Hans Beimler

Born 1895 in Munich Hans Beimler became locksmith. During WW1 he served on a minesweeper. 1918 he joined the soldiers council in Cuxhaven. He was one of the first members of the new founded communist party.

In 1919 he joined the defenders of the Council Republic of Munich. He tried to blow a bridge up to stop the advance of the counter-revolution forces. He failed, was arrested and imprisoned for two years.

Afterwards, he kept working for the Communist Party, was imprisoned several times. He was deputy in the parliament of Bavaria and Germany for several years.

After the Nazis came into power, Beimler was arrested again and brutally tortured. He was send to the new concentration camp at Dachau where he was tortured again and where he was called on to suicide.

Somehow he managed to kill a SS guard and escaped. He gave the first authentic report about the concentration camps. This report circulated in the German underground.

Beimler had to leave Germany. In July 1936 he came to Spain to support the fight against Fascism there. After the torture, he was not able to fight, so he became instructor and political commissar. Beimler was in opposition with the Stalinist part of the Republic.

In August 1936, when he inspected the troops, he was shot by a sniper. There are two theories. One says that Beimler was killed by assassins of the Stalinists. The other one says that he was killed by Fascist snipers.

When Beimler was entombed, more than 2 million Spaniards said goodbye. No Spanish king ever received such an honour.