Herbert Grasse

Herbert Grasse (9 October 1910 in Berlin; 24 October 1942) was a German communist, resistance fighter and anti-Nazi. Grasse was particularly active in the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) as the leader of a KPD sub-section in Neukölln that was largely made up of people who supported the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Grasse, who was a trained printer who produced two communist newspapers. In 1933, he became an editor and distributor of Neuköllner Sturmfahne. The Die Innere Front became the main organ of the Red Orchestra (Rote Kapelle). Grasse' resistance cell was exposed by Gestapo spy, Willi Bredow. When he was arrested, he committed suicide on the way to interrogation.

Life

When Grasse left school he completed an apprenticeship as a printer. The paper had been published sporadically since 1932 by KPD functionaries Reinhold Sasse, Fritz Plumboom and Walter Klauss as well as Fritz Grünberg, who was followed by Otto Grabowski but successive arrests by the Gestapo had led to the publishing team in the Neukölln area rapidly changing. Grasse was betrayed by Bredow but remain at large while he was observed by the Gestapo until finally on 23 July 1936, he was arrested. During his interrogation, he never mentioned his connection to Alfred Schaefer. Grasse was the main publisher of the leaflet along with Grabowski, Sieg and Adam Kuckhoff. To distribute the paper, Grasse along with Eugen Neutert, , John Sieg and Hans Coppi contacted and established resistance cells in various German armaments factories including the AEG transformer factory, the German Weapons and Ammunition Factories, Knorr-Bremse, and Hasse & Wrede.

Arrest In October 1942, Grasse was arrested by the Gestapo for a second time. He realised that as he had a political conviction he wouldn't be released so committed suicide on the way to the interrogation.