“Here lived and fought the antifascist Alfred Pech” the plaque proclaims. This unassuming metal plate on a Chemnitz building tells a powerful story. It’s the Gedenktafel für Alfons Pech a memorial to a man who risked everything to oppose the Nazis.
This plaque marks the former home of Alfons Pech. Born in 1894 in Pabianice then part of Russian-occupied Poland Pech was the son of hand weavers. His grandparents emigrated from the Palatinate seeking work in Germany. Pech himself trained as a locksmith settling in Chemnitz just before World War I. He joined the German Metalworkers’ Union and the SPD.
His life took a dramatic turn when World War I began. As a Russian citizen Pech was interned. Released in 1915 he worked for the Vogt company in Chemnitz until 1932. He participated in the 1920 general strike against the Kapp Putsch. He later switched from the SPD to the newly founded Socialist Workers’ Party SAP.
The global economic crisis cost Pech his job in 1932. Unemployment followed until 1939 when he found work again as a locksmith. But his real work was just beginning. In 1939 he and Fritz Ermer started a resistance group. They tried to connect with other groups in Chemnitz.
When Russian prisoners of war and forced laborers arrived in 1941 Pech acted as an interpreter. He helped them bringing some to his home and supplying them with food. His acts of defiance didn’t go unnoticed. Arrested on August 3 1944 he was imprisoned at the Hohe Straße prison.
On March 5 1945 during a bombing raid Pech and six fellow prisoners escaped. The Gestapo recaptured them. On March 27 1945 Alfons Pech and his companions were shot between Chemnitz-Hutholz and Neukirchen. A monument by Hanns Diettrich stands on the Wolgograder Allee commemorating Pech and the six others. It marks the probable site of their execution. This Gedenktafel however is a quiet tribute in the heart of Chemnitz to a man’s courage in the face of evil. It’s a reminder of the ordinary people who risked their lives for what they believed in. Their sacrifice should never be forgotten.