View source for Wilhelm Pieck

{{Short description|President of East Germany from 1949 to 1960}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{more footnotes|date=October 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Wilhelm Pieck
| image               = Fotothek df pk 0000079 060 (cropped) (b).jpg
| occupation          = {{hlist|Politician|Party Clerk|Carpenter}}
| caption             = Pieck in 1946
| order               = [[President of East Germany]]
| term_start          = 11 October 1949
| term_end            = 7 September 1960
| chancellor       = [[Otto Grotewohl]]
| predecessor         = [[Karl Dönitz]] {{small|(as [[President of Germany (1919–1945)|President of the Reich]])}}
| successor           = [[Walter Ulbricht]] {{small|(as [[Lists of political office-holders in East Germany#Heads of state|Chairman of the State Council]])}}
| order1              = [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany#General Secretaries of the Central Committee of the SED|Chairman of the<br />Socialist Unity Party]]
| deputy1             = {{ubl|Walter Ulbricht|[[Max Fechner]]}}
| alongside1          = [[Otto Grotewohl]]
| term_start1         = [[Merger of the KPD and SPD|22 April 1946]]
| term_end1           = 25 July 1950
| predecessor1        = ''Himself'' {{small|(as Chairman of the [[Communist Party of Germany|KPD]])}}
| successor1          = [[Walter Ulbricht]]<br />{{small|(as General Secretary)}}
| office2             = Chairman of the<br />[[Communist Party of Germany]]
| term_start2         = 1 February 1934
| term_end2           = [[Merger of the KPD and SPD|22 April 1946]]<br />Acting: 1 February 1934 – 18 August 1944
{{refn|group=note|[[Ernst Thälmann]], who had been arrested by the [[Gestapo]] on 3 March 1933, remained de jure party leader until his execution on 18 August 1944; Schehr and later Pieck were acting chairmen as deputy leaders.}}
| predecessor2        = [[John Schehr]]
| successor2          = ''Himself'' {{small|(as [[Lists of political office-holders in East Germany#Leaders of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)|Co-Chairman of the Socialist Unity Party]])}}
{{Collapsed infobox section begin |last=yes |Parliamentary constituencies
 |titlestyle=border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes
| office3            = Member of the<br />[[Volkskammer#Membership|Provisional Volkskammer]]
| term_start3        = [[List of Provisional Volkskammer members|7 October 1949]]
| term_end3          = 22 February 1950
| predecessor4       = ''Constituency established''
| successor4         = [[Willi Stoph]]
| office5             = Member of the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] <br /> for [[Berlin (electoral district)|Berlin]]
| term_start5         = [[1928 German federal election|1 July 1928]]
| term_end5           = [[Reichstag Fire Decree|28 February 1933]]
| predecessor5        = ''Multi-member district''
| successor5          = ''Constituency abolished''
| office6            = Member of the [[Landtag of Prussia]] <br /> for Potsdam II
| term_start6        = [[1932 Prussian state election|25 May 1932]]
| term_end6          = [[Provisional Law and Second Law on the Coordination of the States with the Reich|31 March 1933]]
| predecessor6       = ''Multi-member district''
| successor6         = ''Constituency abolished''
| term_start7        = [[1921 Prussian state election|10 March 1921]]
| term_end7          = [[1928 Prussian state election|14 June 1928]]
| predecessor7       = [[Adolph Hoffmann]]
| successor7         = [[Erich Raddatz]]{{Collapsed infobox section end}}}}
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1876|1|3|df=y}}
| birth_name          = Friedrich Wilhelm Reinhold Pieck
| birth_place         = [[Guben]], [[Province of Brandenburg]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]], [[German Empire]] {{small|(now [[Gubin, Poland|Gubin]], [[Poland]])}}
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1960|9|7|1876|1|3|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[East Berlin]], [[East Germany]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|Christine Häfker|1898|1936|reason=d}}
| children            = [[Elly Winter]]<br>[[Arthur Pieck]]<br>[[Eleonore Staimer]]
| party               = [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|SPD]] {{small|(1895–1917)}}<br />[[Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany|USPD]] {{small|(1917–1919)}}<br />[[Communist Party of Germany|KPD]] {{small|(1919–1946)}}<br />[[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|SED]] {{small|(1946–1960)}}
| otherparty          = [[Spartacus League]] {{small|(1914–1919)}}
| module2             = {{collapsible list
| title = Central institution membership
| bullets = on
| 1949–1960: Full member,<br />[[Socialist Unity Party of Germany#Politburo of the Central Committee|Politburo of the Central Committee]]
| 1946–1960: Full member,<br />[[Socialist Unity Party of Germany#Central Committee|Central Committee]]{{refn|group=note|Party Executive Committee until 1950}}
| 1920–1921; 1926–1937: Full member,<br />[[Communist Party of Germany#Organization|KPD Politburo]]
}}
----
{{collapsible list
| title = Other offices held
| bullets = on
| 1946–1949: Member,<br />[[Landtag of Brandenburg]]
| 1930–1932: Member,<br />[[Prussian State Council]]
| 1929–1933: Member,<br />[[Berlin]] City Council
| 1906–1910: Member,<br />[[Bürgerschaft of Bremen]]
}}
| signature           = Goldenes Buch Seite 050 Signatur 02.jpg
}}

'''Friedrich Wilhelm Reinhold Pieck''' ({{IPA|de|ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈpiːk}}; 3 January 1876 – 7 September 1960) was a German [[communist]] politician who served as the [[Leadership of East Germany|co-chairman of the Socialist Unity Party]] from 1946 to 1950 and as the only [[president of the German Democratic Republic]] (East Germany) from 1949 until his death in 1960.<ref>Rolf Badstübner and [[Wilfried Loth]] (eds) ''Wilhelm Pieck – Aufzeichnungen zur Deutschlandpolitik 1945–1953'', Berlin: Wiley-VCH, 1994</ref>

Pieck had been active in the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|SPD]] since the 1890s, breaking from the party in 1917 over his opposition to the [[First World War]]. He co-founded the [[Spartacus League]] and the [[Communist Party of Germany|KPD]], rising to become chairman of the latter organization following the imprisonment of [[Ernst Thälmann]] and [[John Schehr]] by the [[Nazis]]. After the end of the [[Second World War]], he played a key role in the [[Merger of the KPD and SPD|1946 merger of the KPD and SPD]] into the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]], which served as the ruling party of East Germany from 1949 until 1989.<ref name=WPlautwww>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/wer-war-wer-in-der-ddr-%2363%3B-1424.html?ID=2653| title=Pieck, Wilhelm (Friedrich Wilhelm Reinhold) * 3.1.1876, † 7.9.1960 Präsident der DDR|work=Wer war wer in der DDR?| author1=Horst Laude| author2=[[Helmut Müller-Enbergs]]|publisher=Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin & Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin| access-date=25 February 2018}}</ref>

==Provenance and early years==
[[File:Wilhelm Pieck 1907.jpg|thumb|left|Wilhelm Pieck as a young party activist, 1907]]
Pieck was born into a Catholic family,<ref>''Pieck, Friedrich Wilhelm Reinhold.'' In: Werner Röder, Herbert A. Strauss (Hrsg.): ''Biographisches Handbuch der deutschsprachigen Emigration nach 1933.'' Band 1: ''Politik, Wirtschaft, Öffentliches Leben.'' Saur, München u. a. 1980</ref> as the son of the [[coachman]] Friedrich Pieck and his wife Auguste in the eastern part of [[Guben]], in what was then the [[German Empire]]<ref name="timeline">[http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/biografien/PieckWilhelm/index.html Wilhelm Pieck timeline] Retrieved 10 June 2010 {{in lang|de}}</ref> and is now [[Gubin, Poland|Gubin]], [[Poland]]. Two years later, his mother died. The father soon married the washerwoman Wilhelmine Bahro. After attending elementary school, the young Wilhelm completed a four-year carpentry apprenticeship. As a journeyman, he joined the German Timber Workers Association in 1894.

As a carpenter, in 1894 Pieck joined the wood-workers' federation, which steered him towards joining the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (SPD) the following year.<ref name="timeline" /> Pieck became the chairman of the party urban district in 1899, and in 1906 became full-time secretary of the SPD. The same year, he was elected to the [[Bürgerschaft of Bremen]]. In 1914, he moved to a three-room apartment in Berlin-Steglitz. By now he had his own study with many shelves full of books. In May 1915, he was arrested at the big women's demonstration in front of the Reichstag and kept in "protective custody" until October. As Bremen Party secretary in 1916, Pieck had asked [[Antonie Pannekoek|Anton Pannekoek]] to continue teaching socialist theory in the party school.<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Dutch and German Communist Left (1900–68)|last = Bourrinet|first = Philippe|pages = 55}}</ref> 

Although the majority of the SPD supported the German government in [[World War I]], Pieck was a member of the party's left wing, which opposed the war. Pieck's openness in doing so led to his arrest and detention in a [[military prison]]. After being released, Pieck briefly lived in exile in [[Amsterdam]].<ref name="timeline" /> Upon his return to Berlin in 1918, Pieck joined the newly founded [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD).

==Weimar years==
On 16 January 1919 Pieck, along with [[Rosa Luxemburg]] and [[Karl Liebknecht]], was arrested in Berlin's [[Wilmersdorf]] district and taken to the Eden Hotel.<ref>{{Cite book |url={{Google books|BGaKxNWlFBwC|page=365|plainurl=yes}} |title=The World War I Reader |publisher=NYU Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0814758328 |editor-last=Neiberg |editor-first=Michael S. |location=New York |pages=365}}</ref> Liebknecht and Luxemburg were then killed while "being taken to prison" by a unit of [[Freikorps]].<ref>[[Bertram Wolfe|Wolfe, Bertram D.]] in introduction to "The Russian Revolution" Luxemburg p. 18 1967.</ref> While the two were being murdered, Pieck claimed that he managed to escape. Due to lingering suspicions about Pieck's reported escape, KPD chairman [[Ernst Thälmann]] called Pieck before a party court chaired by [[Hans Kippenberger]] in 1929. The party court's decision was never published and Kippenberger was executed in Moscow after a secret trial in 1937.<ref>[[J. P. Nettl|Peter Nettl]]: ''Rosa Luxemburg.'' Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln, Berlin 1969, S. 547 f., Nettl refers to [[Erich Wollenberg]], who in 1951 speculatively attributed the killing of Kippenberger to an intrigue by Pieck (in: ''Der Apparat. Stalins Fünfte Kolonne''. ''[[Ost-Probleme]]'', Jg. 3, Nr. 19, 12. Mai 1951, S. 576–578).</ref> According to [[Waldemar Pabst]] (the officer who gave the order to kill Liebknecht and Luxemburg), Pieck did not actually escape, but was released in return for providing details about the military plans and hiding places of other KPD members.<ref>[[Günther Nollau]]: ''Die Internationale. Wurzeln und Erscheinungsformen des proletarischen Internationalismus.'' Verlag für Politik und Wirtschaft, Köln 1959, S. 381&nbsp;f. (Anhang III. ''Die Rolle Wilhelm Piecks bei der Festnahme von Rosa Luxemburg und Karl Liebknecht'').</ref><ref>''„Ich ließ Rosa Luxemburg richten.“'' In: ''[[Der Spiegel]]'', Nr. 16/1962, S. 38–44 (Interview mit Pabst).</ref> 

In 1922, he became a founding member of the [[International Red Aid]], serving first on the executive committee. In May 1925, he became the chairman of the [[Rote Hilfe]].<ref name="timeline" />

[[File:Wilhelm Pieck 1928.jpg|thumb|left|Pieck's official [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] portrait, 1928]]

Pieck held several elected offices in the Weimar Republic. He served in the [[Landtag of Prussia]] from 1921 to 1928 and again from 1932 to 1933, the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] from 1928 to 1933, the [[Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin|Berlin City Council]] from 1929 to 1933, and the [[Prussian State Council]] from 1930 to 1932.<ref>{{cite book |last=Forest |first=Alexander |author-link= |date=1952 |title=Elections and political parties in Germany, 1945-1952 |url=https://archive.org/details/electionspolitic0000unit/page/32/mode/1up |location=Bonn |publisher=Office of the [[Allied High Commission|U.S. High Commissioner for Germany]] |page=32 |isbn=}}</ref>

==Nazi years and Moscow exile==
On 4 March 1933, one day before [[March 1933 German federal election|the Reichstag election]], Pieck's family left their [[Steglitz]] apartment and moved into a cook's room. His son and daughter had been in the Soviet Union since 1932 while [[Elly Winter]] was still in Germany. At the beginning of May 1933, he left first to Paris and then to Moscow.<ref name="timeline" /> In Moscow, Pieck served the Communist Party in a variety of capacities. From 1935 until 1943, he held the position of Secretary of the [[Communist International]]. In 1943 Pieck was among the founders of the [[National Committee for a Free Germany]], an anti-Nazi organisation created by the Soviets aimed at Germans.

On 22 June 1941, Pieck and his family were in their country house on the outskirts of Moscow. Pieck came downstairs at six o'clock to his children's bedroom and said: "Children, get up, it was announced on the radio that war is over. Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, but that will be the end". In March 1942, the family was able to return home after the Soviet Armed Forces won the [[Battle of Moscow]].{{cn|date=November 2022}}

==Soviet occupation zone==
At the conclusion of the war in 1945 Pieck returned to Germany with the victorious [[Red Army]].<ref name="ReferenceA">[[Eric D. Weitz]], ''Creating German Communism, 1890–1990: From Popular Protests to Socialist State''.  Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997</ref>  A year later, he helped [[Merger of the KPD and SPD into the Socialist Unity Party of Germany|engineer the merger]] of the eastern branches of the KPD and SPD into the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Socialist Unity Party (SED)]].  He was elected as the merged party's co-chairman, alongside former SPD leader [[Otto Grotewohl]]. His hand appeared alongside Grotewohl's on the SED's "handshake" logo, derived from the SPD-KPD congress establishing the party where he symbolically shook hands with Grotewohl.

==President of East Germany==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S88643, Berlin, DDR-Gründung, Ulbricht, Pieck, Grotewohl.jpg|thumb|left|300px|[[Walter Ulbricht]], Wilhelm Pieck and [[Otto Grotewohl]] at the founding ceremony of the [[German Democratic Republic]], 1949]]
In October 1949, on the territory of the [[Soviet occupation zone]] the [[German Democratic Republic]], or East Germany was [[Foundation of East Germany|formally established]]. Pieck was elected president of the new country.<ref name="timeline" /> He served as East Germany's first (and last) president until his death in 1960.<ref>David Priestand, ''Red Flag:  A History of Communism''," New York: Grove Press, 2009</ref>

Nominally, for the GDR's first year, Pieck was the number-two man in the government behind Grotewohl, who became the new country's first prime minister. In the East German political hierarchy, the prime minister was the top state official, while the president nominally ranked second.{{citation needed|date=October 2025}}

He lost the co-chairmanship of the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|ruling SED]] (which he held with Grotewohl) in 1950, when [[Walter Ulbricht]] became the party's General Secretary as the party restructured along more orthodox Soviet lines.  Nonetheless, he retained his other posts, including the presidency, due to [[Joseph Stalin]]'s trust in him.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

==Last years==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-48539-0002, Berlin, Besuch Ho Chi Minh bei Wilhelm Pieck.jpg|thumb|right|Pieck meeting with Vietnamese leader [[Ho Chi Minh]], 1959]]
Pieck was already 73 years old at the time of his initial election as president. He nominally held the second highest state post in the GDR (behind [[Council of Ministers of East Germany|Prime Minister]] Grotewohl){{citation needed|date=October 2025}} and served as SED co-chairman for the first four years of the party's existence. He was also a member of the SED's Politburo, the highest authority in the party. Despite this, he played a mostly minor role in the party, particularly after 1950.

On 13 July 1953, he suffered a second stroke. He also had progressive [[Cirrhosis|liver cirrhosis]] and existing [[ascites]]. A detailed medical report composed before the second stroke mentioned "mild paralysis on the right, a slight drooping of the corner of the mouth, breathing wheezing or snoring, slowed down pulse, tone of the limb musculature lowered ...".<ref>Der Spiegel, 22 July 1953</ref>

In August 1960 he moved to a new summer residence, the converted former mansion of the [[Hermann Göring]] Leibförsters near "Karinhall".<ref>DER SPIEGEL – Personalien – 24 August 1960</ref>

Pieck died at [[Majakowskiring]] 29, [[Pankow]], [[East Berlin]]. He was honoured with a [[state funeral]], cremated and buried at the ''Memorial to the Socialists'' ({{langx|de|Gedenkstätte der Sozialisten}}) in the [[Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde|Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery]], [[Berlin]].

==Personal life==
He was married to Christine Häfker,<ref name=WPlautwww/> a garments worker whom he met in a large dance hall in [[Bremen]]. At first, her parents did not want her to go out with a "red", but once she was pregnant, she was allowed to marry Wilhelm on 28 May 1898, on the condition that a traditional wedding in a church would still take place.<ref name=EWlautRF>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.rotfuchs.net/rotfuchs-lesen/elly-winter-ueber-ihren-vater-wilhelm-pieck.html |title=Elly Winter über ihren Vater Wilhelm Pieck|author=Elly Winter|date=April 2016|magazine=RotFuchs|access-date=25 February 2018}}</ref> On the wedding day Christine waited impatiently for Pieck to arrive at the church. At the last minute, he finally did, still carrying communist leaflets. In November 1936, his wife contracted [[pneumonia]] for the third time, dying on 1 December of the same year.

The Piecks' daughter, [[Elly Winter]] (1898–1987), held various posts in the SED and East German government.<ref name=EWlautwww>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/wer-war-wer-in-der-ddr-%2363%3B-1424.html?ID=3830| title= Winter, Elly (Eleonora) geb. Pieck * 1.11.1898, † 13.5.1987 SED-Funktionärin|work=Wer war wer in der DDR?| author1=Andreas Herbst| author-link=Andreas Herbst|publisher=Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin & Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin| access-date=25 February 2018}}</ref>   Their son [[Arthur Pieck]] (1899–1970) served as head of the East German national airline [[Interflug]] from 1955 to 1965, after having held various administrative posts in East Germany, for instance at the [[German Economic Commission]].<ref name=APlautwww>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/wer-war-wer-in-der-ddr-%2363%3b-1424.html?ID=2652|title=Pieck, Arthur * 28.12.1899, † 13.01.1970 Generaldirektor der Lufthansa / Interflug|author=Peter Erler|work=Wer war wer in der DDR?|publisher=Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin & Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin|access-date=25 February 2018}}</ref>   The youngest child, [[Eleonore Staimer]] (1906–1998), worked as a party official and, for a time, as a diplomat.<ref name=ESlautwww>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/wer-war-wer-in-der-ddr-%2363%3B-1424.html?ID=3357| title= Staimer, Eleonore (Lore) geb. Pieck, verh. Springer * 14.4.1906, † 7.11.1998 SED-Funktionärin, Diplomatin |work=Wer war wer in der DDR?| author1=Peter Erler| author2=Helmut Müller-Enbergs|publisher=Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin & Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin| access-date=25 February 2018}}</ref>

==Honours and awards==
===National honours===
* [[File:GDR Hero of Labor BAR.png|60px]] [[Hero of Labour (GDR)|Hero of Labour]] (1951)<ref name="BHDB">{{cite book |editor1-last=Baumgartner |editor1-first=Gabriele |editor2-last=Hebig |editor2-first=Dieter |title=Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ/DDR 1945–1990. Band 2. Maaßen–Zylla. |date=1997 |publisher=K.G. Saur |location=München |page=646 |isbn=978-3-11-169913-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2CpHD7n0gjkC&dq=%22Pieck%2C%20Wilhelm%22&pg=PA646 |access-date=20 October 2024}}</ref>
* [[File:Order of Karl Marx ribbon bar.png|60px]] [[Order of Karl Marx]] (1953)<ref name="BHDB"/>
* [[File:Patriotic Order of Merit GDR ribbon bar gold.png|60px]] [[Patriotic Order of Merit]] in Gold (1954)<ref name="BHDB"/>
* [[File:GDR Order of Banner of Labor (1954-1974) BAR.png|60px]] [[Banner of Labor|Banner of Labour]] (1960)<ref name="BHDB"/>

===Foreign honours===
* [[File:CZE Rad Bileho Lva 3 tridy BAR.svg|60px]] {{flagicon|Czechoslovakia}} Grand Cross of the [[Order of the White Lion]] (1956)<ref>{{cite web |title=Československý řád Bílého lva 1923–1990 |url=https://www.prazskyhradarchiv.cz/file/edee/vyznamenani/cs_rbl.pdf |website=Archiv Kanceláře prezidenta republiky |access-date=20 October 2024}}</ref>

== Photo gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-08783-0009, Berlin-Friedrichsfelde, Einweihung Gedenkstätte.jpg|Pieck in June 1926, dedicating the memorial statue for the victims of the German November Revolution of 1918
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-19000-3301, Berlin, DDR-Gründung, Wahl Pieck, Grotewohl.jpg|Pieck (left) and [[Otto Grotewohl]] in 1949
File:BM OderNeisse.jpg|1951 East German commemorative stamp of the [[Treaty of Zgorzelec]] establishing the [[Oder-Neisse line]] as a “border of peace”, with Pieck and President [[Bolesław Bierut]] of Poland
File:MajakowskiringPieck.JPG|House of Wilhelm Pieck in Majakowskiring 29, Berlin
File:Pieck-tomb.JPG|His tomb at the ''Memorial to the Socialists'' in the [[Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde|Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery]]
</gallery>

== References ==
{{Reflist|35em}}
{{commons}}
{{s-start}}
{{reflist|group=note}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box|
 title=[[President of East Germany|President of the German Democratic Republic]]|
 before=[[Karl Dönitz]]<br>(as [[President of Germany|President of the German Reich]])|
 after=[[Walter Ulbricht]] (as [[State Council of East Germany|Chairman of the Council of State]])|
 years=1949–1960}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{succession box|
title=Chairman of the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] <br><small>(with [[Otto Grotewohl]])</small>|
before=Post created|
after=[[Walter Ulbricht]] (as First Secretary)|
years=1946–1950}}
{{s-end}}

{{Head of State of the German Democratic Republic}}
{{Leaders of the Ruling Parties of the Eastern Bloc}}
{{Heads of State of Germany}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pieck, Wilhelm}}
[[Category:1876 births]]
[[Category:1960 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Gubin, Poland]]
[[Category:People from Guben]]
[[Category:Politicians from the Province of Brandenburg]]
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[[Category:Members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1928–1930]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1930–1932]]
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[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1932–1933]]
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[[Category:Executive Committee of the Communist International]]
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[[Category:People of the Cold War]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Karl Marx]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Germany]]