Location
Gretelstraße 10
District
Neukölln
Stone was laid
12 September 2008
Born
26 June 1879 in Finsterwalde
Occupation
Tischler / Stadtverordneter
Murdered
15 December 1944 im KZ Sachsenhausen
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Fotografie von Kurt Gärtner © GDW -
Stolperstein für Kurt Gärtner, Gretelstraße 10 © Fr. Ruben
My dear son Karll!
Received your parcel gratefully on 5.11. I was shocked to get the letter from the military hospital. I hope it's not too bad? [...] But is mother still fit and well? Is she very worried about me? Hopefully we will all see each other again in good health. [...] The weather is cold and wet. There's not much air. [...] Please write to mother that I would like a toothbrush, earmuffs, sweetener and your canvas cloths. I apologise for my poor writing, am writing on the rough table. Stay decent and think of me like I am thinking of you!
Kurt Gärtner, Sachsenhausen concentration camp, 3. 12. 1944
Kurt Gärtner, a carpenter and son of a clothier, became a member of the SPD in Guben and the German woodworkers' association in 1898. He could not find any work in Guben because of his trade union activities and moved to Berlin in 1905. He fought in the First World War from 1914 to 1918 and went over to the USPD. In 1919, he was elected to the Neukölln town council, which was still independent from Berlin. In 1920, he became a member of the Neukölln local council. He rejoined the SPD in 1922. For many years, he worked full-time for the German Freethinkers League as chief treasurer and property administrator. He was re-elected city councillor in 1933. He was unseated under the SPD ban in June 1933 and barred from serving as a local or city councillor under the Decree for Safety of the Leadership of State introduced in July. He was dismissed from the German Freethinkers League on 30.6.1933. His son Karl was arrested by the Gestapo for continuing to run the banned International Human Rights League. After four months in detention, Karl Gärtner joined his sister in Czechoslovakia, where she helped him find work. In 1937, he moved back to Berlin, where his father had since opened an alternative health practice. Kurt Gärtner was barred from working as a health practitioner by the chief of police in 1943. He was arrested during Aktion Gewitter on 22.8.1944 and sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp where he died a few months later. The employees at the Baumschulenweg crematorium cemetery refused to inter the urn with his remains. Karl, who was in a military hospital at the time, wrote a letter of complaint to the district mayor of Treptow, enclosing confirmation from the political director of Sachsenhausen that Kurt Gärtner had been in preventive detention and did not have a criminal record nor had his civic rights revoked. The mayor apologised on 16.1.1945 and the funeral took place eight days later at Baumschulenweg cemetery. Kurt's widow Lisbeth Gärtner received a pension from the compensation office from 1952 onwards.
Kurt Gärtner was a city councillor 1925 - 1933, Constituency 12 Neukölln (SPD).
Received your parcel gratefully on 5.11. I was shocked to get the letter from the military hospital. I hope it's not too bad? [...] But is mother still fit and well? Is she very worried about me? Hopefully we will all see each other again in good health. [...] The weather is cold and wet. There's not much air. [...] Please write to mother that I would like a toothbrush, earmuffs, sweetener and your canvas cloths. I apologise for my poor writing, am writing on the rough table. Stay decent and think of me like I am thinking of you!
Kurt Gärtner, Sachsenhausen concentration camp, 3. 12. 1944
Kurt Gärtner, a carpenter and son of a clothier, became a member of the SPD in Guben and the German woodworkers' association in 1898. He could not find any work in Guben because of his trade union activities and moved to Berlin in 1905. He fought in the First World War from 1914 to 1918 and went over to the USPD. In 1919, he was elected to the Neukölln town council, which was still independent from Berlin. In 1920, he became a member of the Neukölln local council. He rejoined the SPD in 1922. For many years, he worked full-time for the German Freethinkers League as chief treasurer and property administrator. He was re-elected city councillor in 1933. He was unseated under the SPD ban in June 1933 and barred from serving as a local or city councillor under the Decree for Safety of the Leadership of State introduced in July. He was dismissed from the German Freethinkers League on 30.6.1933. His son Karl was arrested by the Gestapo for continuing to run the banned International Human Rights League. After four months in detention, Karl Gärtner joined his sister in Czechoslovakia, where she helped him find work. In 1937, he moved back to Berlin, where his father had since opened an alternative health practice. Kurt Gärtner was barred from working as a health practitioner by the chief of police in 1943. He was arrested during Aktion Gewitter on 22.8.1944 and sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp where he died a few months later. The employees at the Baumschulenweg crematorium cemetery refused to inter the urn with his remains. Karl, who was in a military hospital at the time, wrote a letter of complaint to the district mayor of Treptow, enclosing confirmation from the political director of Sachsenhausen that Kurt Gärtner had been in preventive detention and did not have a criminal record nor had his civic rights revoked. The mayor apologised on 16.1.1945 and the funeral took place eight days later at Baumschulenweg cemetery. Kurt's widow Lisbeth Gärtner received a pension from the compensation office from 1952 onwards.
Kurt Gärtner was a city councillor 1925 - 1933, Constituency 12 Neukölln (SPD).