Ernst Thalmann

Ernst Thälmann was a German communist politician who played a major role in the political instability of the Weimar Republic. He was the chairman of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) from 1925 to 1933 and a staunch supporter of Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union. He ran for president twice, in 1925 and 1932, but was defeated both times by Paul von Hindenburg. He opposed the rise of Nazism and advocated for a united front of the working class against fascism. He was also the leader of the paramilitary Roter Frontkämpferbund (Red Front Fighters' League). Thälmann was arrested by the Gestapo in 1933, shortly after Adolf Hitler came to power. He was held in solitary confinement for eleven years, during which he was tortured and interrogated. He was never brought to trial or given a chance to defend himself. He was transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944, where he was shot on Hitler's personal orders. His death was announced as a result of an Allied bombing raid. Thälmann was regarded as a martyr and a hero by the communist movement and especially by the East German regime, which named many streets, schools, and monuments after him. He also had a youth organization, the Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation, dedicated to his memory. His life and death were depicted in several films and books, often with a propaganda purpose. He remains a controversial figure in German history, admired by some for his resistance to Nazism and criticized by others for his sectarianism and dogmatism.