Adolf Grimme
Adolf Berthold Ludwig Grimme was a German politician, a member of the Social Democratic Party. He was the cultural minister in the Free State of Prussia during the later years of the Weimar Republic and after World War II, during the early years of the Federal Republic of Germany. During Nazi Germany, he was arrested as a member of the German Resistance and sentenced to prison. After the war, he filed a legal complaint against the judge who had condemned him and others. After years of delays, the case was dropped by the prosecutor.
Life before 1945
Grimme was born in Goslar, Prussian Hanover, the son of Louise, née Sander and Adolf Grimme, a train station master. In 1908, he began studying philosophy and German studies, attending universities in Halle, Munich and Göttingen. He was also involved in the free student reform movement. He finished, passing his state exams in philosophy in 1914. In 1922, he became a member of the SPD. He began teaching in 1924. He then became a senior teacher in Hanover and in 1925, he became the superintendent in Magdeburg. He became the assistant minister at the Prussian Ministry of Culture, condemned for "failure to report an attempt at high treason". The Gestapo failed to uncover his participation in the German Resistance as author of many fliers then in circulation. Under the Third Reich, the crime of Wehrkraftzersetzung was punishable by death. Grimme's prison term was spent at the prisons in Luckau and Fuhlsbüttel.Post-war life
Although not given to revenge, on 15 September 1945 Grimme filed a complaint with the state's attorney against Manfred Roeder for his involvement condemning to death or imprisonment 49 members of the Red Orchestra, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Hans von Dohnanyi, Arvid Harnack and Günther Weisenborn.Dated 12 May 1951, the final report by Hans-Jürgen Finck, Lüneburg state's attorney, about the investigation into the complaint filed by Grimme and other surviving Red Orchestra members came to the conclusion that the Reich court martial trials had been conducted "in accordance with the law" and the defendants correctly sentenced to death. "The basis of the 'Red Orchestra'... was treason. Treason... has ever and in all ages been regarded as the most ignominious crime.... Also the 20 July Plot was in profound measure fueled by treason and espionage." The report further stated that the military opposition had "assumed... an enormous amount of guilt". Other German men disagreed with Hitler and the war, but nonetheless "did their duty as soldiers and in administration and the economy... certainly would have rejected with outrage... being placed in the same league with men like Beck, Canaris, Oster von Dohnanyi."
The case, also pursued by Weisenborn and Greta Kuckhoff, was delayed by the state's attorney in Lüneburg until the end of the 1960s, when it was dropped.
Grimme was a member of the postwar "appointed Landtag" organized by the British military government in their occupation zone. It existed for just a few months, from 23 August 1946 to 8 December 1946. After the British created the German state of Lower Saxony, he became a member of the appointed Landtag of Lower Saxony, which existed from 8 December 1946 to 28 March 1947. When the elections were held, he became a member of the first elected Landtag, later becoming the first Minister of Culture of Lower Saxony. On 15 November 1948 Grimme was named the first General Manager of Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk. In 1956, he retired to Degerndorf am Inn in the municipality of Brannenburg.
A well-known quote from Adolf Grimme is "A socialist can be a Christian. A Christian must be a socialist."