AUGUST STREUFERT
1887 - 1944
August Streufert was born on August 5, 1887 in the town of Negast - near the old hanseatic city of
Stralsund - in the Pommerania area of northern Germany. August’s parents had both lost their
prior spouse to a premature death and, when they married each other, brought children from their
previous families into their home. Nonetheless, they had yet more children with each other,
including August Karl Hans Streufert. The small or moderate farms owned by the two families were
joined, yet with all the children there was little money for such “luxuries” as an education beyond
whatever the local school could offer.
The minister of the church in Negast recognized that August Streufert was an exceptionally
intelligent child and tried to collect enough money to send the boy to a university preparatory school
in Stralsund. Unfortunately, the effort failed - and after completing the town’s school (graduation
after 8th grade) August began an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker. Once he passed the
journeyman examination, he worked in several locations in northern Germany and completed his
training as a Master Cabinet Maker. Some of the furniture he created (usually signed on the back
of a drawer) is still treasured by collectors in Europe.
When the First World War started in 1914, August, now in his mid-twenties, was immediately
drafted. He spent most of the war years on the “western front” in sections of France until he was
seriously injured by a gun shot through the chest. Bleeding, and with half his lungs collapsed, he
was brought to a military hospital. Half in-and-out of a coma he heard the military physician say at
his bedside that “there is no point doing anything for that soldier; he is going to die anyway.” When
August perceived those words, he decided that he would live and, finally, managed to recover.
Once the war was over, August was unable to continue working in the dusty environment of a
cabinet maker’s shop. He applied for a position with the national government’s employment and
unemployment services (Arbeitsamt). He was repeatedly promoted and in the late 1920s became
department head. At the same time he was politically active in the social democratic party (SPD),
was elected into the Senate of the city of Stralsund, later into the state parliament of Pommerania
and finally into the “Reichstag,” the German national parliament. (The Reichstag was a single
house legislature electing the Reichskanzler, the head of government for the country. In effect, this
legislature, when compared to other countries, was more of a Senate than a Lower House/House of
Representatives). August contributed several laws, especially labor laws, to the legal system of the
“Weimar Republic” (as that period of democracy in Germany has been called).
August married and had two children, Heinrich Streufert and Harry Streufert. While the marriage
was less than optimal, August adopted a daughter his wife conceived by another man after the two
boys were born. At that time, August’s wife was proud of her husband’s position and called herself
“Frau Reichstagsabgeordnete Streufert” as though she had been the one who had been elected to
the national parliament.
One of the major problems of German democracy during the Weimar Republic was the multitude of
parties which had been elected into the parliament, making it impossible to generate reliable
coalitions that would effectively govern the country. In response, the parliament would repeatedly
appoint temporary Chancellors from various parties. Each of these chancellors was to lead the
country for limited periods of time. In 1933 it was Adolf Hitler’s term. Hitler used that opportunity to
establish Nazi rule. A fire in the parliament building (Reichstag) was blamed on the communists
and, with a majority vote of the members of parliament, the communist party was outlawed.
Courting the right wing parties, Hitler managed to get enough votes to outlaw the social democrats.
Many members of parliament from the communist, the social democratic and the center party
(Zentrum) were killed or arrested and often incarcerated. The Hitler government declared August
Streufert to be an “Enemy of the State” and prohibited all German organizations and companies
from hiring him. He was fired from his position in the government’s employment and unemployment
services because, as he was told, there is “suspicion that you are an enemy of the State.” When
August protested, stating that he had always served Germany reliably and honestly, he received a
letter in response with the words: “In your case there is no suspicion that you are an enemy of the
State; it is a fact that you are an enemy of the State. Heil Hitler!”
August used his savings to make a down-payment on a hotel and department store in Nienhagen
on the Baltic Sea. A few days after he was able to open the establishments under his own
management, the Nazi government placed large signs on the street at all entrances stating: “This
establishment is owned by an enemy of Germany. You are not allowed to enter or purchase items
in this establishment. Only very few customers dared to walk in, and the business failed. In the
meantime, August’s wife now said again and again: “I have to be ashamed that my name is
Streufert.” A divorce followed quickly and August used the remainder of his savings to start a small
store operation for his former wife. His older son Heinrich sided with the mother. The younger son
Harry Streufert, also fired from a government job for “suspicion of anti-Nazi activities,” sided with his
father. (Harry found an initial job as a gate keeper at Heinkel aircraft, advanced rapidly and later
became chief of operations for Heinkel. In response, the Nazi government demanded that Prof. Dr.
Heinkel should fire Harry Streufert, but Heinkel said no. Harry used the opportunity at Heinkel to
save the lives of several employees, including Jews who would have been sent to concentration
camps, that the Nazis wanted to eliminate).
August Streufert initially tried to make ends meet by selling vegetables at a farmers’ market
(Wochenmarkt) in Berlin, but finally found a position with the Dutch cocoa manufacturer VanHouten
in the city of Kiel. As a place of residence, August chose the suburb of Raisdorf, a town of then
about 800 people, most of whom had build little houses after they advanced (e.g., to foreman) in
the shipyards of Kiel. The local population was generally quite anti-Nazi in their orientation and
August felt safer in such an environment. August remarried. He and his wife Ella (Elli) Streufert
were very devoted to each other. They had one child, Siegfried Streufert. During his life since
1933 in Berlin and Kiel, August was repeatedly arrested and questioned by the Nazi police, the SS
and the National Secret Police (Gestapo). He successfully avoided their verbal traps. For example,
they would ask him: “Mr. Streufert, what is your view of the National Socialist (Nazi) Government?”
Since the Nazis had (falsely) claimed that they had been elected by a vast majority, August said
“You know that I have always believed in democracy. You published that you were elected by a
majority. As a democrat I can hardly object to the will of the majority, can I?”
August was quite active in the underground. For example, people who were escaping the Nazis
(Jews, British and American airmen who had parachuted to the ground when their bombers were
shot down, as well as others who were considered “undesirable” by the Nazis) were hidden by a
dentist friend (who nominally was a member of the Nazi party). During the night, the escapees
would be picked up by a VanHouten van, were driven to the Baltic shore and transferred to fishing
boats that left in the dark. Out to sea, they were transferred to Swedish boats and ships.
August’s underground efforts and his work to save people from Nazi persecution did not become
known to the Nazi government, yet after the attempt at Hitler’s life in 1944, August was considered
“too dangerous,” and was arrested in August 1944. He was placed in a concentration camp
(Hamburg-Neuengamme). A number of local and national personalities tried to get August released
(including the recently retired former head of the local Nazi part in Raisdorf). Elli repeatedly tried to
contact the county and state (Gau) leaders of Nazi party offices, the Gestapo, as well as other
government agencies. She was told over and over again that the responsible individual was “out of
town,” even though she would sometimes hear his voice in the next room. Nothing helped. While in
the concentration camp, August was permitted to write a one page letter home per month. Each
letter showed the mark of a sensor. Nonetheless, he and his wife Elli were able to communicate with
pre-arranged code words. Arrested in August, letters were received in September, October,
November and the last in early December. No letters arrived after that time. In April a package with
the clothes that August had worn when he was arrested was sent to his wife with the statement
“Enclosed are the clothes of August Streufert who died on December 27, 1944 of pneumonia at the
concentration camp. Signed: Heil Hitler, the Commander of the Camp. It remains in question
whether August did die on that day, and whether the cause of death was indeed pneumonia.
August Streufert is remembered in the books “Aktion Gitter” by Hellmut Ohl (Ostsee Verlag) and
“Arch of Fire” by Siegfried Streufert (Aina Kai Books, published in the German language as
“Drachenwind” Ostsee Verlag). A number of streets in Germany have been named in honor of
August Streufert, His name appears on a several monuments in both Germany and the United
States of America. Among those locations are tablets in front of, as well as inside the German
Reichstag building (the German Capitol). The various monuments celebrate August Streufert’s
activities to save people from the Nazis, memorialize his work for the German nation or his death at
the hands of the Nazi regime.
The pictures below show one of the monuments honoring the members of the German Congress
(Reichstag) that were murdered by the Nazi regime. The Reichstag (German Capitol) building
(below) was burned (probably by the Nazis) in 1933 but has now been restored and is again used
for sessions of the legislature.
(Photography: Friedrich-Karl Heyd, November 2005)
1887 - 1944
August Streufert was born on August 5, 1887 in the town of Negast - near the old hanseatic city of
Stralsund - in the Pommerania area of northern Germany. August’s parents had both lost their
prior spouse to a premature death and, when they married each other, brought children from their
previous families into their home. Nonetheless, they had yet more children with each other,
including August Karl Hans Streufert. The small or moderate farms owned by the two families were
joined, yet with all the children there was little money for such “luxuries” as an education beyond
whatever the local school could offer.
The minister of the church in Negast recognized that August Streufert was an exceptionally
intelligent child and tried to collect enough money to send the boy to a university preparatory school
in Stralsund. Unfortunately, the effort failed - and after completing the town’s school (graduation
after 8th grade) August began an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker. Once he passed the
journeyman examination, he worked in several locations in northern Germany and completed his
training as a Master Cabinet Maker. Some of the furniture he created (usually signed on the back
of a drawer) is still treasured by collectors in Europe.
When the First World War started in 1914, August, now in his mid-twenties, was immediately
drafted. He spent most of the war years on the “western front” in sections of France until he was
seriously injured by a gun shot through the chest. Bleeding, and with half his lungs collapsed, he
was brought to a military hospital. Half in-and-out of a coma he heard the military physician say at
his bedside that “there is no point doing anything for that soldier; he is going to die anyway.” When
August perceived those words, he decided that he would live and, finally, managed to recover.
Once the war was over, August was unable to continue working in the dusty environment of a
cabinet maker’s shop. He applied for a position with the national government’s employment and
unemployment services (Arbeitsamt). He was repeatedly promoted and in the late 1920s became
department head. At the same time he was politically active in the social democratic party (SPD),
was elected into the Senate of the city of Stralsund, later into the state parliament of Pommerania
and finally into the “Reichstag,” the German national parliament. (The Reichstag was a single
house legislature electing the Reichskanzler, the head of government for the country. In effect, this
legislature, when compared to other countries, was more of a Senate than a Lower House/House of
Representatives). August contributed several laws, especially labor laws, to the legal system of the
“Weimar Republic” (as that period of democracy in Germany has been called).
August married and had two children, Heinrich Streufert and Harry Streufert. While the marriage
was less than optimal, August adopted a daughter his wife conceived by another man after the two
boys were born. At that time, August’s wife was proud of her husband’s position and called herself
“Frau Reichstagsabgeordnete Streufert” as though she had been the one who had been elected to
the national parliament.
One of the major problems of German democracy during the Weimar Republic was the multitude of
parties which had been elected into the parliament, making it impossible to generate reliable
coalitions that would effectively govern the country. In response, the parliament would repeatedly
appoint temporary Chancellors from various parties. Each of these chancellors was to lead the
country for limited periods of time. In 1933 it was Adolf Hitler’s term. Hitler used that opportunity to
establish Nazi rule. A fire in the parliament building (Reichstag) was blamed on the communists
and, with a majority vote of the members of parliament, the communist party was outlawed.
Courting the right wing parties, Hitler managed to get enough votes to outlaw the social democrats.
Many members of parliament from the communist, the social democratic and the center party
(Zentrum) were killed or arrested and often incarcerated. The Hitler government declared August
Streufert to be an “Enemy of the State” and prohibited all German organizations and companies
from hiring him. He was fired from his position in the government’s employment and unemployment
services because, as he was told, there is “suspicion that you are an enemy of the State.” When
August protested, stating that he had always served Germany reliably and honestly, he received a
letter in response with the words: “In your case there is no suspicion that you are an enemy of the
State; it is a fact that you are an enemy of the State. Heil Hitler!”
August used his savings to make a down-payment on a hotel and department store in Nienhagen
on the Baltic Sea. A few days after he was able to open the establishments under his own
management, the Nazi government placed large signs on the street at all entrances stating: “This
establishment is owned by an enemy of Germany. You are not allowed to enter or purchase items
in this establishment. Only very few customers dared to walk in, and the business failed. In the
meantime, August’s wife now said again and again: “I have to be ashamed that my name is
Streufert.” A divorce followed quickly and August used the remainder of his savings to start a small
store operation for his former wife. His older son Heinrich sided with the mother. The younger son
Harry Streufert, also fired from a government job for “suspicion of anti-Nazi activities,” sided with his
father. (Harry found an initial job as a gate keeper at Heinkel aircraft, advanced rapidly and later
became chief of operations for Heinkel. In response, the Nazi government demanded that Prof. Dr.
Heinkel should fire Harry Streufert, but Heinkel said no. Harry used the opportunity at Heinkel to
save the lives of several employees, including Jews who would have been sent to concentration
camps, that the Nazis wanted to eliminate).
August Streufert initially tried to make ends meet by selling vegetables at a farmers’ market
(Wochenmarkt) in Berlin, but finally found a position with the Dutch cocoa manufacturer VanHouten
in the city of Kiel. As a place of residence, August chose the suburb of Raisdorf, a town of then
about 800 people, most of whom had build little houses after they advanced (e.g., to foreman) in
the shipyards of Kiel. The local population was generally quite anti-Nazi in their orientation and
August felt safer in such an environment. August remarried. He and his wife Ella (Elli) Streufert
were very devoted to each other. They had one child, Siegfried Streufert. During his life since
1933 in Berlin and Kiel, August was repeatedly arrested and questioned by the Nazi police, the SS
and the National Secret Police (Gestapo). He successfully avoided their verbal traps. For example,
they would ask him: “Mr. Streufert, what is your view of the National Socialist (Nazi) Government?”
Since the Nazis had (falsely) claimed that they had been elected by a vast majority, August said
“You know that I have always believed in democracy. You published that you were elected by a
majority. As a democrat I can hardly object to the will of the majority, can I?”
August was quite active in the underground. For example, people who were escaping the Nazis
(Jews, British and American airmen who had parachuted to the ground when their bombers were
shot down, as well as others who were considered “undesirable” by the Nazis) were hidden by a
dentist friend (who nominally was a member of the Nazi party). During the night, the escapees
would be picked up by a VanHouten van, were driven to the Baltic shore and transferred to fishing
boats that left in the dark. Out to sea, they were transferred to Swedish boats and ships.
August’s underground efforts and his work to save people from Nazi persecution did not become
known to the Nazi government, yet after the attempt at Hitler’s life in 1944, August was considered
“too dangerous,” and was arrested in August 1944. He was placed in a concentration camp
(Hamburg-Neuengamme). A number of local and national personalities tried to get August released
(including the recently retired former head of the local Nazi part in Raisdorf). Elli repeatedly tried to
contact the county and state (Gau) leaders of Nazi party offices, the Gestapo, as well as other
government agencies. She was told over and over again that the responsible individual was “out of
town,” even though she would sometimes hear his voice in the next room. Nothing helped. While in
the concentration camp, August was permitted to write a one page letter home per month. Each
letter showed the mark of a sensor. Nonetheless, he and his wife Elli were able to communicate with
pre-arranged code words. Arrested in August, letters were received in September, October,
November and the last in early December. No letters arrived after that time. In April a package with
the clothes that August had worn when he was arrested was sent to his wife with the statement
“Enclosed are the clothes of August Streufert who died on December 27, 1944 of pneumonia at the
concentration camp. Signed: Heil Hitler, the Commander of the Camp. It remains in question
whether August did die on that day, and whether the cause of death was indeed pneumonia.
August Streufert is remembered in the books “Aktion Gitter” by Hellmut Ohl (Ostsee Verlag) and
“Arch of Fire” by Siegfried Streufert (Aina Kai Books, published in the German language as
“Drachenwind” Ostsee Verlag). A number of streets in Germany have been named in honor of
August Streufert, His name appears on a several monuments in both Germany and the United
States of America. Among those locations are tablets in front of, as well as inside the German
Reichstag building (the German Capitol). The various monuments celebrate August Streufert’s
activities to save people from the Nazis, memorialize his work for the German nation or his death at
the hands of the Nazi regime.
The pictures below show one of the monuments honoring the members of the German Congress
(Reichstag) that were murdered by the Nazi regime. The Reichstag (German Capitol) building
(below) was burned (probably by the Nazis) in 1933 but has now been restored and is again used
for sessions of the legislature.
(Photography: Friedrich-Karl Heyd, November 2005)
