The Rote Hilfe ("Red Aid") was the German affiliate of the

International Red Aid International Red Aid (also commonly known by its Russian acronym MOPR) was an international social-service organization. MOPR was founded in 1922 by the Communist International to function as an "international political Red Cross", providing ma ...

. The Rote Hilfe was affiliated with 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 existed between 1924 and 1936. Its purpose was to provide help to those Communists who had been jailed or were imprisoned.

Origin

The Rote Hilfe was first organized as a result of the

political repression Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereby ...

in April 1921"Rote Hilfe"
Retrieved June 3, 2010 following bloody strikes and communist rebellions in central Germany in March of that year. It was formed after a decision the

(KPD). In November 1921, a "Berlin Committee" was created as a central committee. The Fourth World Congress of the

Comintern 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 Internatio ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

from 5 October - 12 November 1922, called for "the creation of organizations to render material and moral aid to all captives of capitalism in prison." This effort later became the

, (also known by its Russian abbreviation, MOPR). The ''Rote Hilfe Deutschlands'' (RHD) was founded on 1 October 1924 as an organization affiliated with the KPD. Artist

Heinrich Vogeler Johann Heinrich Vogeler (December 12, 1872 – June 14, 1942) was a German people, German painter, designer, and architect, associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. Early life He was born in Bremen, and studied at the Kunstakadem ...

, was one of the founding members and was elected to the Central Committee. The first chairman was

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 ...

, later the first and only president 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 ...

. He was previously the leader of the ''Juristischen Zentralstelle'' of the

Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...

of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

and the Reichstag faction of the KPD. After 1925,

Clara Zetkin Clara Zetkin (; ; ''née'' Eißner ; 5 July 1857 – 20 June 1933) was a German Marxist theorist, communist activist, and advocate for women's rights. Until 1917, she was active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany. She then joined the Inde ...

assumed leadership of the RHD. After the death of

Julian Marchlewski Julian Baltazar Józef Marchlewski (17 May 1866 – 22 March 1925) was a Polish communist politician, revolutionary activist and publicist who served as chairman of the Provisional Polish Revolutionary Committee. He was also known under the aliase ...

that same year, she also led the MOPR. In the beginning, the organization was active with the campaign, "Rote Hilfe for the victims of war and work", part of an international campaign to support war victims and those disabled at work. The main emphasis of the work was the support of arrested members of the '' Rotfrontkämpferbund'', the

Socialist Workers' Party of Germany The Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (, SAPD) was a centrist Marxist political party in Germany. It was formed as a left-wing party with around 20,000 members which split off from the SPD in the autumn of 1931. In 1931, the remnants of the ...

Communist Workers' Party of Germany The Communist Workers' Party of Germany (; KAPD) was an anti-parliamentarian and left communist party that was active in Germany during the Weimar Republic. It was founded in 1920 in Heidelberg as a split from the Communist Party of Germany (KP ...

, unionists, as well as unaffiliated individuals and their family members. The Rote Hilfe proclaimed 18 March 1923 (anniversary of the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...

) to be the "International Day of Aid for Political Prisoners" and observed this day till they were banned by the

National Socialists 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 ...

in 1933. In March 1930, the Rote Hilfe took part in the founding of a German section of the "International Juridical Union", which dealt with penal, popular, constitutional and labor rights. In 1933, the Rote Hilfe was banned, following the issuing of the

Reichstag Fire Decree The Reichstag Fire Decree () is the common name of the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State () issued by German President Paul von Hindenburg on the advice of Chancellor Adolf Hitler on 28 February 1933 in immed ...

. Hans Litten,Knut Bergbauer, Sabine Fröhlich and Stephanie Schüler-Springorum
''Denkmalsfigur. Biographische Annäherung an Hans Litten 1903 - 1938''
pp. 229-230, Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen (2008) Felix Halle, Alfred Apfel and other lawyers were arrested the very night 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, ...

. The organization tried to continue its work through 1934, directed by exiled leadership in Paris. By 1935–1936, the Rote Hilfe had been dissolved 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 ...

. Some members continued to work underground"Neue Forschungen zur Roten Hilfe"
Two reviews. Retrieved June 8, 2010 to help threatened individuals go into

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

through the

Saar (protectorate) The Saar Protectorate ( ; ), officially Saarland (), was a short-lived French protectorate and a disputed territory separated from occupied Germany, Germany. On joining the West Germany, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG/West Germany) in 1957, i ...

, then still an autonomous region. Wilhelm Beuttel took over the leadership of the organization from exile in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1933–1934.

Membership and statistics

The chapters of the Rote Hilfe consisted of factory and neighborhood cells and were led by district chairmen who worked under a central chairman. An "auditing commission" was adjunct to the Central Committee and monitored compliance with applicable law. Each chapter had a "relief commission", which was supposed to also involve local politicians. The Rote Hilfe employed 60-80 people full-time. There were annual national congresses, at which lawyers such as Kurt Rosenfeld, Felix Halle and Hilde Benjamin gave lectures on

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

and other legal issues. Worpswede Barkenhoff

In 1933, the Rote Hilfe had 530,000 members, of which 119,000 were also members of the KPD and 15,000 were members of the SPD. There were also 55,600 members who were also in the

MOPR International Red Aid (also commonly known by its Russian acronym MOPR) was an international social-service organization. MOPR was founded in 1922 by the Communist International to function as an "international political Red Cross", providing ma ...

. From 1924 to March 1929, the Rote Hilfe supported 27,000 people and 16,000 people in prison at a cost of four million

Reichsmark The (; sign: ℛ︁ℳ︁; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in the American, British and French occupied zones of Germany, until 20 June 1948. The Reichsmark was then replace ...

s (equivalent to million euros). There was a drop in membership in 1929, the result of partisan fighting.Nikolaus Brauns, ''Schafft rote Hilfe! Geschichte und Aktivitäten der proletarischen Hilfsorganisation für politische Gefangene in Deutschland (1919-1938)''. Bonn (2003) pp. 78, 192. In 1932, the Rote Hilfe helped 9,000 political prisoners, 20,000 family members and 50,000 people on the left with preliminary investigations and trials. Its central committee was connected with the KPD's "juridical central office" and also worked with the Berlin MOPR. Beginning in 1923, the Rote Hilfe maintained the Barkenhoff

children's home Residential child care communities or children's homes are a type of residential care, which refers to long-term care given to children who cannot stay in their birth family home. There are two different approaches towards residential care: The fam ...

at the Worpswede artists' colony after

conveyed his property to them for a mere 15,000 goldmarks. In 1925, they began also maintaining the MOPR Children's Home in

Elgersburg Elgersburg is a municipality situated in the district of Ilm-Kreis, Thuringia, 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 t ...

, as well. The two homes were managed by a 46-person administrative board, which included such well-known members as

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

and

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

. The ''Rote Hilfe Deutschland'' community drew active support by about 600 notable individuals from democratic and leftist intellectual circles. Their campaigns, such as the amnesty for political prisoners in 1928, for freedom in the arts, or in favor of liberalizing the law on

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

were supported by Albert Einstein,

Kurt Tucholsky Kurt Tucholsky (; 9 January 1890 – 21 December 1935) was a German journalist, satire, satirist, and writer. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Kaspar Hauser (after the Kaspar Hauser, historical figure), Peter Panter, Theobald Tiger and Ignaz Wr ...

Käthe Kollwitz Käthe Kollwitz ( born Schmidt; 8 July 186722 April 1945) was a German artist who worked with painting, printmaking (including etching, lithography and woodcuts) and sculpture. Her most famous art cycles, including ''The Weavers'' and ''The Peasa ...

, Heinrich Zille,

Heinrich Mann Luiz Heinrich Mann (; March 27, 1871 – March 11, 1950), best known as simply Heinrich Mann, was a German writer known for his sociopolitical novels. From 1930 until 1933, he was president of the fine poetry division of the Prussian Academy ...

Erich Mühsam Erich Mühsam (6 April 1878 – 10 July 1934) was a German Antimilitarism, antimilitarist anarchism, anarchist essayist, poet and playwright. He emerged at the end of World War I as one of the leading agitators for a Federalism, federated Bavari ...

Magnus Hirschfeld Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician, Sexology, sexologist and LGBTQ advocate, whose German citizenship was later revoked by the Nazi government.David A. Gerstner, ''Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer ...

Otto Dix Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix (; 2 December 1891 – 25 July 1969) was a German painter and Printmaking, printmaker, noted for his ruthless and harshly realistic depictions of German society during the Weimar Republic and the brutality of war. Alon ...

Max Liebermann Max Liebermann (20 July 1847 – 8 February 1935) was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the leading proponents of Impressionism in Germany and continental Europe. In addition to his activity as an artist, he also assembled an important ...

Erwin Piscator Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator (17 December 1893 – 30 March 1966) was a German theatre director and Theatrical producer, producer. Along with Bertolt Brecht, he was the foremost exponent of epic theatre, a form that emphasizes the socio- ...

Carl von Ossietzky Carl von Ossietzky (; 3 October 1889 – 4 May 1938) was a German journalist and Pacifism, pacifist. He was the recipient of the 1935 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in exposing the clandestine German rearmament. As editor-in-chief of the magazin ...

, Heinrich Vogeler and others.

The lawyers

Hans Litten was especially well known for his activity with the Rote Hilfe. In a series of major political trials during the mid-1920s and into the early 1930s, he doggedly pursued justice for the leftist victims of the growing Nazi terror, once summoning even

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 ...

to appear as a witness. By the end of the Weimar Republic, Litten was unable to go out in public without a bodyguard.Cord Brügmann
''Unvergessener Anwalt''
(PDF) Deutsche Anwalt Verein, Detusche Anwalt Verlag (February 1998) pp. 75-81 This was provided by members of the Rotfrontkämpferbund. During the period of its activity, some 330 attorneys worked for the Rote Hilfe. Of these, 60% were of Jewish background, a fact that had special significance after 7 August 1933, when the

Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service (, shortened to ''Berufsbeamtengesetz''), also known as Civil Service Law, Civil Service Restoration Act, and Law to Re-establish the Civil Service, was enacted by the Nazi Party, Na ...

came into effect and many lost their license to practice in German courts. (

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 ...

veterans were able to continue till the end of 1941 as lay lawyers.) Other lawyers were also affected by the law for reasons of Communist activity, many becoming corporate lawyers after losing their license to practice in court. According to Josef Schwarz, 22 of its lawyers were sent to

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

. Only a few of the Jewish lawyers who hadn't left Germany by 1942 survived the camps. Two lawyers who moved to 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 ...

later became victims of the

Stalinist purges The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the assassination of Sergei Kirov by Leonid Nikolae ...

. Some 30 of the lawyers who went into exile later returned to Germany, nine of them to the

Trials and campaigns

* "German

Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...

Trial" (February–April 1925) against KPD members accused of

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

* Series of trials resulting from the

Hamburg Uprising The Hamburg Uprising () was a communist insurrection that occurred in Hamburg in Weimar Germany on 23 October 1923. A militant section of the Hamburg Communist Party of Germany launched an uprising as part of the so-called German October. R ...

(January–May 1925) * 1926 "''Free Max Hoelz and all political Prisoners''" – amnesty campaign * 1929 Berlin "''

Blutmai ''Blutmai'' (, ) was an outbreak of political violence that occurred in Berlin from 1 to 3 May 1929. It occurred when the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) held May Day marches in defiance of a ban on public gatherings in Berlin ordered by the ...

''" Trial * 1931 Saxon "''Weapons Cache Trial''" on the leftist take-over of a ''

Der Stahlhelm ''Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten'' (German: 'The Steel Helmet, League of Front-Line Soldiers'), commonly known as ''Der Stahlhelm'' ('The Steel Helmet') or ''Stahlhelm BdF'' ('D.S. BdF'), was a Revanchism, revanchist Veteran, ex-servi ...

'' camp on

Reichswehr ''Reichswehr'' (; ) was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first two years of Nazi Germany. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped ...

property * 1932 "''Röntgenstraßen Trial''" – involving a murdered SA man * 1932 "'' Felseneck Trial''" – murder trial resulting from the SA attack of an arbor colony inhabited by SPD and KPD members * Defense in other trials about "freedom of art", for the SPD and

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 ...

members

Publications

* ''Material über den Hitlerdeutschland'', Rote Hilfe Deutschland (February 1936), a compilation of allegations of murder and other crimes at

Dachau Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

Börgermoor Emslandlager ("Emsland camps") were a series of 15 moorland Nazi concentration camps, labor, punitive and POWs-camps, active from 1933 to 1945 and located in the districts of Emsland and County of Bentheim (district), Bentheim, Lower Saxony, Germa ...

and Kemna concentration campsKlaus Drobisch, Günther Wieland
''System der NS-Konzentrationslager: 1933-1939''
Akademie Verlag (1993), p. 243. . Retrieved December 21, 2011

References

External links

History of the Rote Hilfe
{{Authority control Charities based in Germany Communist organisations in Germany Communist Party of Germany Organizations based in the Weimar Republic Non-profit organisations based in Berlin 1924 establishments in Germany 1936 disestablishments in Germany Organizations established in 1924