Johann Malinowski came from Höchst. Born in 1883, the locksmith joined the German Metalworkers’ Union (DMV) as early as 1901 and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 1906. In 1904 he married Lise Kühfuß. The couple had three children and moved to Bad Soden in 1913. Because of his work for the trade union and his political engagement, Johann Malinowski lost his job several times until 1914 – a heavy burden for the family.
From 1914 to 1918 he fought as a soldier in the First World War. Returning from captivity, he became active again in in the trade union and the SPD. In 1923 he took over the chairmanship of the SPD local group in Bad Soden. From 1913 to 1933 he was a member of the municipal council.
Edition of the “Vorwärts“ newspaper of 7 August 1932
After the seizure of power in 1933, the Nazis immediately began persecuting their political opponents.
Johann Malinowski too was taken into “protective custody” for the first time as early as 1933 and had to report daily to the police after his release. Nevertheless, he continued to work against the Nazis with a small group of comrades.
It was particularly important for them to continue distributing the newspapers of the Social Democratic Party, which had been banned since 1933, in order to be able to inform people in Germany about what was going on in the country.
In October 1935 Johann Malinowski was arrested again and charged with “preparation for high treason”. He served the sentence of a year and eight (6?) months imposed by the court, first in the Frankfurt-Preungesheim prison and from March 1936 in the Börgermoor concentration camp, where he had to do forced labour under miserable conditions and his lower jaw was broken. He survived in bad health.
When he was released in June 1937, the Nazi harassment continued. For a long time he received no employment anywhere.
Only in 1939 did he find employment with the Samson Company in Frankfurt and in 1944 in Bad Soden.
After the end of the Nazis reign of terror, Johann Malinowski rejoined the Bad Soden town council and was appointed to the magistrate in 1952. He was a man of firm principles and great strength of character, to whom justice, solidarity and humanity were important. He received numerous honours from the town of Bad Soden. In 1960, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit.
On 22 October 2018, a Stolperstein was laid in front of the house at Sulzbacher Straße 8, where Johann Malinowski had lived until his arrest in 1935.