Hans Westermann

German Communist, politician and fighter in the German Resistance against the Third Reich. He died in Nazi custody days after being arrested by the Gestapo. Westermann joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in 1910, where he was a member of the left wing and volunteered in several capacities. In 1919, he joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and in 1921, became the full-time party secretary in Hamburg. Around 1927 he was elected to the Hamburg Parliament. Within the KPD, Westermann was considered to be a trade union expert. Westermann was expelled from the party in 1930, then resigned his parliamentary seat and, with his common-law wife, Käthe Latzke, founded in Hamburg his own independent and unnamed Conciliator group, sometimes referred to the "Westermann Group". After the Nazis seized power in 1933, Westermann's group began working underground, focusing on dock and shipyard workers and employees. Westermann was arrested and kept in detention between June 1933 and August 1934. Westermann, Latzke and numerous others were arrested late on 5 March 1935 or early on 6 March. A few days later, on the 16th, Westermann was killed at KoLaFu in Hamburg. Link to Wikipedia biography