Weiter Lohberg 18

Hans Jürs and his family lived at Weiter Lohberg 18.

Hans Julius Johannes Jürs was born on 25 October 1894 in Ratzeburg.  He was a locksmith by trade and it is speculated that he completed his required time of military service during World War I.

On 29 May 1917 Hans Jürs moved from St.Georgsberg in Ratzeburg to Hansestraße 11a, Lübeck, which was the widow Julie Nevermann’s boarding house. From there he moved to Paul Rauch’s boarding house at Mühlenstraße 34, which had its entrance at Kapitelstraße 1.

Presumably it was during that time that Hans Jürs married Frieda Emilie Fischer (born 15 February 1898), who was from the Karlshof part of Lübeck.  Their first son, Rudolf Hans August, was born on 15 July 1919.  The family moved on 8 September 1919 to Beckergrube 82.  Their second son, Walter Hermann, was born on 9 May 1922.

Six weeks later the family moved to a flat at Weiter Lohberg 18, where Heinrich Tiedt, a retired postmaster, and Emil Koball, a manservant, also lived.

Hans Jürs was an active member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses faith.  In 1935 he was sentenced to three months in prison for his activities with Internationale Bibelforscher-Vereinigung (IBV), as the German Witnesses first called themselves. (engl.: International Bible Students Association)  

The Gestapo arrested him again in 1937.  Hans Jürs was sentenced by the Schleswig-Holstein Special Court Kiel in Lübeck  to a two year prison sentence.

The main reason for his prison term was his activities in the IBV. He and two co-defendants formed a three member Jehovah’s Witnesses cell, which was organized by the district leader, Heinrich van Loo.

A further charge against him was his participation in the distribution of the leaflets “Resolution” in 1936 and “The Open Letter” in 1937.  His situation was further compromised by the judge’s opinion of his refusal to serve in the military:  “Jürs has consistently used all the energy he can command for the furtherance of the work of the IBV.  He is a completely fanatical Jehovah’s Witness who is especially dangerous because he promotes refusing to do military service.”                               

(Quoted from the judge’s decision 11 Son Kms 35/38  Sdg.84/37)

After Hans Jürs had served his time he was placed in so called „Protective Custody.”

On 18 November 1939 he was transferred as Prisoner 003887 to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, north of Berlin, and was placed in Cell Block 10. On 14 April 1940 Hans Jürs was registered as departed/died.

References:

• Adressbücher und Meldekartei der Hansestadt Lübeck (Address and Registration Records of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck)
• Bildarchiv der Hansestadt Lübeck
• Garbe, Detlef: Zwischen Widerstand und Martyrium. Die Zeugen Jehovas im "Dritten Reich". Studien zur Zeitgeschichte Bd. 42.4. Auflage. München Oldenbourg Verlag 1999.
• Imberger, Elke: Widerstand "von unten". Widerstand und Dissens aus den Reihen der Arbeiterbewegung und der Zeugen Jehovas in Lübeck und Schleswig-Holstein 1933-1945. Neumünster Karl Wachholtz Verlag 1991.
• Mitgutsch, Andreas / Schiffer, Jochen: Zeugen Jehovas in Lübeck und Umgebung 1933-1945. Lübeck 2000.
• 1945. Lübeck 2000.

Susanne Schledt-Önal, Lübeck 2010

Translation:  Glenn Sellick and Martin Harnisch 2011.