Hugo Gräf: Difference between revisions
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After taking power in January 1933 the [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] government lost little time in [[Gleichschaltung| establishing]] [[single-party state|one-]][[Nazi Party|party]] government. Parties other than the Nazi party were banned and Communist Party politicians from the [[Weimar Germany|Weimar period]] were at the top of the new government's hit list. On 13 March 1933 Gräf was arrested in [[Dresden]].<ref name=BiographischeDatenbankenHG/> He was held till 24 June 1935 in "protective custody" in [[concentration camp]]s at [[Sachsenburg concentration camp|Sachsenburg]] and [[Colditz Castle|Colditz]].<ref name=ThueAllgHG/> In the camp he headed up the book-binding workshop<ref name =BiographischeDatenbankenHG/> where in February 1935 he had a frosty exchange with a government visitor called [[Heinrich Himmler]], who had recently taken on responsibility within government for the concentration camps.<ref name=JankaHG>{{cite book | title=Spuren eines Lebens | author=[[Walter Janka]] |publisher= [[Rowohlt Verlag]] |date= 1991 |isbn= 978-3871340062}}</ref> |
After taking power in January 1933 the [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] government lost little time in [[Gleichschaltung| establishing]] [[single-party state|one-]][[Nazi Party|party]] government. Parties other than the Nazi party were banned and Communist Party politicians from the [[Weimar Germany|Weimar period]] were at the top of the new government's hit list. On 13 March 1933 Gräf was arrested in [[Dresden]].<ref name=BiographischeDatenbankenHG/> He was held till 24 June 1935 in "protective custody" in [[concentration camp]]s at [[Sachsenburg concentration camp|Sachsenburg]] and [[Colditz Castle|Colditz]].<ref name=ThueAllgHG/> In the camp he headed up the book-binding workshop<ref name =BiographischeDatenbankenHG/> where in February 1935 he had a frosty exchange with a government visitor called [[Heinrich Himmler]], who had recently taken on responsibility within government for the concentration camps.<ref name=JankaHG>{{cite book | title=Spuren eines Lebens | author=[[Walter Janka]] |publisher= [[Rowohlt Verlag]] |date= 1991 |isbn= 978-3871340062}}</ref> |
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On his release Hugo Gräf managed to escape to [[Czechoslovakia]] in 1935<ref name=BundArcHG/> or 1936.<ref name =BiographischeDatenbankenHG/> During 1935 he also spent time studying in Moscow.<ref name =BiographischeDatenbankenHG/> Otherwise he remained in Czechoslovakia till the [[German occupation of Czechoslovakia|annexation of the Sudetenland]] in 1938, when he moved on the [[United Kingdom|Great Britain]], joining up with other exiled members of the [[Communist Party of Germany|German Communist Party]].<ref name=ThueAllgHG/> He continued with his political activities, and also headed up locally the [[Rote Hilfe]] humanitarian organisation which had been banned back in Germany in 1933. From the British perspective the [[Second World War]] broke out in September 1939: one government response involved identifying large numbers of German political exiles as [[Enemy alien|enemy aliens]] and arresting them. Between July 1940 and October 1941 Gräf was exiled to the [[Isle of Man]] where he was detained until the government had been able to reassess their priorities.<ref name=BundArcHG/> He later organised an "Emigrants' Club" in [[Glasgow]] where he took a job as a toolmaker.<ref name =BiographischeDatenbankenHG/> |
On his release Hugo Gräf managed to escape to [[Czechoslovakia]] in 1935<ref name=BundArcHG/> or 1936.<ref name =BiographischeDatenbankenHG/> During 1935 he also spent time studying in Moscow.<ref name =BiographischeDatenbankenHG/> Otherwise he remained in Czechoslovakia till the [[German occupation of Czechoslovakia|annexation of the Sudetenland]] in 1938, when he moved on the [[United Kingdom|Great Britain]], joining up with other exiled members of the [[Communist Party of Germany|German Communist Party]].<ref name=ThueAllgHG/> He continued with his political activities, and also headed up locally the [[Rote Hilfe]] humanitarian organisation which had been banned back in Germany in 1933. From the British perspective the [[Second World War]] broke out in September 1939: one government response involved identifying large numbers of German political exiles as [[Enemy alien|enemy aliens]] and arresting them. Between July 1940 and October 1941 Gräf was exiled to the [[Isle of Man]] where he was detained until the government had been able to reassess their priorities.<ref name=BundArcHG/> He later organised an "Emigrants' Club" in [[Glasgow]] where he took a job as a toolmaker.<ref name =BiographischeDatenbankenHG/> In Britain he joined a exiles' organisation called the "Free German Cultural Association (''Freier Deutscher Kulturbund''), and later, on 25 September 1943, became a founding member of the (increasingly [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] sponsored) [[National Committee for a Free Germany|Free Germany movement]].<ref name=BundArcHG/> |
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Anschließend trat er in Großbritannien dem Freien Deutschen Kulturbund bei und war 1943 Gründungsmitglied der Freien Deutschen Bewegung. |
Anschließend trat er in Großbritannien dem Freien Deutschen Kulturbund bei und war 1943 Gründungsmitglied der Freien Deutschen Bewegung. |
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Revision as of 19:29, 25 January 2015
Hugo Gräf | |
|---|---|
| Born | 10 October 1892 |
| Died | 23 October 1958 |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Political party | SPD (1910) USDP (1917) KPD (1918) SED (1946) |
| Children | Arno Gräf (1932) |
Hugo Gräf (born Rehestädt 10 October 1892: died Gotha 23 October 1958) was a German Communist politician.[1]
Life
Early years
Hugo Gräf was born in a small village some 20 km (12 miles) south of Erfurt in the southern part of what was then central Germany. His father was employed in the building trade: his mother worked in domestic service and agriculture. Gräf worked as a farm labourer from 1902, later undertaking a training as a pipefitter which enabled him to become an itinerant labourer. He became a member of the German Metal Workers' Union in 1907 and joined the Social Democratic Party on 1 May 1910.[1][2]
Military life and politics
He was called up for military service in 1912 which would normally have lasted for two years, but the outbreak of war in August 1914 saw him conscripted into the war-time army. In 1916 he was badly wounded and sent home without his left leg.[3] In 1916/17 he was conscripted to work in a gun factory in Erfurt.[3] Here, in 1917, he joined the newly formed Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD / Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands) which had broken away from the mainstream SPD primarily over the existing party's continued support for the war. He also joined the Spartacus league in 1917 or 1918. In January 1918 he played a leading role in the organisation in Erfurt of the the mass strikes which took place in much of Germany that month. Membership of the USPD and the closely associated Spartacus League led naturally to the newly emerging Communist Party (KPD), and on 26 December 1918 Gräf was a co-founder of the Erfurt branch.[2]
In June 1920 Gräf was thrown out of the Communist Party for "anti-parliamentarianism" because he had refused to put his name forward as a candidate for membership of the Reichstag (national legislature) in that year's General Election.[1] It was not the last time he would become embroiled in dispute with his party.[3] He was "rehabilitated" and allowed back into the KPD in 1923.[1] One organisation that retained his services throughout this period was the International League of Victims for Victims of War and of Work (IB / Internationalen Bund der Opfer des Krieges und der Arbeit): he had helped to found the Erfurt branch at the start of 1919.[2] In April 1927 he took over from Karl Tiedt the national presidency of the IB, which he would continue to lead till it was banned by a new government early in 1933. In the 1928 Reichstag election Hugo Gräf stood as a Communist Party candidate and was elected to represent the Dresden-Bautzen electoral district. [4] He continued to sit in the Reichstag until the establishment in Germany of one-party government in March 1933.[2]
Arrest, imprisonment and exile
After taking power in January 1933 the Hitler government lost little time in establishing one-party government. Parties other than the Nazi party were banned and Communist Party politicians from the Weimar period were at the top of the new government's hit list. On 13 March 1933 Gräf was arrested in Dresden.[1] He was held till 24 June 1935 in "protective custody" in concentration camps at Sachsenburg and Colditz.[3] In the camp he headed up the book-binding workshop[1] where in February 1935 he had a frosty exchange with a government visitor called Heinrich Himmler, who had recently taken on responsibility within government for the concentration camps.[5]
On his release Hugo Gräf managed to escape to Czechoslovakia in 1935[2] or 1936.[1] During 1935 he also spent time studying in Moscow.[1] Otherwise he remained in Czechoslovakia till the annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938, when he moved on the Great Britain, joining up with other exiled members of the German Communist Party.[3] He continued with his political activities, and also headed up locally the Rote Hilfe humanitarian organisation which had been banned back in Germany in 1933. From the British perspective the Second World War broke out in September 1939: one government response involved identifying large numbers of German political exiles as enemy aliens and arresting them. Between July 1940 and October 1941 Gräf was exiled to the Isle of Man where he was detained until the government had been able to reassess their priorities.[2] He later organised an "Emigrants' Club" in Glasgow where he took a job as a toolmaker.[1] In Britain he joined a exiles' organisation called the "Free German Cultural Association (Freier Deutscher Kulturbund), and later, on 25 September 1943, became a founding member of the (increasingly Soviet sponsored) Free Germany movement.[2]
Anschließend trat er in Großbritannien dem Freien Deutschen Kulturbund bei und war 1943 Gründungsmitglied der Freien Deutschen Bewegung.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Helmut Müller-Enbergs; Bernd-Rainer Barth. "Gräf, Hugo * 10.10.1892, † 23.10.1958 Leiter der Abteilung Gesundheitswesen des Zentralsekretariats der SED". Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur: Biographische Datenbanken. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Nachlass Hugo Gräf Einleitung". Biographische Angaben. Bundesarchiv, Koblenz. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
- ^ a b c d e Klaus-Dieter Simmen (9 February 2013). "90 Jahre Landkreis Gotha: Argwohn für Landrat Hugo Gräf". Thüringer Allgemeine, Erfurt. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
- ^ "Kommunistische Partei". Reichstag Members' Portraits. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, München. 1930. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|authior=(help) - ^ Walter Janka (1991). Spuren eines Lebens. Rowohlt Verlag. ISBN 978-3871340062.
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