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JOHANN KOETZ

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1907:    born in Esch/Alzette

1932:    growing sympathy for National Socialism

1935:    joins several National Socialist groups in Luxembourg

1940:    volunteer translator for the Wehrmacht

1941:     local group leader in Esch/Alzette and member of the NSDAP

1944:    Wehrmacht volunteer, deployment to the Eastern Front, and Soviet prisoner of war

1948:    death sentence for high treason and execution by shooting
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Ich habe mich anfangs gesträubt, derselben ( der VdB ) beizutreten, weil ich als Mann der ersten Stunde eine zu hohe Nummer erhalten hatte, denn ich war ja bei der Wehrmacht, als die VdB gegründet wurde. Danach auch wegen all des Wustes, der sich hier angesammelt hatte, und der, mir gegenüber, mit niedrigeren Nummern herumlief.
Johann Koetz, interrogation transcript (Tageblatt 278), 3 Dec. 1947

Local group leaders of the Volksdeutsche Bewegung (VdB, movement of ethnic Germans) meeting with national leader Damian Kratzenberg (standing in the middle: Johann Koetz)
Johann Koetz was one of the first Luxembourgers to be attracted by National Socialism. Very early on he was involved in distributing propaganda leaflets and in espionage activities. After the German invasion, Koetz volunteered as a translator for the Wehrmacht. In January 1941 he was appointed local group leader in Auf der Acht, a neighbourhood in Esch, and admitted to the NSDAP in June of the same year. Koetz was a fanatical control freak and a tyrannical collaborator who terrorized the population. He threatened “anti-German” citizens with violence, confiscated radios and ordered forced closures of shops. His actions caused at least ten deaths. In January 1944 he volunteered to join the Wehrmacht. He was sent to the Eastern Front, where he became a Russian prisoner of war in July 1944. After his extradition, he was sentenced to death in Luxembourg in December 1947 and shot in Reckenthal on 4 March 1948.
Work
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Ich habe in Esch den Streik niedergebrüllt, während in Wiltz, wo mildere Kerls sitzen, Erschießungen vorgenommen werden mussten.
Edmond Dondelinger, testimony to exonerate Koetz (Tageblatt 275), 29 Nov. 1947

Johann Koetz addressing Nazi sympathizers in Esch
Ich war deutsch, ich bin deutsch und ich bleibe deutsch!
Jean Koetz, according to the testimony of police officer Pletschette (Tageblatt 271), 25 Nov. 1947
Armband with swastika, symbol of the Nazi party, like the one worn by local group leader Koetz

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