Gertrud Classen (3 July 1905 – 3 September 1974) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

resistance activist during the Nazi years. Her training was as an artist, and after the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

she was able to make a career as a sculptor in the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, despite being frequently hospitalised during the later 1940s by the osseous tuberculosis from which she suffered.

Life

Gertrud "Tutta" Classen was born in

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

, the capital of

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

which at that time was part of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Her father was a farm manager. She grew up in nearby Elbing, where she received her first painting and drawing lessons from . After a successful school career she entered the Königsberg Arts Academy. Classen had been politically engaged since her school years, and in 1930 she moved to

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 ...

, switching to the "Berlin Academy for Graphic Arts and Sculpture" (''"Berliner Akademie für Grafik und Steinbildhauerei"''). In 1919, the year of her fourteenth birthday, she joined the

Wandervogel ''Wandervogel'' (plural: ''Wandervögel''; English: "Wandering Bird") is the name adopted by a popular movement of German youth groups from 1896 to 1933, who protested against industrialization by going to hike in the country and commune with na ...

girls' youth organisation, within which between 1924 and 1926 she was a group leader. In 1928 the

merged with other hitherto independent youth associations to form the Deutsche Freischar. Classen quit the organisation and joined the more overtly political "Lenin Youth League" (''"Leninjugend"'') as well as the

youth wing A youth wing is a subsidiary, autonomous, or independently allied front of a larger organization (usually a political party but occasionally another type of organization) that is formed in order to rally support for that organization from members ...

of the

German Communist Party The German Communist Party (, ) is a communist party in Germany. The DKP supports far-left positions and was an observer member of the European Left before leaving in February 2016. History The DKP considered itself a reconstitution of the C ...

. 1929 was also the year in which she joined the Communist party itself, but she initially kept this membership secret or, according to the term used by one source, "unofficial". During the 1930s she worked for the Communist Party News Agency (''"Nachrichtendienst"'') which was in reality an operation involved in intelligence on behalf of the Soviet Union. It was led by Hans Kippenberger. Kippenberger and Leo Roth, who is sometimes described as Kippenberger's "secretary", both acted as guarantors for her within the

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

. She was also working, at this time, for the Red Aid organisation, the Revolutionary Trades Unionist Opposition (''Revolutionäre Gewerkschafts Opposition'' / RGO), and other left-wing groups such as the Association of Revolutionary Visual Artists (''"Bund Revolutionärer Bildender Künstler Deutschlands'' / BRBKD). The political landscape changed dramatically in January 1933 when 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 ...

took power

and And or AND may refer to: Logic, grammar and computing * Conjunction, connecting two words, phrases, or clauses * Logical conjunction in mathematical logic, notated as "∧", "⋅", "&", or simple juxtaposition * Bitwise AND, a Boolean oper ...

converted

into a one-

party dictatorship A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or en ...

. Gertrud Classen's political activities were now expressly illegal. The RGO was banned, went underground and was finally crushed in 1935. It is known that after the Nazis came to power Classen was involved in illegal leaflet distribution. Sources are a little vague on her work for the Communist Party News Agency. In July 1934 she traveled to London and Paris with the left-wing landscape architect Walter Rossow, delivering secret information on behalf of the Agency. She may have made such journeys to England or France on more than one occasion. Even before the Nazis had taken power, in September 1932, Classen had been arrested and briefly detained in connection with communist activism during the chaotic run-up to that year's second

General Election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

. Towards the end of 1934 she was again arrested and imprisoned by the authorities. However, she was released on account of her osseous tuberculosis, and went immediately to Switzerland, returning to Berlin only in the summer of 1939. By this time the Communist Party News Agency (''"Nachrichtendienst"'') had ceased to function, not because of anything done by the German government, but on account of

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of co ...

. The agency chief, Hans Kippenberger, was arrested in Moscow in November 1936, identified as a foreign agent, subjected to a secret trial and shot on 3 October 1937. His deputy, Leo Roth, met his end under similar circumstances just over a month later.

War War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

returned in the late summer of 1939 and Classen was briefly arrested in 1940. This turned out to be the first of several periods of detention during the war years. After this she worked clandestinely with the Schulze-Boysen/Harnack resistance group. She also secretly housed the resistance fighter Ilse Stillmann and the deserter/resistance fighter (and talented document forger)

Oskar Huth Oskar Huth (26 February 1918 – 21 August 1991) a German graphic artist, forger, a word smith and compelling teller of tales, a drinker and a noted Bohemianism, bohemian who never really seemed comfortable if he had a permanent residence and who w ...

. After the failure of the plot of July 1944 to assassinate the nation's leader, Gertrud Classen was able to provide forged papers for Ludwig von Hammerstein (who had been involved in the plot) and to help him disappear, which he did successfully till after the war was over. In Autumn 1944 she was also involved in producing forged food stamps which meant that Ilse Stillmann was not merely kept hidden from the authorities, but fed. War ended in May 1945, and a large region surrounding Berlin found itself administered as 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 ...

. Within the zone, partly in order to avoid a split on the political left opening a chasm through which right-wing extremists might again take power, and partly (as matters turned out) to prepare for a new one-

after 1949, the principal left wing parties

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

in April 1946. Gertrud Classen was one of thousands of Communist Party members who immediately signed their party membership across to the new Socialist Unity Party (''Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands'' / SED). However, for Classen the next few years were dominated not by political engagement but by lengthy stays in hospital, caused by her

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. Between 1950 and 1953, she attended the Arts Academy in Berlin as a "Meisterschülerin" (loosely: "Master student"). Through the 1950s, and on till 1965, she worked as a freelance sculptor in the

. Towards the end of her life she gathered material to write a history of women's youth movements because she saw the absence of such a history as a gaping hole in the historical record. The book never appeared. Gertrud Classen died in

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

on 3 September 1974.

Awards and honours

* 1960

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 ...

in silver

Neues Deutschland (, , abbr. nd) is a left-wing German daily newspaper, headquarters, headquartered in Berlin. For 43 years it was the official party newspaper of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which governed East Germany (officially known as the ...

, 31 July 1970, p. 2

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Classen, Gertrud Artists from Königsberg German women sculptors East German artists East German women Interwar-period spies Communists in the German Resistance Communist Party of Germany members Socialist Unity Party of Germany members Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit 1905 births 1974 deaths 20th-century German women