Lothar Salinger was born in
Berlin, the son of a businessman. On leaving school he worked, between 1936 and 1938, in his father's business. He became politically engaged in or before 1935, the year in which he joined the left-wing Jewish youth association "
Habonim". After 1939 Salinger took work as a gardener, in the transport sector and in road building. In July 1941 he was conscripted for
forced labour in
Berlin-Köpenick. In 1941 he was sent to work at the Vogel Cables factory in Friedrichshagen Street. In 1940 Salinger began to take part in the activities of the
anti-government resistance group headed up by the former
"Young Communists" official,
Herbert Baum. The group tends to be identified in subsequent sources as the "Herbert Baum Group", although that implies a level of coherence and organisation that may not have been apparent. Another group member was Salinger's fiancée, Ursel Ehrlich. After the German government suddenly repudiated the
Germany's non-aggression agreement with the
Soviet Union in
June 1941, members of the Baum Group attempted to contribute to the military defeat of
Germany, and hence of
National Socialism. This meant complementing from inside Germany the external efforts of the
anti-German "allied powers", of which by far the most significant from the perspective of Berlin in 1941 was the
Soviet Union. That meant engaging in acts of sabotage on the home front such as producing and distributing anti-war leaflets and manifestoes. A more widely reported action was the arson attack and leafleting blitz carried out on 18 May 1942 by members of the group against the government's ironically named
"Soviet Paradise" in Berlin's
Lustgarten park. The physical damage caused seems to have been minimal, but the
government Propaganda Ministry was quick to seize on the opportunity to label government's opponents as Communists and Jews intent on securing Soviet victory in the
war. The incident was also the trigger for a wave of arrests across Berlin of anti-government activists, most of whom in this instance were communist or Jewish or both. In the aftermath of the attack on the
"Soviet Paradise" exhibition 31 people were arrested. They were all found guilty of high treason. Only 6 were determined to have participated in the arson attack and the court seems to have accepted that most of those convicted were not even present. Lothar Salinger was arrested by the
security services on 15 July 1942. Nine of those convicted were sentenced to death. The others sentenced at the trial on 10 December 1942 received lengthy prison terms. Lothar Salinger was executed at the
Plötzensee execution facility on 4 March 1943. == Notes ==