Robert Havemann (; 11 March 1910 – 9 April 1982) was an East German

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

and

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 2 ...

Life and career

He studied chemistry 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 ...

and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

from 1929 to 1933, and then later received a doctorate in physical chemistry from the

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science () was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by the Max Planck Society. The Kaiser Wilhelm Society was an umbrella organi ...

. Havemann 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 ...

(KPD) in 1932 and was one of the founders of the resistance group,

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. It was in connection with this group that 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 ...

in 1943. He received a

death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

for treason, but his execution was continually postponed because of the intervention of former colleagues, who insisted that Havemann was as important due to his work on chemical weapons and that he was still needed to explain the research. His execution was postponed so many times, he was able to survive until the Brandenburg-Görden Prison was liberated by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

.Bernd Florath. "Die Europäische Union," essay in Johannes Tuchel, ''Der vergessene Widerstand — zu Realgeschichte und Wahrnehmung des Kampfes gegen die NS-Diktatur'', pp. 114-139. (2001) Wallstein Verlag. Claudia Keller
"Späte Ehre für die selbstlosen Retter"
("Late Honor for the selfless Lifesaver") ''Der Taggespiel'' (6 July 2005) Retrieved 16 March 2010 After the war, he became head of administration in the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Berlin, but in 1948 he was dismissed from this position due to political pressure from the American authorities in

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 ...

. He continued his scientific work in the institute until he got barred from his laboratory in January 1950. He then became a professor of physical chemistry at the

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

. He became a member of the

Volkskammer 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 initia ...

in 1950 and won one of the GDR's national prizes in 1959. He published articles in '' Sinn und Form'' criticizing modern socialism and revisionist works of the Western authors. In 1963 he lectured on 'Scientific Aspects of Philosophical Problems' (published as 'Dialectic without Dogmatism—Natural Sciences against Communistic Ideology') and was expelled from the ruling Socialist Unity Party and dismissed from the University—officially because he gave an interview to a newspaper from West Germany. His son Florian Havemann (born 12 January 1952 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 ...

) fled to

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

in 1971. Havemann was a victim of the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

's psychological warfare program. He continued his work as a socialist critic and was put under

house arrest House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...

in 1976, at his home in the village of Grünheide. This continued until his death in 1982, after a long time suffering from lung disease. In 1989 he was politically rehabilitated by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany's Central Party Control Commission. In 2005, Havemann was awarded the title

Righteous among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

by the Israeli

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

memorial,

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

."Israel honours memory of anti-Nazi 'European Union'"
Reuters (20 June 2006) Retrieved 17 March 2010

References

External links

Official website of the award winning film ''The Burning Wall''
*Hartmut Jäckel

("The dissident who came out from the cold") ''Die Welt'' (10 March 2010). Retrieved 18 March 2010

– his activity to save Jews' lives during the

, at

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Havemann, Robert 1910 births 1982 deaths Scientists from Munich Scientists from the Kingdom of Bavaria Communist Party of Germany politicians Socialist Unity Party of Germany politicians Members of the Provisional Volkskammer Members of the 1st Volkskammer Members of the 2nd Volkskammer Members of the 3rd Volkskammer Cultural Association of the GDR members 20th-century German chemists Colloid chemists East German dissidents Max Planck Institute directors Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin Red Orchestra (espionage) Communists in the German Resistance German Righteous Among the Nations German prisoners sentenced to death Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver People convicted of treason against Nazi Germany People condemned by Nazi courts Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin