Twelve years in prison: The persecution of Hape Kerkeling’s grandfather
Comedian Hape Kerkeling seeks answers
When the US Army arrived at the Buchenwald concentration camp on April 11, 1945, Hermann Kerkeling was one of the prisoners the soldiers encountered. The grandfather of well-known comedian, author, and actor Hape Kerkeling had been locked up and subjected to torture by the Nazi regime for twelve long years by that time.
A Catholic and a Communist
Hermann Anton Kerkeling, born on June 12, 1901, was both a Catholic and a Communist. On the evening of March 3, 1933, only a few weeks after Hitler came to power, he and his comrade Jackner spontaneously distributed anti-Nazi leaflets. “His comrade’s actions took Hermann by surprise, but he gave his consent without hesitation, still affected by Thälmann’s arrest in Berlin,” Hape Kerkeling writes about his grandfather. Hoping that they would go unnoticed, the two dropped the leaflets in house entrances in Herten, a town in the Ruhr district. Two days later, Hermann was arrested at his home for “preparation for high treason.”
“Recklinghausen’s hell”
The Gestapo brought Hermann Kerkeling to the Recklinghausen police headquarters where he was held in pre-trial detention. The headquarters was notorious for the torture carried out by its staff and was called “Recklinghausen’s hell” by political prisoners. Hermann later stated that he had been treated badly by the police inspectors there. It is evident from the files that he spent four months there before his first interrogation took place.
Deportation to Buchenwald
In October 1933, a court sentenced him to nine years imprisonment in a penitentiary. In the end, he was not only accused of preparation for high treason, but also of burglary and theft, among other things. Seven years later, his wife Bertha submitted a plea for mercy to the Higher Regional Court in Hamm, which was rejected. After serving his sentence, Hermann was not released. The Gestapo took him into “protective custody” instead. Imprisonment based on “protective custody” required no proof or charges and could be prolonged indefinitely.
Hermann was deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp. He arrived there on July 2, 1942, and was registered by the SS as a political prisoner. Starting from late in August 1942 , he had to work in Buchenwald’s personal effects storage room – the place where the personal belongings of the detainees were kept and managed.
Hermann had spent three long years in Buchenwald up to liberation in April 1945. After a total of twelve years of imprisonment, he could return home at last. In the 1950s and 1960s, Hermann submitted several applications for amnesty and indemnification. In the end, he received almost nothing as did so many others.
A grandson searching for answers
In 2019, Hape Kerkeling’s team conducted research at the Arolsen Archives, searching for documents about his grandfather for his book “Gebt mir etwas Zeit” (Give Me Some Time). This is what he wrote about Hermann: “I see him neither as a hero nor as a victim.” The documents on Hermann Kerkeling and others can be retrieved in our online archive.
