Ernst Thälmann16 April 1886 -18 August 1944 Standing at the first line of the KPD (Communist Party of Germany), Ernst Thaelmann became a shining example of communist resistance against fascism through its firm struggle. During the 11 years he was kept in the fascist dungeons, he always remained faithful to the cause of the working class and became a symbol of the antifascist struggle of millions of people all over the world. Ernst Thaelmann was a great mass agitator, a theoretician, a commander in the uprising and a communist worker, a son of its class. He was born on April 16, 1886 in Hamburg/Germany. After school he worked as transport, harbor and dock worker. Already in its youth, he became a party member and joined the trade union of the transport workers. In the World War I, he was conscripted into the army and developed a information activity among the soldiers in the front-lines until he deserted finally in 1918. After the November revolution he joined the USPD (Independent Social Democrat Party) and in 1919 he was elected town councilor in Hamburg which he continued to be until 1933. In 1920, the majority of the USPD united with the KPD, a unification which Thaelmann had worked firmly for. In 1923, Thaelmann became a member of the Central Committee of the KPD. Furthermore, he was a member of parliament from May 1924 to the end of the Weimarer Republic and candidate for the presidency. Thaelmann was not only a man of words; he also was a leading person in the uprising of Hamburg in October 1923. In September 1925, he became the chairman of the KPD. A few months before, he had assumed the direction of the Roter Frontkaempferbundes (Union of Red front Fighters). But Thaelmann was not only a leader of the German proletariat, but made his contribution in the struggle for socialism also at the international level. The delegates of the V. World Congress of the Communist Internationale in Juliy 1924 in Moscow elected Thaelmann to the committee of the Executive committee. Ernst Thaelmann was a defender of the United Front of all opponents of Hitler against fascism and until he was detained he worked in this sense. On March 3, 1933, he fell into the fascists hands, who carried out mass detentions after the burning of the Reichstag initiated by themselves on February 27, 1933. An international mass movement from the Soviet Union to Europe and the USA up to Japan emerged demanding the freedom of Thaelmann and all other imprisoned antifascists. Due to its unbroken resistance and the solidarity of millions, even being in prison he was still a dangerous opponent of the fascists. Hitler and Himmler decided personally to murder him. On August 18, Ernst Thaelmann was shot from behind at night in the concentration camp Buchenwald. Even after his death he still frightened the fascists. They immediately burnt his dead body and a few days later, it has been announced, that he died during a bomb attack on August 24.
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