Heinz Eschen was a member of the KPD and was involved in the German Communist Youth League (KJVD). On 1 February 1933, the talented speaker was shot in the neck by a policeman during a speech at a demonstration against the Nazi government. After his recovery, Heinz Eschen spoke again at a demonstration, was arrested and sentenced to prison for ‘sedition’. In November 1933, he was sent to Dachau concentration camp. There, the SS appointed him "Blockältesten" (block elder) from 1936. After being denounced for supporting weaker prisoners, he was murdered by the SS in the detention centre of the Dachau concentration camp in 1938.
Walter Häbich was also involved in the KJVD; as chairman of the KJVD, he was elected a member of the Central Committee of the KPD in 1929. He worked as editor of the ‘Neue Zeitung’ in Munich. After the National Socialists banned the newspaper, he worked in an underground editorial office in the Asamkirche priests' house. On 2 September 1933, Walter Häbich was arrested and taken directly to the detention building in the Dachau concentration camp, where the SS brutally tortured him. In June or July of the following year, Walter Häbich was shot by the SS in Dachau concentration camp.
On Thursday, 24 October, a memorial event for Walter Häbich and Heinz Eschen will take place at the Stadtarchiv München. Speakers will include Dr Daniel Baumann from the Munich City Archive, City Councillor Stefan Jagel representing the Lord Mayor of the City of Munich, Friedbert Mühldorfer from the VVN-BdA district administration of Munich, and Susana Zickert, author of the biography of Heinz Eschen. Stefan Dickas from ErinnerungsWerkstatt München e.V., the initiator of the Memorial Signs and author of Walter Häbich's biography, will also speak, followed by Dr Klaus Eschen, former judge of the Constitutional Court of the State of Berlin and relative of Heinz Eschen, and Jürgen Weber, relative of Walter Häbich. Afterwards, the Memorial Signs for Walter Häbich and Heinz Eschen will be placed.
