Ernst Thälmann
Ernst Thälmann | |
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Thälmann in 1932 | |
| Chairman of the Communist Party of Germany | |
| In office 1 September 1925 – 3 March 1933 | |
| Preceded by | Ruth Fischer |
| Succeeded by | John Schehr |
| Member of the Reichstag for Hamburg | |
| In office 27 May 1924 – 28 February 1933 | |
| Preceded by | Multi-member district |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 April 1886 Hamburg, German Empire |
| Died | 18 August 1944 (aged 58) Buchenwald concentration camp, Weimar, Thuringia, Nazi Germany |
| Political party | KPD (1920–1944) |
| Other political affiliations | USPD (1917–1920) SPD (1903–1917) |
| Children | 1 daughter |
| Occupation |
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| Military service | |
| Allegiance | German Empire |
| Years of service | 1915–1918 |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
| Awards | |
Central institution membership
Other offices held
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Early political career Chairman of the Communist Party of Germany |
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Ernst Johannes Fritz Thälmann (German: [ɛʁnst ˈtɛːlman]; 16 April 1886 – 18 August 1944) was a German communist politician and leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) from 1925 to 1933.
A committed communist, Thälmann sought to overthrow the liberal democracy of the Weimar Republic, especially during the instability of its final years. Under his leadership, the KPD became intimately associated with the government of the Soviet Union and the policies of Joseph Stalin. The KPD under Thälmann's leadership regarded the Social Democratic Party (SPD) as an adversary and the party adopted the position that the social democrats were "social fascists".
Thälmann was leader of the paramilitary Roter Frontkämpferbund. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1933 and held in solitary confinement for eleven years. Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov originally sought Thälmann’s release; after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, efforts to that end were abandoned, while Thälmann's party rival Walter Ulbricht ignored requests to plead on his behalf. Thälmann was shot dead on Adolf Hitler's personal order in Buchenwald in 1944.