Ernst Thälmann went down in history as the leader of the German communists, a member of the Reichstag in 1925-1933. His dream was to create a socialist Germany, so after the Nazis came to power, Thälmann led the opposition and became Hitler's main opponent.
early years
Ernst was born in Hamburg in 1886. The family in which he was born was a worker. The boy was eager to receive an education, studied well at school and enjoyed universal love. He willingly studied mathematics and natural sciences, took part in all sports competitions. The only subject that was not given to him was "The Law of God", the father instilled in the child an atheistic view of the world.
Ernst was distinguished by courage and justice. At fourteen, he was captured by socialist ideas. Having started his independent career at an early age, with the first money he earned, he purchased the brochure How I Became a Fighter for Socialism. He worked as a packer, carter, port worker, cabin boy and fully experienced all the hardships of capitalist labor.
At twenty he was drafted into the army, but a year later he returned home for health reasons. The young man was hired on the steamer America and spent three ocean voyages as a fireman. In the United States, Thälmann tried to hire a farmer, but soon returned to his homeland.
Political career
In 1903, Thälmann joined the ranks of the Social Democrats. For several months he sought permission to hold a meeting of the port's working youth. Without waiting for an answer, he collected two hundred marks and rented a room in which about seven hundred people had gathered. The young man was so convincing that most of those present immediately signed up for the union. In 1912 he became the head of the Hamburg transport workers' union.
Ernst spent the First World War on the Western Front. The gunner was wounded twice and received several military awards. He fought in Champagne, under the Somme, got into the Verdun meat grinder. After returning home, he joined the Independent Social Democratic Party and soon headed its city branch. After news of revolutionary events in Russia, a wave of mass strikes and anti-war protests swept across the country.
In one of the political uprisings, the leaders of the German working class Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were killed. A new leader, Ernst Thälmann, has appeared on the political arena. In 1920, the Hamburg party organization, which numbered about fourteen thousand people, merged with the communist movement in Germany. In 1923, Telman, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, organized an armed uprising in his hometown with the aim of seizing power. The rebels seized seventeen police stations and lined the streets with barricades. Hamburg was in the hands of the proletariat for three days. However, the government managed to resist the actions of the rebels.
The German Communists became part of the Communist International. In 1925, Thälmann became the head of the German Communist Party and was elected to the Reichstag. In the highest legislative body in Germany, Ernst represented the militant wing of the Communist Party Rot Front - the Union of Red Frontline soldiers. The whole world knows their greeting with a raised fist: "One finger is easy to break, but five fingers is a fist!" Over the years, this symbol has become the greeting of all anti-fascists in the world.
The organization was formed against the background of the global economic crisis, which led to public discontent. Life was getting worse, inflation was eating up the last pennies of the people, and famine began. In those years, Telman repeatedly visited the USSR, traveled a lot around the country and communicated with people. He received a warm welcome everywhere.
In February 1933, a fire broke out in the Reichstag building. The event became the reason for the restriction of the freedoms of citizens throughout the country and the deployment of repressions against the Social Democrats. All this played a big role in strengthening the power of the Nazis. On the eve of the arson, the country's president appointed Hitler as head of government. The new Reich Chancellor proposed holding elections in early March in the hope that his supporters would take the majority of the seats.
Arrests of communists began throughout Germany. Among them was Thalmann, whom Hitler ordered to be kept in solitary confinement. Only a lone communist from the Netherlands confirmed his participation in the arson, for which he was sentenced to death. All subsequent court hearings failed, none of those arrested confirmed their guilt. In August 1944, Ernst was transferred to the infamous Buchenwald camp. The name of the largest concentration camp in Germany is translated as "beech forest", it was located on the lands of Thuringia. The extermination of people in the “death camp” began long before the start of World War II, in 1937. In total, a quarter of a million lives were ruined in this terrible place. The main German communist spent only a few days in Buchenwald, on August 11, 1944, he was shot.
Personal life
The hero met his future wife Rosa in 1915. The girl grew up in a large family of a shoemaker. She started earning her bread early and ended up in Hamburg in search of work. Laundry ironer Koch met the coachman Thälmann. Their romance was fleeting and culminated in a wedding. Four years later, the couple had a daughter, Irma.
Rosa shared his political views with her husband and, at his insistence, joined the union. When the head of the communists was arrested, his wife visited him in Berlin and was the leader's liaison with party members. She got permission to spend Christmas in 1937 together, albeit in a prison cell. At the end of the war, Rosa and Irma were arrested and sent to prison; they met the news of the end of the war in different camps.
Since 1950, Rosa Thälmann has become a member of the People's Chamber of the GDR and the Democratic Women's Union of Germany. She did not play a significant role in the country's political life, but willingly attended anti-fascist events and shared the pages of the life of her famous husband. He was a whole, strong-willed person, distinguished by directness and appreciated true friendship. Ernst Thälmann has repeatedly said that he sees "the meaning of life in the struggle for the cause of the working class." He remained faithful to his ideals to the end.
