Ehrenfeld Group

The group, which consisted of over one hundred people, centered on Hans Steinbrück, an escaped concentration camp prisoner.

Largely destroyed by Allied bombings, the district of Ehrenfeld, Cologne was a sanctuary for enemies of the Nazi regime, including escaped prisoners, forced laborers, deserters, and Jews.

He began to stockpile weapons and foodstuffs in the cellar of a bombed-out house and stayed in close contact with escaped forced laborers, Communists, and criminals, with whom he did business, fencing stolen goods.

Although being 23 and quite young himself, Steinbrück could easily function as a father figure for some due to the massive rise in the number of orphans in those years.

During a general identification check on 29 September 1944, an army patrol was informed about the group's cellar warehouse.

[1][2] On the run, Steinbrück met a deserter, Roland Lorent, who had just killed a local Nazi leader and was also looking to hide.

They collected a few teenaged members of the group and went to get Cilli, Steinbrück's girlfriend, but without having investigated the situation at her place.

[2] Of those, thirteen German males, including several teenagers, were executed without trial in a public hanging next to Ehrenfeld railway station on 10 November 1944.

Among the victims were six teenagers, members of the Edelweiss Pirates: A plaque in Ehrenfeld honors the memory of those executed there on 25 October and 10 November 1944.