The memorial book of the Baden-Württemberg State Parliament commemorates the members of the former State Parliaments of Baden and Württemberg who perished under National Socialist persecution.
In the night of March 28/29, 1934, National Socialists strangled Ludwig Marum, leader of the faction of the Social Democrats in the Baden State Parliament, in the Kislau concentration camp. In order to make it appear as suicide, they hanged him on his cell's window crossbar. Like many other members of the State Parliament, Marum had been in political opposition to the National Socialist regime after they had taken power. These politicians were persecuted by the Gestapo, many were taken into »protective custody« and tortured. Several members of parliament were deported to concentration camps after their arrest. 18 members of the State Parliament - among them one woman - died of the effects of incarceration or torture. Some were intentionally murdered like Ludwig Marum. One of the persecuted politicians from south-western Germany was Kurt Schumacher, the later leader of the SPD parliamentary group in the first German Bundestag. Until 1931, Schumacher was chairman of the Württemberg SPD and a member of the Reichstag. He was arrested in July 1933 and passed through numerous concentration camps until his release in 1943. In 1952, he died of the long-term effects of his concentration camp imprisonment.
18 politicians and members of the State Parliaments of Baden and Württemberg as well as several members of the Reichstag from the region were murdered by the National Socialists or died of the effects of persecution. The names of the victims were: Eugen Bolz, Hermann Böning, Fritz Elsas, Johannes Fischer, Karl Großhans, Josef Heid, Julius Helmstädter, Leo Kullmann, Georg Lechleiter, Guido Leser, Ludwig Marum, Paul Rehbach, Leopold Rückert, Karl Ruggaber, Karl Schneck, Laura Schradin, Kurt Schumacher, and Jakob Weimer.
In 2003, the chairmanship of the Baden-Württemberg State Parliament decided to commission a documentation on the 18 members of the State Parliaments of Baden and Württemberg who were murdered or died of the effects of persecution by the National Socialists. This occurred on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the National Socialists' assumption of power. The documentation resulted in the creation of a memorial book, which has been on display on the principal floor of the State Parliament building in Stuttgart since March 30, 2004. The memorial book contains biographical information on the 18 members of State Parliament, excerpts about human and civil rights as well as the 1919 »Weimar Constitution«. The documentation's aim is to show the importance of legally established human rights in a constitutional parliamentary democracy by portraying the fates of politicians who were persecuted under the National Socialist regime.
- Name
- Gedenkbuch des Landtags von Baden-Württemberg
- Address
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Konrad-Adenauer-Str. 3
70173 Stuttgart - Phone
- +49 (0)711 206 30
- Fax
- +49 (0)711 206 352 1
- Web
- http://www.landtag-bw.de
- post@landtag-bw.de
- Open
- Monday to Friday 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.
- Possibilities
- A4-sized brochure on the contents of the memorial book