User:Tommy Cheung/Anna Pröll

'Anna Pröll' Anna Pröll (born 12 June 1916 in Augsburg-Pfersee, Germany as Anna Nolan, passed away 28 May 2006 in Augsburg, Germany) was a resistance fighter during the time of the National Socialist regime in Germany.

Life

Anna’s convictions were formed early on through family events when she had to witness her father and her mother being arrested. In 1931 then 15-year old Anna joined the Communist Youth Association (“Kommunistischer Jugendverband Deutschlands” - KJVD) after she had gone to see her father at a party meeting of the German Communist Party (“Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands” - KPD) and heard a speech describing the working conditions for women in Augsburg. Anna’s mother, Rosa, was arrested in 1933 as a member of the “Red Aid” organisation (“Rote Hilfe”), which resulted in “the end of all political work for us … Us youngsters, we had actually practised being interrogated by the police early on. We just knew it might happen to us. After my parents were arrested, every day after work I walked to ‘Katzenstadel’ prison where my mother was held, and stood in front of the gate”. Her father Karl Nolan had taken part in the First World War. His terrible experiences on the battle fields caused him dedicate his life thereafter to peace initiatives, besides working for his local sports club. He was reported to the authorities by a soldier when he distributed anti-war fliers in 1932. Karl Nolan received a one-year jail sentence for “undermining military morale” (“Zersetzung der Wehrmacht”), and had to start his sentence this very year (source of quotes: 1999 interview with Anna Pröll, Josef Pröll Archive. Translation from German Wikipedia entry).

Anna Nolan was one of the most important persons in the group of young people trying to organise anti-Nazi resistance in Augsburg. One of the fliers distributed in the Augsburg borough of Oberhausen in 1933 says: “Proletarians! Comrades in arms! Murderous fascism rages on relentlessly. Each day this vulture of capitalism claims new victims. 50,000 revolutionary workers are languishing in jails and dungeons. Do you want to leave them as fair game to the fascist tyrants? Workers come out! Do not suffer and tolerate it any longer. This is blood from your blood. Fight with us communists!” (end of quote). “The language was different from today’s – we wanted to shake people out of their complacency” (source of quotes: 1999 interview with Anna Pröll, Josef Pröll Archive. Translation from German Wikipedia entry).

The Augsburg youth group’s cover was blown in September 1933, however other young people were prepared to continue the work despite violence and brutality on behalf of police and SS. News about atrocities committed in Dachau Concentration Camp had been spreading in the meantime. SS security guard Ehmann had cold-bloodedly murdered Augsburg Communist Party leader Leonhard Hausmann (source: Josef Pröll Archive). The circle of young resistance fighters was growing larger; people were joining from socialist and Christian groups.

In June 1934 Anna’s father Karl Nolan who had been released from jail, Anna herself and members of her resistance group were taken to court. Karl and Anna Nolan were sentenced for “preparation of high treason” (source: court documents, Bavarian State Archive Munich). 17-year old Anna was sentenced to a total of 21 months in the Aichach Penitentiary for Women. She was confined in darkness after speaking to a fellow inmate without permission. On release she was taken into “protective custody” (“Schutzhaft”) as was common for political prisoners, and transported to Moringen Concentration Camp where she was the youngest female prisoner and was only able to survive with the help from other inmates. “The mutual solidarity in the camp shaped and defined me for the rest of my life” (source of quote: 1999 interview with Anna Pröll, Josef Pröll Archive. Translation from German Wikipedia entry).

The women were later transferred to Ravensbrück Concentration Camp, however Anna Nolan was released before. Heinrich Himmler had personally visited Moringen Concentration Camp, and asked Anna: “So what do you think of our Third Reich now?” Her reply was, “I only got to know it from its worst side” (source: Verbatim Records – Himmler in Moringen Concentration Camp). Anna could not believe that she was released despite this reply of hers. The sole cause for her release was that she was blond and had blue eyes. From then on she had to report to the police in Augsburg on a daily basis. Her private life was monitored and the police instructed her neighbours to spy on her. She got married to Josef Pröll who had also gone through years of Concentration Camp imprisonment. Josef Pröll was arrested again on 1 September 1939, and subsequently spent more than 8 years in various concentration camps. Both his brothers, Fritz and Alois Pröll, died “violent deaths” in concentration camps Dachau and Dora. Anna’s father Karl Nolan was murdered in Dachau Concentration Camp aged 39 (source: International Red Cross Arolsen).

As one of the few remaining survivors of local anti-Nazi resistance Anna Nolan remained active for the causes of anti-fascism and democracy in Augsburg into her old age. On occasion of her 80th birthday in 1996 the chairman of the Jewish Community Augsburg, Gernot Römer, and historian, Dr Annette Eberle, approached the then Lord Mayor of Augsburg, Peter Menacher (CSU) to consider awarding Anna Pröll the City of Augsburg’s Honorary Citizenship as public recognition of her life, work and achievements. This was declined. Subsequently her courageous life became widely known through documentary film, “Anna I fear for you” (“Anna ich hab Angst um dich”, directors: Josef Pröll and Wolfgang Kucera) which describes Anna’s life from 1916 onward. This led to then Lord Mayor Paul Wengert (SPD) awarding her the City of Augsburg’s Honorary Citizenship after all in 2003. Anna Pröll was the first woman in 215 years to receive the City of Augsburg’s Honorary Citizenship.

One year previous to the tribute in Augsburg Anna Pröll received the German Federal Cross of Merit (“Bundesverdienstkreuz”) in the Bavarian State Chancellery in Munich on 10 September 2002 where Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber (CSU) presented the document. In her thanks Anna Pröll stated that she was willing to accept the tribute but only in honour of all those who did not survive the concentration camps. Speaking for the “Camp Community Ravensbrück / Circle of Friends” (“Lagergemeinschaft Ravensbrück / Freundeskreis” – LGRF) their chair person, Rosel Vadehra-Jonas congratulated Anna Pröll: “This award honours your fight against fascism which was long and full of sacrifice, and it honours your patient, tireless and committed work against forgetting”.

Anna Pröll passed away on 28 May 2006, two weeks prior to her 90th birthday.

“I want all children to be able to grow up without having to fear the future. Never again shall human beings have to endure war or fascism”.

These words are written on a plaque on Anna Pröll’s house of birth in Augsburg-Pfersee, Augsburger Strasse 5, put up on Saturday 1 November 2008.

(All quotes from an interview with Anna Pröll in 1999, Pröll Archive. Translation from German Wikipedia entry)