Bernhard Letterhaus (10 July 1894,
Barmen – 14 November 1944) was a German
CatholicTrade Unionist and member of the resistance to
Nazism.
He grew up in
Barmen,
Wuppertal, and after an apprenticeship in a textile factory, he was an active member of the Association of Christian textile workers. He served in
World War I and was then secretary of the Catholic Labour Movement in
Mönchengladbach. He moved to
Cologne where he was in contact with
Nikolaus Gross, a fellow Catholic opponent of the Nazis.
He was conscripted into the
Wehrmacht upon the outbreak of
World War II. Upon posting to the
OKW in
Berlin he developed contacts with the
20 July plot conspirators including
Carl Goerdeler's group. If the attempt to assassinate Hitler had succeeded he was earmarked to be the Reconstruction Minister. He was arrested in its aftermath, tried by the
People's Court, sentenced to death by
Roland Freisler and executed at
Plötzensee Prison the next day.
Further reading
Jürgen Aretz: "Bernhard Letterhaus (1894–1944)". In: Rudolf Morsey (Ed.): Zeitgeschichte in Lebensbildern. Aus dem deutschen Katholizismus des 20. Jahrhunderts. Band 2. Mainz 1975.
Jürgen Aretz: "
Letterhaus, Bernhard". In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 14, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1985,
ISBN3-428-00195-8, S. 357 f. (Digitalisat)
Vera Bücker: "Bernhard Letterhaus". In: Karl-Joseph Hummel, Christoph Strom (Ed.): Zeugen einer besseren Welt. Christliche Märtyrer des 20. Jahrhunderts. Leipzig 2000
Ernst Kienast (Hrsg.): Handbuch für den Preußischen Landtag. Ausgabe für die 5. Wahlperiode, Berlin 1933, p. 357
Helmut Moll (Hrsg. im Auftrag der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz): Zeugen für Christus. Das deutsche Martyrologium des 20. Jahrhunderts. Paderborn u. a. 1999, 7., überarbeitete und aktualisierte Auflage 2019,
ISBN978-3-506-78012-6, Band I, pp. 382–385
Ludwig Rosenberg, Bernhard Tacke: Der Weg zur Einheits-Gewerkschaft. Hrsg. DGB-Bundesvorstand. Druck: satz + druck gmbh, Düsseldorf 1977