Anton Ackermann (real name: Eugen Hanisch, 25 November 1905

Thalheim, Saxony Thalheim is a town in the district Erzgebirgskreis, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated 5 km east of Stollberg, and 16 km south of Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city ...

– 4 May 1973

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

) was an

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

politician. In 1953, he briefly served as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Dieter K. Buse, and Juergen C. Doerr, eds., ''Modern Germany: An Encyclopedia of History, People, and Culture, 1871-1990'' (2 vol. Garland, 1998) pp 6–7.

Life and career

From 1920 to 1928, he worked as functionary of the Communist Youth Movement of Germany. In 1926 he joined the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...

. He studied at the Lenin School in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. Back in Germany, the Communist Party was expelled after the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

s gained power in 1933. Ackermann continued working for the illegal Communist Party. From 1935 to 1937 he lived in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

, Ackermann was the leader of the Political School of the

International Brigades The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed f ...

. After staying a short while, he went to

and became editor of the German language newspaper "The Free Word". In 1943 he became an active member of the Moscow-based

National Committee for a Free Germany The National Committee for a Free Germany (german: Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland, or NKFD) was a German anti-Nazi organization that operated in the Soviet Union during World War II.The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occ ...

(NKFD). After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, at the end of April 1945, he returned to

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

as head of the Ackermann Group, one of the three teams, each of ten men, flown in by the Communist Party from Moscow to different parts of the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a c ...

to lay the groundwork for the

Soviet Military Administration in Germany The Soviet Military Administration in Germany (russian: Советская военная администрация в Германии, СВАГ; ''Sovyetskaya Voyennaya Administratsiya v Germanii'', SVAG; german: Sowjetische Militäradministrat ...

."Namensliste der drei KPD-Einsatzgruppen vom 27. April 1945"
German Federal Archives. BArch NY 4036/517. Retrieved November 22, 2011 He joined the newly reformed East German Communist party, the Socialist Unity Party (SED) in 1946. He was elected into the Central Committee and became a candidate member of the

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...

in 1949. From 1950 to 1954, he was a member of the

People's Chamber __NOTOC__ The Volkskammer (, ''People's Chamber'') was the unicameral legislature of the German Democratic Republic (colloquially known as East Germany). The Volkskammer was initially the lower house of a bicameral legislature. The upper house ...

. From 1949 to 1953, he was the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. After the arrest of the minister,

Georg Dertinger Georg Dertinger (25 December 1902 – 21 January 1968) was a German politician. He was born in Berlin into a middle-class Protestant family. Dertinger briefly studied law and economics. After his study he became a journalist and later editor for ...

, Ackermann succeeded him, briefly, as

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

. In 1953-1954, he was expelled from the Politburo and Central Committee and fired as minister because of his factional opposition to party leader Walter Ulbricht. In 1956 he was rehabilitated and worked for the State Planning Bureau. In 1970 he was rewarded with the Patriotic Service Medal. Ill with cancer, he committed suicide in 1973.

Life and career

See also

References

Further reading