Anton Ackermann (born Eugen Hanisch, 25 November 1905 – 4 May 1973) was an East Germany Communist politician who represented the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED).[ He was a candidate member of the Politbüro of the Central Committee of the SED. In 1953, he briefly served as Minister of Foreign Affairs.][ Dieter K. Buse, and Juergen C. Doerr, eds., Modern Germany: An Encyclopedia of History, People, and Culture, 1871-1990 (2 vol. Garland, 1998) pp 6–7. ]
Life and career
Weimar Republic
Ackermann, the son of a hosier, also worked as a hosier and a labourer after completing elementary school. At the same time, he began his political career in the Free Socialist Youth (FSJ) of the Social Democratic Party.
From 1929 to 1931, he attended the International Lenin School in Moscow, where he remained as an aspirant until 1933. Back in Germany, he then worked in the Germany Department of the Communist International as a personal aide to Fritz Heckert and Wilhelm Pieck. There he met Elli Schmidt, with whom he had two children and lived as husband and wife until their separation in 1949.
Nazi Period
After the Nazism entered government, Ackermann worked illegally for the now-banned KPD in Berlin from 1933 to 1935, including as John Schehr secretary. In 1935, he emigrated to Prague and remained there until 1937. At the KPD's Brussels Conference in October 1935, Ackermann was elected to the Party's central committee and as a candidate member of the Politbüro.
In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, he worked as director of the Political School of the International Brigades in Benicàssim. After a stay in Paris, he went to Moscow in 1940. There he became editor of the newspaper . In 1941 he worked with German prisoners of war and co-founded the Moscow-based National Committee for a Free Germany (NKFD). From 1941 to 1945 he directed the 'Free Germany' radio station. In 1945 he was awarded the Order of the Red Star.
Soviet Occupation
After World War II, at the end of April 1945, he returned to Saxony as head of the Ackermann Group, one of the three teams, each of ten men, flown in by the Communist Party from Moscow to different parts of the Soviet occupation zone to lay the groundwork for the Soviet Military Administration in Germany.[ "Namensliste der drei KPD-Einsatzgruppen vom 27. April 1945" German Federal Archives. BArch NY 4036/517. Retrieved November 22, 2011 ] He joined the newly reformed East German Communist party, the Socialist Unity Party (SED) in 1946.
German Democratic Republic (GDR)
He was elected into the Central Committee and became a candidate member of the Politburo in 1949. From 1950 to 1954, he was a member of the People's Chamber.
Ackermann suggested that because the new state created out of the Soviet occupation would be a "progressive state" constituted from anti-fascist principles, it would not be a hindrance to the eventual progression towards socialism and therefore Germany could have a peaceful, reformist transition towards socialism.
From 1949 to 1953, he was the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. After the arrest of the minister, Georg Dertinger, Ackermann succeeded him, briefly, as Minister of Foreign Affairs.[
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In 1953–1954, he was expelled from the Politburo and Central Committee and fired as minister because of his factional opposition to party leader Walter Ulbricht.
In 1956 he was rehabilitated and worked for the State Planning Bureau.
Death and Burial
On 4 May 1973, Anton Ackermann, who was by then suffering terribly from cancer, committed suicide at the age of 67. His urn was interred in the perimeter wall of the 'Memorial to the Socialists' at the Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery in Berlin.
Honours and Legacy
He was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver in 1957 and in gold in 1965. In 1970 he was awarded the Order's honorary clasp.[
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In his home town of Thalheim, the 10-class polytechnic high school was given the name Anton-Ackermann High School in 1979. After German reunification, it reverted to Thalheim High School.
, a commemorative stamp appeared with his portrait, as part of a series .
See also
Further reading
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Buse, Dieter K. and Doerr, Juergen C., eds. Modern Germany: An Encyclopedia of History, People, and Culture, 1871–1990 (2 vol. Garland Pub., 1998) pp 6–7.
