Heinrich Limbach. 19.12.1898 – 08.02.1929
Gau Sachsen
SA-Gruppe Sachsen.
Although the fallen of the NSDAP during the “time of struggle” were honoured in the Third Reich as martyrs, few details of these men and women are remembered today. Horst Wessel, Albert Leo Schlageter and Herbert Norkus are exceptions. The hundreds of others who made the ultimate sacrifice have no markers or plaques.
Heinrich Limbach was born in Zweibrucken in the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken and moved to Leipzig with his mother and siblings in 1914.
On September 23, 1923, the NSDAP had a flag-raising ceremony in Podelwitz, near Leipzig. During the event, a large group of communists launched a sudden attack, causing chaos and confusion. Heinrich Limbach, one of the attendees, was forced by the attackers to flee towards a marshy area above a railway embankment. The vicious attack left everyone shocked and scared, but they managed to escape and regroup after the incident.
The twenty-four-year-old locksmith, Heinrich Limbach, was caught by his pursuers who wrestled him to the ground. They robbed him of his valuables and his party membership book, and then proceeded to beat him up. Heinrich was left badly injured after the incident.
The SA man was able to drag himself to an area near the cemetery, where he was found and taken to the St. Georg Hospital. Doctors had to treat numerous head injuries as well as multiple fractures to his hand. The blows from the red assailants also caused damage to his kidneys, which over time led to prolonged pain and discomfort.
Heinrich Limbach remained active in the NSDAP and the SA in spite of his injuries and heard Adolf Hitler speak in the autumn of 1928. However, from Christmas 1928, his health began to decline. Heinrich died on February 8, 1929 after suffering for almost six years.
His comrades in the Leipzig SA laid him to rest on February 11, 1929. In 1936, a green area in the Leipzig district of Gohlis was named Limbachplatz after this martyr of the revolution.
The Leipziger Neueste Nachrichten reported on 7 March 1934 that a ‘settlement village in the east was to be created by a foundation of the city of Leipzig, which would enable young workers from Leipzig or its surroundings to reclaim new land from the elements in the German east, to put existing land in a cultivable state or to colonise already cultivated land. Energetic, professionally suitable, and strong-willed young couples are to be settled on the land thus won with the aim of creating a self-contained village from this settlement. This village is to bear the name Dorf Limbach.’
Above: The original caption in the newspaper Unser Reuch from 5 November 1933: ‘Once upon a time… In 1927, the entire Lusatian SA from Gorlitz to Radeberg was 25 men strong, as this picture of the march in Seifhennersdorf shows, the second from the left is today’s brigade leader Pg. Unterstab. And today, times have changed fundamentally in a way that none of those 25 could ever have imagined.’
“Only The Forgotten Are Dead”
The British Movement welcomes articles for possible inclusion on this site from members and supporters across the North of England. Please remember that we have to operate within the laws of this country; we will not include any content that is against the current laws of the United Kingdom. News reports should be topical and be relevant to the regions covered by this website.
