Adalbert stallion

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Adalbert Hengst (born December 18, 1905 in Essen , † August 17, 1989 in Berlin ) was a German communist and SED functionary. In his function as secretary of the Central Committee of the SED , he was one of the highest-ranking party members, which was expelled from the SED after the popular uprising of June 17, 1953 .

Life

Hengst was born shortly before Christmas 1905 as the son of a technician in the Ruhr metropolis of Essen. After attending primary school, he did an apprenticeship as a gardener and initially also worked in this profession. Work as a bricklayer or graphic artist was added later. In 1924 Hengst first joined the KJVD , in 1928 he became a member of the KPD . From 1930 he was employed by the KPD as an employee of the agitation department of the KPD district leadership in the Ruhr area. In the Reichstag elections in 1932 and in March 1933 he ran for the KPD in the Reichstag constituency of Düsseldorf-West.

After the National Socialists came to power and the KPD was banned, Hengst was arrested by the Gestapo in April 1933 and then again in September of the same year , and shortly afterwards he was sentenced by the Higher Regional Court of Hamm . The pronounced prison sentence he served first in Osnabrück , later until 1935 in the moor camp Emsland . After his release, Hengst worked as an advertising artist, but continued to do what is now illegal political work for the KPD. Shortly after the beginning of the war, he was arrested again on September 2, 1939 and imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp until 1940 . After his release, Hengst worked again as an advertising artist. In 1942 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht, where he served until the capitulation in May 1945. He was briefly captured by the Soviets, then after his release he worked as an instructor in Antifa camps in Poland for a few weeks.

In June 1945 it verschlug stallion into Vogtland to Plauen , where he initially headed the agitation at the KPD district executive Plauen, from 1946 now led the SED district board as first secretary to late summer 1948th In September 1948, Hengst moved to Dresden , where the SED entrusted him with the position of 1st secretary of the SED district leadership in Dresden. He stayed in this position until 1950, when he took part in a one-year course at the “Karl Marx” party college . After completing the course, the 45-year-old stallion was employed in the administrative apparatus of the Central Committee of the SED in Berlin from November 1, 1951. He initially acted as deputy, from April 1, 1952 as head of the planning and finance department of the Central Committee, succeeding Ernst Scholz . In this function, Hengst was also a personal assistant to Willi Stoph , who at the time was secretary for economic issues in the secretariat of the SED Central Committee. However, Stoph was appointed Interior Minister of the GDR in May 1952 , so that from that point on there was no secretary for economic issues in the Central Committee's secretariat. Stoph's role in the secretariat was initially taken over by Kurt Gregor in an advisory capacity . Since Gregor was appointed Minister for Foreign Trade and Internal German Trade in September 1952, the Politburo decided at its meeting on September 2, 1952 that Hengst should now take over Gregor's tasks in the Central Committee apparatus. This was unusual in that Hengst was not a member of the Central Committee, but was now co-opted into the Central Committee Secretariat and had the status of Central Committee Secretary.

During the events around June 17, 1953, Hengst and Minister Bernd Weinberger, who was just in Rostock, got involved in events at the Rostock Warnow shipyard . There, as official representatives of the SED, they started negotiations with the strike leaders and both took the view of making far-reaching concessions on the economic demands, which included, for example, withdrawing the norms or improving the food supply. The political demands, such as the removal of the government and free elections with the aim of the reunification of Germany, the immediate lifting of the state of emergency, a peace treaty with Germany and the withdrawal of the Soviet troops, both functionaries wanted to submit to the central party committees in Berlin, at least one more Prevent escalation of the disputes. The attitude in the interests of the strikers was not in the least supported by the SED leadership. By resolution of the Politburo on July 14, 1953, both functionaries were removed from all party functions and expelled from the SED because of "capitulation". Unlike in other socialist countries, where prison sentences or even death sentences were followed after such dismissals, Hengst was assigned a job at the Chamber of Foreign Trade , where he initially worked as a consultant and later as senior consultant in the advertising and trade fairs department until 1959 was. As early as February 22, 1955, at its meeting, the Politburo confirmed a decision by the ZPKK to restore Hengst's party membership, as he continued to behave like a party member. The fact that Hengst was one of the first to receive the newly established medal for fighters against fascism from 1933 to 1945 was an expression of further rehabilitation . However, the SED could not bring itself to be mentioned by name in the press. From 1959 to 1961, Hengst even headed the advertising department at the Chamber of Foreign Trade. Probably after the events surrounding the construction of the Berlin Wall on August 13, 1961 , Hengst was punished again, however, he had to switch to the FDGB newspaper Tribüne , where he then worked as a retoucher. After his retirement, Hengst was still involved in the management of the Sachsenhausen camp working group of the central management of the committee of anti-fascist resistance fighters . In later years, Hengst was again honored with high state awards.

Hengst died in August 1989 at the age of 83 shortly before the political change in the GDR .

Honors

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of October 4, 1978 p. 4
  2. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of October 4, 1986 p. 6

Web links

literature

  • Andreas Herbst, Gerd-Rüdiger Stephan, Jürgen Winkler: The SED History-Organization-Politics A manual 1st edition. dietz berlin 1997 ISBN 3-320-01951-1 p. 1035
personal data
SURNAME Stallion, Adalbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German communist, secretary of the Central Committee of the SED
DATE OF BIRTH December 18, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH eat
DATE OF DEATH 17th August 1989
Place of death Berlin