from 1933 to 1937...
against the Stuttgart Gestapo.
Once released, she was reunited with her daughter, moved to Berlin, and secured a job. She visited the headquarters of the SS almost daily to petition for her husband's release. In 1940, she obtained permission for an audience with Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
, who secured Alfred's release from the Mauthausen concentration camp. Alfred survived physical torture while detained there and also at Dachau concentration camp.
Alfred was soon drafted into the army and sent to the Eastern Front, and Lina and their daughter were bombed out of their home in Berlin. Lina was transferred to work in a hospital in Garmisch. While there, she wrote a memoir of her experiences in the form of an extended letter to Alfred, not knowing if she would ever see him again. The letter was eventually published in 1947 as A Handful of Dust or How Long the Night. Alfred was taken prisoner by the Red Army and eventually released in 1948.
The Haags lived in Munich until Alfred's death in 1982. In 2007, Lina was given the Dachau Award for Courage. She continues to live in Munich.