Ernst Thälmann
German communist politician (1886–1944) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Ernst Johannes Fritz Thälmann (German pronunciation: [ɛʁnst ˈtɛːlman]; 16 April 1886[1] – 18 August 1944) was a German communist politician, and leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) from 1925 to 1933.
Ernst Thälmann | |
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Chairman of the Communist Party of Germany | |
In office 1 September 1925 – 3 March 1933 | |
Preceded by | Ruth Fischer |
Succeeded by | John Schehr |
Member of the Reichstag for Hamburg | |
In office 27 May 1924 – 28 February 1933 | |
Preceded by | multi-member district |
Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
Personal details | |
Born | (1886-04-16)16 April 1886 Hamburg, German Empire |
Died | 18 August 1944(1944-08-18) (aged 58) Buchenwald concentration camp, Weimar, Thuringia, Nazi Germany |
Political party | Communist Party of Germany (1920–1944) |
Other political affiliations | Independent Social Democratic Party (1917–1920) Social Democratic Party (1903–1917) |
Children | 1 daughter |
Occupation |
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Military service | |
Allegiance | German Empire |
Years of service | 1915–1918 |
Battles/wars | World War I |
Awards | |
Central institution membership
Other offices held
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A committed communist, Thälmann played a major role during the political instability of the Weimar Republic, especially in its final years, when the KPD explicitly sought to overthrow the liberal democracy of the republic. Under his leadership the KPD became intimately associated with the government of the Soviet Union and the policies of Joseph Stalin. The KPD under Thälmann's leadership regarded the Social Democratic Party (SPD) as its main adversary and the party adopted the position that the social democrats were "social fascists".
Thälmann was also leader of the paramilitary Roter Frontkämpferbund. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1933 and held in solitary confinement for eleven years; for political reasons, Stalin did not seek his release after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Germany,[2][3] and Thälmann's party rival Walter Ulbricht ignored requests to plead on his behalf. Thälmann was shot dead by Adolf Hitler's personal order in Buchenwald in 1944.