Anton Ackermann (born Eugen Hanisch, 25 November 1905 – 4 May 1973) was an

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

politician. In 1953, he briefly served as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Life and career

He was born into the family of a weaver and worked as an unskilled labourer from a young age while pursuing his elementary studies. At the same time, he began his political career in the Free Socialist Youth (FSJ) of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

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

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...

. He studied at the Lenin School in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

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

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

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

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, Ackermann was the leader of the Political School of the

International Brigades The International Brigades () were soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front (Spain), Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Bri ...

. 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 (, or NKFD) was an Anti-fascism, anti-fascist political and military organisation formed in the Soviet Union during World War II, composed mostly of German defectors from the ranks of German prisoners of ...

(NKFD). After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, at the end of April 1945, he returned to

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

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 in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...

to lay the groundwork for the

Soviet Military Administration in Germany The Soviet Military Administration in Germany (; ''Sovyetskaya Voyennaya Administratsiya v Germanii'', SVAG; , SMAD) was the Soviet military government, headquartered in Berlin- Karlshorst, that directly ruled the Soviet occupation zone in German ...

."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 highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

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

People's Chamber The Volkskammer (, "People's Chamber") was the supreme power organ of East Germany. It was the only branch of government in the state, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs were subservient to it. The Volkskammer was initial ...

. Ackermann suggested that because the new state created out of the Soviet occupation would be a "progressive state" constituted from anti-fascist principles, it would not be a hindrance to the eventual progression towards socialism and therefore Germany could have a peaceful, reformist transition towards socialism. Though this was in line with a general rightward turn in the official communist parties following the Second World War, it would eventually be repudiated amidst the Soviet-Yugoslav split. 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 In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

. 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 Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; ; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar republic, Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later in the early development ...

. In 1956 he was rehabilitated and worked for the State Planning Bureau. In 1970 he was rewarded with the Honor Clasp of the

Patriotic Order of Merit The Patriotic Order of Merit (German: ''Vaterländischer Verdienstorden'', or VVO) was a national award granted annually in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was founded in 1954 and was awarded to individuals and institutions for outstanding ...

. Ill with cancer, he committed suicide in 1973.

Life and career

See also

References

Further reading