Otto Nuschke (23 February 1883 – 27 December 1957) was a German

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. Nuschke was born in

Frohburg Frohburg () is a town in the Leipzig (district), Leipzig district, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated 11 km northeast of Altenburg, and 34 km southeast of Leipzig. It includes the village of Flößberg and the town Kohren-Sahlis. Hist ...

in the

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony () was a German monarchy in Central Europe between 1806 and 1918, the successor of the Electorate of Saxony. It joined the Confederation of the Rhine after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, later joining the German ...

. In 1910 he was elected secretary general of the liberal Progressive People's Party (''Fortschrittliche Volkspartei'') of

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

. In the same year he became chief editor of the

Berliner Tageblatt The ''Berliner Tageblatt'' or ''BT'' was a German language newspaper published in Berlin from 1872 to 1939. Along with the '' Frankfurter Zeitung'', it became one of the most important liberal German newspapers of its time. History The ''Berli ...

and in 1915 co-editor of the ''Berliner Volkszeitung''. Nuschke soon joined the Liberal Union (Freisinnige Vereinigung), left-wing liberal organisation, and became its secretary general of

in 1906. As this group fused with other left-liberal organisations (in 1910) to form the Progressive People's Party, Nuschke became the secretary general of the new party in

. In 1918, Nuschke took part in establishing the

German Democratic Party The German Democratic Party (, DDP) was a liberal political party in the Weimar Republic, considered centrist or centre-left. Along with the right-liberal German People's Party (, DVP), it represented political liberalism in Germany between 19 ...

. In 1919 he was a delegate to the National Congress of

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

and from 1921 to 1933 he was a member of the Reichstag. In 1920s Nuschke was at times the deputy chairman of the German Democratic Party. Nuschke was one of the founders of the republican

Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold The (, , simply in short) was an organization in Weimar Republic, Germany during the Weimar Republic with the goal to defend German parliamentary democracy against internal subversion and extremism from the left and right and to compel the ...

and became the secretary general of the

German State Party The German State Party ( or DStP) was a short-lived German political party of the Weimar Republic. The party was formed on 28 July 1930 by the merger of the German Democratic Party with the People's National Reich Association (the political wing o ...

in 1931 (i.e., a successor to the German Democratic Party). After 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 ...

gained power in 1933 Nuschke joined the opposition. After the 1944 assassination attempt on

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 ...

's life, he went into hiding. 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 ...

, Nuschke became involved in the politics of the Soviet Occupation Zone (SBZ)--what became

East Germany 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 ...

. Unlike most of the former

members, Nuschke did not take part in forming the LDPD/ FDP, but became one of the co-founders of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in June 1945, along with Ferdinand Friedensburg,

Ernst Lemmer Ernst Lemmer (28 April 1898 – 18 August 1970) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and former member of the German Bundestag. Life He became a member of the German Democratic Party in 1918. During World War Tw ...

and Walther Schreiber. In 1946 Nuschke was elected in the party's executive committee. From 1946 to 1952 he was a member of the

Landtag of Brandenburg The Landtag of Brandenburg is the unicameral legislature of the states of Germany, state of Brandenburg in Germany. Its 88 members of parliament are usually elected every 5 years. It is responsible for deciding on state laws, controlling the s ...

. In 1947, after the deposition of party chairmen

Jakob Kaiser Jakob Kaiser (8 February 1888 – 7 May 1961) was a German politician and resistance leader during World War II. He served in the Reichstag before the war and the Bundestag after. He was also the first Federal Minister of All-German Affairs, s ...

and

by the Soviet military authorities, Nuschke became acting chairman and after the party congress of 1948, party chairman. In March 1948, Nuschke—alongside

Wilhelm Pieck Friedrich Wilhelm Reinhold Pieck (; 3 January 1876 – 7 September 1960) was a German communist politician who served as the Leadership of East Germany, chairman of the Socialist Unity Party from 1946 to 1950 and as the only president of the Ger ...

(SED) and Wilhelm Külz ( LDPD)—was chairman of the

German People's Council The German People's Council () was a consultative body in the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany that operated in 1948–1949. The main task of the People's Council was to draw up a constitution on the basis of a draft presented by the SED in 1946. ...

(''Deutscher Volksrat'') that drafted the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

of 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 ...

. In 1949 Nuschke became a member of the Provisional

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 ...

of the GDR. He remained a member of parliament until his death. After the formal establishment of the German Democratic Republic, Nuschke became Deputy Prime Minister and chief of the Church Office. Nuschke was a loyal supporter of the SED regime, and gradually pushed out those CDU members not willing to do the Communists' bidding. This culminated in the party's 1952 conference, at which the CDU formally declared itself a socialist party. On 17 June 1953, during the East German uprising, Nuschke and his driver were kidnapped and brought to

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

. Some American military recognised him and saved him from the angry masses. He and his driver were brought to a police station, but released on 19 June. After that Nuschke and his driver returned to

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 ...

. In a spontaneous interview given to RIAS reporter Peter Schultze, Nuschke claimed that the East German government had popular support and that the demonstrators included West Berliners. In 1954 he received the Patriotic Order of the GDR and in 1955 he received an honorary degree.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nuschke, Otto 1883 births 1957 deaths People from Leipzig (district) Politicians from the Kingdom of Saxony German Lutherans National-Social Association politicians Free-minded Union politicians Progressive People's Party (Germany) politicians Deputy prime ministers of East Germany German Democratic Party politicians Christian Democratic Union (East Germany) politicians Government ministers of East Germany Members of the Weimar National Assembly Members of the Provisional Volkskammer Members of the 1st Volkskammer Members of the 2nd Volkskammer Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold members German Peace Society members Lutheran pacifists Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit 20th-century Lutherans German resistance members

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