The technical staff of the Hessian Landestheater Darmstadt was systematically purged of all individuals regarded as hostile. On June 12, 1933, the theater’s employees summarily received termination notices, effective July 31, 1933. No reasons were provided. In the weeks that followed, their political and family backgrounds were reviewed by a partisan “Purification Committee”. Those classified as Jewish or politically undesirable were not rehired.
Johann Wedel was born on January 30, 1892, in Darmstadt. He began working at the Hessian Landestheater Darmstadt in 1920 as a heating technician. As a member of the Iron Front, he was deemed politically unreliable and dismissed in June of 1933. In October of 1939, Wedel applied for a position as locksmith at the Merck company. He died in 1944 in Nieder-Ramstadt.
1892 Darmstadt
1944 Nieder-Ramstadt