Ulrich N. (1909 – 1944 Warsaw)

Ulrich N. (pseudonym) from Munich was a trained metal printer, a craft that was increasingly being phased out as a result of technological developments in factories. The family’s obvious social hardship began with the father’s unemployment at the end of the 1920s. In order to support his large family, Ulrich N. began poaching. According to his son’s recollections, however, he poached quite openly from 1933 onwards, as if he wanted to challenge the new political authorities: “My father was socially minded., too; it wasn’t talked about, but he was against the Nazis. [...] He was very careless, he poached openly, hanging up the antlers with the kill mark in the attic” (DaA 34.860). In spring 1933 he was sent to Stadelheim prison for the first time for a period of three years. After his release, he was unemployed for a certain period. He then got work as a lathe operator, but the wages were too low to provide for his family of five children. This resulted in a second prison sentence for poaching between 1940 and 1942. He describes his plight in a letter from the concentration camp in 1944, which is still preserved: “First unemployment, then the rules and regulations. Before my last misdemeanor, I applied to the welfare department for support for large families. This wasn’t possible because of my previous convictions, so we went to the general welfare department, where we were likewise rejected, as we were by the National Socialist People’s Welfare (NSV), too” (ibid.).

According to his son, he was sent to Dachau Concentration Camp immediately after serving his two-year prison sentence. The family was torn apart and the children were taken into care.

Ulrich N.’s ingenuity and self-assured nature helped him adapt to the rules of camp life, as is borne out by the numerous letters to his family that he was able to smuggle out. After working at Augsburg-Haunstetten and Leonberg satellite camps, Ulrich N. reluctantly decided to volunteer for the Dirlewanger Brigade of the SS. The idea was that his family would receive better benefits in the event of his death, thereby enabling them to live together again. He was killed at the age of 35 on September 16, 1944 during the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising. His wife Fanny learned of his death a month later: “Dear Madam,  [...], as company commander I have the sad duty to inform you that your husband, SS Grenadier [...] has died a hero’s death for Greater Germany [...]. Your spouse was deployed against the insurgents, finally fighting in the clearing of a bridgehead on the Vistula where the Russians were trying to join forces with the bandits. With our faith in Germany, the ideal of the homeland and the certainty of victory, your husband lives on in our ranks. Heil Hitler” (ibid.).