Account of the death of Rudolf Ferdinand Haase, born 07.02.1906

Shot by Polish insurgents 05.05.1921

(Member of the Leipzig Boy Scout Corps, in Feldmeister Tournier's unit)

An account by his father, translated from German and annotated by Caecilie Dance

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During a two year stay in Leipzig, Rudolf and his brother Fritz (older by one year) became enthusiastic members of the Leipzig Boy Scout Corps.

In May 1919 they had to return with their parents to their birthplace, Rybnik in Upper Silesia. They soon swapped play and games for serious service to the Fatherland. During the plebiscite campaign¹ Fritz was the personal messenger to the local Upper Silesian Loyalist Organisation.² Shortly before the plebiscite, Rudolf was in a charge of a group of boys responsible for receiving and welcoming Germans coming in from other areas. Anyone who was in Rybnik at the time of the plebiscite would remember the tall blond boy (already 1.85m tall at fifteen) who chose, alongside his other obligations, to make it his special duty to be responsible for the care of the infants [of the incoming Germans]. This industrious yet harmless activity incurred the hatred of the Poles and the German traitors (who were unfortunately hand-in-hand) for my sons. Every few weeks, the boys were denounced in the German-written Polish newspapers and were repeatedly given death threats, both verbally and in writing. Fritz, on his lone bicycle rides, had stones thrown at him and was attacked and beaten on several occasions. Because of Rudolf, during the plebiscite, 40 armed men from the Polish plebiscite police surrounded the German station barracks. It was therefore my wish to take the boys to a safe place straight after the plebiscite, once they had fulfilled their duties. However they refused decidedly, not wishing to count as cowards. So I determined to purchase property in Berlin and to move there with my whole family. However the move, as soon as it was settled, was delayed as a result of the 3rd Silesian uprising.³

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