Karl Steinhardt (1 August 1875,

Gyöngyös Gyöngyös is a town in Heves County, Hungary, beside of the Gyöngyös creek, under the Mátra mountain ranges. As of 2022 census, it has a population of 27,957 (see Demographics). The town is located 8.4 km from the M3 motorway and 80.8 km ...

— 21 January 1963,

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

) was an Austrian politician and activist who was one of the founders and leaders of the

Communist Party of Austria The Communist Party of Austria (, KPÖ) is a communist party in Austria. Established in 1918 as the Communist Party of Republic of German-Austria, German-Austria (KPDÖ), it is one of the world's oldest Communist party, communist parties. The KP� ...

Biography

Born in Gyöngyös in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in to the family of an officer of a hussar regiment. After graduating from his apprenticeship as a printer he became a member of the

Social Democratic Party of Austria The Social Democratic Party of Austria ( , SPÖ) is a social democratic political party in Austria. Founded in 1889 as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (, SDAPÖ) and later known as the Socialist Party of Austria () from 1945 unt ...

in 1894. He continued his work as a printer throughout Europe and eventually settled in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

where he was later expelled for his political activities. He went to Vienna in 1913 and became fully committed to political activism until he was expelled from the SDAPÖ for during the

First World War 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 ...

for his internationalist stance and anti-war propaganda. Steinhardt and his "Communist Group" alongside other political radicals such as

Ruth Fischer Ruth Fischer (11 December 1895 – 13 March 1961) was an Austrian and German Communist, and a co-founder of the Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ) in 1918. Along with her partner Arkadi Maslow, she led the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) throug ...

who were formerly members of the Social Democratic Party founded the Communist Party of Austria. In 1919 he was elected to the leadership if the party and became a delegate to the First Congress of the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

. Upon his return to Vienna the plane he was a passenger of was shot down in Romaniac and he was arrested for espionage. At first he was sentenced to death however it was later revoked and Steinhardt was sentenced to forced labor instead. After he managed to get in contact with the

International Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a aid agency, humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of Law of ...

he was set free and returned to Vienna. Steinhardt was also a delegate of the

Second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

and

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

World Congresses of the Comintern and was elected to its

Executive Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

. He was also a delegate at the

Congress of the Peoples of the East The Congress of the Peoples of the East () was a multinational conference held in September 1920 by the Communist International in Baku, Azerbaijan (then the capital of Soviet Azerbaijan). The congress was attended by nearly 1,900 delegates from ...

. In 1921 he traveled to

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

and worked for 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 ...

and its publications. He was expelled from the Bremen committee of the KPD and later traveled to Hamburg where he worked in the Soviet trade agency until he was once again expelled from Hamburg and went on to work for the Soviet trade agency 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 ...

. In 1925 he was expelled from Germany and re settled in Vienna where he worked as a district activist for the KPÖ. After the Nazi annexation of Austria Steinhardt returned to his work as a printer. He was arrested by 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 ...

for multiple times and was under surveillance. After the Soviet liberation of Austria Steinhardt was appointed deputy mayor of Vienna. From 1945 to 1949 he was a member of the Gemeinderat and Landtag of Vienna for the KPÖ and was also elected to the central committee of the party. In 1945 he was also for a period head of the Welfare Department of Austria. Karl Steinhardt died on 21 January 1963 in Vienna.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steinhardt, Karl 1875 births 1963 deaths People from Heves Austrian communists Communist Party of Austria politicians Executive Committee of the Communist International