Ernst Torgler
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ernst Torgler (25 April 1893 – 19 January 1963) was the last chairman of 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 ...
(KPD) faction in the German Reichstag before he worked for the Nazis.


Early life

Torgler was born the son of an urban resident in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
. There, he attended school from 1904 to 1907, when he joined the Association of Apprentices and Juvenile Workers of Berlin. From 1909 to 1925, he held a variety of different jobs, working most notably as a salesman and accountant. Torgler began his political career in 1910, when he joined the Social Democratic Party. While he served in the military during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, Torgler became a member of the
Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (, USPD) was a short-lived political party in Germany during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. The organization was established in 1917 as the result of a split of anti-war members of t ...
in 1917.


Political career

In 1920, Torgler 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 ...
when the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany merged with the KPD. A year later, Torgler became a city councillor in Berlin-
Lichtenberg Lichtenberg may refer to: Places * Lichtenberg, Austria * Lichtenberg, Bas-Rhin, France * Lichtenberg, Bavaria, Germany * Lichtenberg, Berlin, Germany * Lichtenberg, Mittelsachsen, Saxony, Germany * Lichtenberg (Lausitz), Saxony, Germany * Lichte ...
, a position he held until 1930, and he was elected to the Reichstag in the December 1924 election as a member of the KPD. Torgler then became deputy chairman of the KPD Reichstag faction in 1927 and chairman in 1929, which made him one of the most powerful members of the party. From 1932 to 1933, Torgler published the KPD Reichstag news-sheet "The Red Voter" with Wilhelm Pieck. Torgler's political career ended in February 1933, however, because of the
Reichstag fire The Reichstag fire (, ) was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday, 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. Marinus van der Lubbe, ...
.


Reichstag fire

Against the wishes of the KPD leadership, Torgler voluntarily handed himself over to the police on February 28, the day after the fire, when
Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...
issued a warrant for his arrest. Torgler was kept in custody, and in July 1933, he was charged with arson and treason. Torgler and his fellow defendants were tried from 21 September to 23 December, when Torgler was acquitted because of a lack of evidence against him.


Work for Nazis

After his trial, Torgler was placed into "protective custody" by the police until 1935. The KPD leadership, now in
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
as a result of being banned by the
Nazis 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 ...
, then stripped Torgler of his party membership and leadership positions because of his surrender to the police. Heinz Linge would recount in his memoirs, published under the title "With Hitler To the End", that Torgler was eventually released as part of an amnesty offered to the former leaders and pre-eminents of banned parties, on the condition that they make signed statements that they would not partake again in political activity that would be to the detriment of the regime (something that Linge suggested Ernst Thälmann refused to do). After his release, he lived just outside Berlin under a pseudonym and worked for the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
. In 1938, Torgler worked for
Electrolux Electrolux AB () is a Swedish Multinational corporation, multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. It is consistently ranked the world's second largest appliance maker by units sold, after Whirlpool Corporation, Whi ...
and was carefully watched by the SD. In June 1940, Torgler began working for the Nazi Propaganda Ministry. In 1941, after
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
invaded the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, Torgler worked on anti-Bolshevik propaganda at the behest of
Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...
. According to Adolf Hitler's valet, Heinz Linge, Torgler renounced Communism in a written letter to Hitler. Linge recounted in his memoirs that Torgler had done this having heard from his son, who had served on the Eastern Front, about the horrid conditions that the "Russian worker" had been enduring under Stalin. He was so appalled by his son's testimony that he took it upon himself to pen the letter to his former political rival. Hitler supposedly reacted happily, stating in Linge's presence: "We should send all German Communists to Russia, to see the paradise for themselves." He was then employed as a real estate auditor in the main trust center East in Graudenz, later in Trebbin. In 1944, after the
20 July Plot The 20 July plot, sometimes referred to as Operation Valkyrie, was a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, the chancellor and leader of Nazi Germany, and overthrow the Nazi regime on 20 July 1944. The plotters were part of the German r ...
against
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
, an arrest warrant was issued for Torgler. According to his own statements, a personal intervention by Goebbels prevented his imprisonment. With his office he reached Bückeburg in 1945 on the retreat.


Postwar

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 ...
, he was
denazified Denazification () was an Allies of World War II, Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazism, Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by removi ...
and landed a job with the administration of Bückeburg, with help of the
US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
. Despite the hard times, Torgler managed to keep himself in a well-paid position. Torgler angrily dismissed charges that he had willingly co-operated with the Nazis. He tried to join the communists but was rejected. In 1949, he became a member 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 ...
and in 1950, he moved to Bückeburg, where he drifted into obscurity. He died in
Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...
in 1963.


Son

His son, Kurt Torgler (1919–1943), was a witness on behalf of his father at the 1933 countertrial in London that was organised by the German Communist Party on the Reichstag fire. In 1935, he went to the Soviet Union. There, he was arrested by the NKVD in 1937 and sent to a labour camp. After the Hitler-Stalin Pact, he was, in 1940, handed over to the German government. He became a translator in the army and died on the Eastern Front.


References


Sources


Reichstag handbook, 1933


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Torgler, Ernst 1893 births 1963 deaths Politicians from Berlin Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Independent Social Democratic Party politicians Communist Party of Germany politicians People from the Province of Brandenburg Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic Gestapo agents German Nazi propagandists