European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

and at the same time we defended ourselves. We had no choice.

Until 1936 we sang:

“We never want to carry weapons again! Never, ever do we want war again. Let the ones at the top fight each other on their own, we just won’t take part any more.”

Then the old comrades came and said that Hitler was standing in front of the door

with armed arguments, and you do not intend to defend yourself.

There was a giant discussion in the youth association and we decided to do military training.

We learned to shoot and we learned a new martial art. The Nazis did not even know the name of it.

At that time it was the latest achievement: Jiu-Jitsu, training blows with the edge of your hand.

With that we were able to prevail against the majority of the Nazis.

If one of our youth centres was closed in by Nazi rowdies,

how were we supposed to liberate the group in the youth centre?

With defensive methods? That would not do.

We had to attack and once their blows were overcome

then the others would lose ground

and we were able to get our people out of the youth centre.

That happened from time to time,

the adult’s organisation of the social democrats, the socialists, “Rote Wehr”, later on “Republikanische Wehr” was strictly defensive.

That was good when a public house was to be defended against the attack of the Nazis.

That was good at demonstrations, where the ‘Rote Wehr’ was walking at the front and at the back,

but if a location in a small village was encircled by the Nazis,