Claus Bastian (23.3.1909 Biebrich/Rhine – 26.6.1995 Munich)

Claus Bastian grew up with five siblings in Utting am Ammersee, where the family settled while his father continued to travel the world as a much-in-demand engineer. After completing his schooling, Bastian pursued legal studies at the University of Munich. His political path initially led him to the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), because he considered this party to be the fiercest opponent of National Socialism. He actively participated primarily in the “Marxist students’ club", which he founded in 1931. His activities, such as his support for Hans Nawiasky, a constitutional lawyer who had converted from Judaism to Catholicism and was attacked by the National Socialist Student Association, soon brought him to the attention of the Police and he was then arrested in his apartment in Kurfürstenstraße in Schwabing on March 9, 1933 as part of the mass arrests following the seizure of power. From the prisons in Munich’s Ettstraße, Stadelheim and Landsberg, he was taken with the first transport of around fifty inmates to the newly established Dachau Concentration Camp on March 22nd. Here he was registered with the inmate number 1.

Claus Bastian was fortunately released in September 1933, without any justification, just like before when he was arrested. Despite political hostility, he was able to complete his legal traineeship, earn his PhD, and find employment at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce. He lived initially in Dachau with his wife Maria, née von Koczian, and their children, then operated a farm in Tyrol and, with luck and skill, succeeded in avoiding deployment at the front during the war.

After liberation, Bastian worked as a lawyer and represented many former Nazi persecutees in compensation proceedings.