Ehrenfeld Group The Ehrenfeld Group ( sometimes called the Steinbrück Group ) was an anti - Nazi resistance group , active in the summer and autumn of 1944 . The group , which consisted of over one hundred people , centered around Hans Steinbrück , an escaped concentration camp prisoner . Its members included young people , including teens active in the local Edelweiss Pirates group , escaped detainees from forced labor camps , and Jews . On November 10 , 1944 , thirteen members of the group were publicly hanged in Cologne . Background . Largely destroyed by Allied bombings , the district of Ehrenfeld , Cologne was a sanctuary for enemies of the Nazi regime , including escaped prisoners , forced laborers , deserters , and Jews . Steinbrück , who escaped from a concentration subcamp in Cologne in July 1943 , came to Ehrenfeld and met a woman who took him in . He began to stockpile weapons and foodstuffs in the cellar of a bombed - out house and stayed in close contact with escaped forced laborers , , and criminals , with whom he did business , fencing stolen goods . His nickname was " Black Hans " . The cellar also served as temporary shelter for Jews , deserters and others who had gone into hiding . In the summer of 1944 , a number of young people , including teenagers , came into contact with Steinbrück . Although being 23 and quite young himself , Steinbrück could easily function as a father figure for some due to the massive rise in the number of orphans in those years . Some of the teenagers had already been Edelweiss Pirates and they began to form a core group around Steinbrück . The activities of the group began to gain momentum . They stole food and vehicles and sold goods on the black market . Later , they bought guns . As the group expanded , so did the number and scope of the thefts . One particular heist was the " Butterraub " , the butter robbery . The first time , they stole a few quintal s of butter , selling it afterward on the black market for 12 , 000 reichmarks , at a time when the average wage was 50 reichmarks a week . The second time , they stole 26 quintals of butter and got 123 , 000 marks for it . Several people , mostly Communists , but also some young people , left Steinbrück over this because the activity drew attention and they felt Steinbrück ' s behavior was reckless , increasing the risk of arrest . Denouement and conclusion . During a general identification check on September 29 , 1944 , an army patrol was informed about the group ' s cellar warehouse . The patrol searched the basement rooms and confiscated numerous weapons . Steinbrück and a Russian forced laborer were able to escape , but the next day , the criminal police searched the apartment where Steinbrück had been staying , arresting the woman whose place it was . Two Jewish women who were in hiding in the building were also arrested . In order to arrest the fugitives , the police posted a guard in front of the house . On the run , Steinbrück met a deserter , Roland Lorent , who had just killed a local Nazi leader and was also looking to hide . The two teamed up and conceived a plan to go on a " Nazi hunt " . They stole bicycles and gathered weapons . They collected a few teenaged members of the group and went to get Cilli , Steinbrück ' s girlfriend , but without having investigated the situation at her place . When they got there , they found a police guard . Both Steinbrück and Lorent opened fire , seriously injuring the guard . A member of the SA , riding toward them on a bicycle was also killed , as was a man wearing boots , whom they assumed was a Nazi . Later , they went to an embankment by the train tracks to wait . While there , they fired into a group of people , killing a member of the Hitler Youth . That evening , they tried to steal some explosives , but the guard on duty foiled their efforts . On October 3 , 1944 , Lorent was arrested . On October 8 , 1944 , the Gestapo began arresting members of the group , and finally , Steinbrück as well . By October 15 , they had had made 63 arrests , including 19 teenagers . Of those , thirteen German males , including several teenagers , were executed without trial in a public hanging next to the Ehrenfeld train station on November 10 , 1944 . Steinbrück described the goals of his group to the Gestapo as , He and his accomplices would have done everything possible to end the war as soon as possible to the detriment of Germany . This is the reason we had the weapons cache . The factories necessary to the war effort and train routes were to be blown up , to bring the front closer . The most recent members of our hard - srabble club knew of these plans and supported them . List of the executed . Steinbrück and twelve of his followers were executed without trial on November 10 , 1944 , in front of hundreds of curious onlookers . Among the victims were six teenagers , members of the Edelweiss Pirates : Legacy . A plaque in Ehrenfeld honors the memory of those executed there on October 25 , 1944 and November 10 , 1944 . A street next to the Ehrenfeld S - bahn station in Cologne , is named after Schink .