Jochen Klepper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jochen Klepper (March 22, 1903 – December 11, 1942 was a German writer, poet and journalist.
Klepper was born in Bytom Odrzański, Poland, the son of a Silesia Lutheran minister. He originally studied theology at the University of Breslau, but dropped out to become a radio journalist in Berlin before being ostracized by the Nazi party for his marriage to Johanna Stein, a Jewish widow with two daughters. He was fired from his work with Berliner Funk in June 1933, and was later fired from Ullstein Publishing House in September 1935 for the same reason. By March 1937 he had lost his license to publish his largely Christian works from the state literary office. He appealed this with a letter to Joseph Goebbels, signing his protest with a Heil Hitler, and the case was ceded.
In December 1940, he was drafted by the German Army - a bureaucratic mistake since citizens married to Jews were not to be drafted. While he did not see combat, he served in a supply unit for forces through Bulgaria, Poland and Russia before being discharged in 1942 to tend to his wife.
On December 11, 1942, after Adolf Eichmann refused a Visa for the couple's second daughter, the three of them committed suicide by turning on a gas valve - Jochen writing in his journal just before they died: Tonight we die together. Over us stands in the last moments the image of the blessed Christ who surrounds us. With this view we end our lives. After their death, the diary was given by Jochen's sister Hildegard, to the Allied trial against Adolf Eichmann where they were used as evidence against him (Session 51).
