Richard Hofmann, originally from Saxony, lived with his wife and four children and worked as an agricultural labourer before joining Benteler in Bielefeld in 1939. A KPD member since 1932, he belonged to the radio circle around Eduard Berke and Gustav Meier in Oerlinghausen’s Wellenbruch area. After Gestapo investigations, he was arrested on 22 January 1943 and sentenced to ten years in prison for “preparing high treason.” Seriously ill in Werl prison, he died of a pulmonary embolism on 17 May 1945.
Gustav Meier, also from Wellenbruch, had suffered a nervous illness after serving in the First World War. During the Second World War he worked in local industry and later in Bielefeld. Like Berke and Hofmann, he secretly listened to foreign radio broadcasts. Sentenced in 1943 to 18 months in prison, he was later kept in “protective custody” and transferred to Buchenwald, where he died on 11 March 1945.
