Wilhelm Olschewski

In the issue of Rosa Luxemburg's "Koalitionspolitik oder Klassenkampf" (coalition politics or class struggle) published in Berlin in 1922 the ownership stamp Wilh. Olschewski was found. It indicates two resistance fighters in Munich, who were murdered by the National Socialists.

Ownership stamp Wilh. Olschewski  (digital version)

Wilhelm Olschewski senior was born in 1871, was a merchant by profession and an officer in the First World War. In 1918 he took part in the November Revolution and was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in a fortress one year later. Released from prison early in 1924, Olschewski became a member of the communist party, however was excluded by the KPD's leadership in 1929 due to taking a non-conforming attitude. He subsequently approached the group around Beppo Römer and his journal "Der Aufbruch", who were not organised in the form of a party.

Olschewski was taken into "protective custody" for three months already on 7 March 1933. His son, Wilhelm Olschewski junior (* 1902) was likewise taken into "protective custody" from June to October 1933 due to his KPD membership. In 1939 Wilhelm Olschewski became an active resistance fighter. Together with his son, he rallied a group of communist opponents of the National Socialists around himself, the so-called Hartwimmer-Olschewski group. The group was infiltrated by the Gestapo, however. In February and March 1942 at least 43 persons were arrested, among them the Olschewskis, father and son. Wilhelm Olschewski senior was murdered on 30 April 1942 while still being held on remand in the Munich prison Stadelheim. His son was sentenced to death by the People's Court in Berlin in the subsequent year. The judgement was enforced on 28 June 1944. The National Socialists took extremely hard and cruel action against the remaining members of the group as well.

The book was confiscated probably in 1942. After the end of the war, it was put at the disposal of the newly founded "Radio München" broadcasting station by the American military government. Part of the station's holdings came to the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek as a donation in 1949.

Radio München  (entry in the Historisches Lexikon Bayerns)

The title restituted on 4 July 2017 has been digitized and continues to be shown in BSB DISCOVER!.

Rosa Luxemburgs: Koalitionspolitik oder Klassenkampf?  (digital version)