Albert North
Albert Norden (born December 4, 1904 in Myslowitz , Kattowitz district , Upper Silesia, German Reich; † May 30, 1982 in East Berlin , German Democratic Republic ) was a German journalist and politician of the KPD and SED .
Life
Norden was the son of Rabbi Joseph Norden . After leaving grammar school in 1920, he completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter. Afterwards, Norden worked for various socialist and communist newspapers such as the Rote Fahne and at times published the newsletter for radical socialist Jewish youth . In 1919, Norden became a member of the Free Socialist Youth and in 1921 of the KPD . He was arrested several times for political reasons during the Weimar Republic . After the Nazi takeover of power , Norden emigrated to Czechoslovakia in 1933 , then to France and in 1941 to the USA . In Paris in 1933 he worked on the " Brown Book 1933 on Reichstag Fire and Hitler Terror". In New York he made a living as a factory worker. He was a functionary of the German-American Cultural Association and worked for the exile magazines German American and Free Germany (Mexico). In 1944 he was a founding member of the Council for a Democratic Germany . Only after his return from emigration did he find out about his father's death in 1943 in the Theresienstadt concentration camp .
From 1949 on, Norden was head of the press department in the GDR's information office for three years , and from 1953 to 1955 professor of modern history at East Berlin's Humboldt University . From 1954 on, Norden was the first secretary of the newly established " Committee for German Unity " in the GDR. This committee was subordinate to the Council of Ministers of the GDR with the rank of State Secretariat . From 1958 to 1981 he was a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED and a member of the People's Chamber . From 1960 to 1979 he was a member of the National Defense Council of the GDR .
As secretary of the Central Committee of the SED, he was responsible for the agitation from 1955 . He headed a commission that coordinated all measures and processes in the GDR to come to terms with war and Nazi crimes .
In 1965, Norden published the Brown Book on war and Nazi criminals in high positions in the Federal Republic and West Berlin . It contained the names of over 1,800 Nazis and war criminals in leadership positions in West Germany (over 2,300 names in the 3rd edition).
From 1976, Norden was a member of the State Council of the GDR . He resigned from all these functions in 1981 due to a serious illness. His urn was buried in the memorial of the socialists in the central cemetery Friedrichsfelde in the Berlin district of Lichtenberg .
Albert Norden was married. His son John Konrad "Johnny" Norden (* 1942) worked in the GDR in the diplomatic service for a long time.
Honors
- 1951 National Prize of the GDR
- 1958 Patriotic Order of Merit in silver
- 1964 Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold
- 1964 hero of work
- 1969 and 1981 Karl Marx Order
- 1974 Star of Friendship of Nations
- 1974 Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples
- 1979 Big Star of Friendship between Nations
From 1984 to 1992 the current Cecilienstraße in Berlin was named after him. The neighboring underground station, named to the north in 1989, has been called Kaulsdorf-Nord since 1991 .
In 1987 VEB RFT Nachrichtenelektronik Leipzig was given the nickname "Albert Norden". The GDR German Post issued a special postage stamp in his honor in 1984 .
Fonts (selection)
- War in the Dark: Orlov's conspiracy against the Soviets on behalf of the SPD. Berlin 1929
- Hans Behrend [pseudonym], The true masters of Germany. Prométhée, Paris 1939
- Lessons of German History: On the Political Role of Finance Capital and the Junkers. Berlin 1947
- The German journalist fighting for peace and Germany's unity. Berlin 1950
- The banner from 1813. Berlin 1952
- Around the nation: Contributions to Germany's vital question. Berlin 1952
- This is how wars are made! About the background and technique of aggression. Berlin 1950
- Between Berlin and Moscow: On the History of German-Soviet Relations. Berlin 1954
- The Spanish tragedy. Berlin 1956
- Knights of the Acropolis: In Defense of Manolis Glezos . with E. Rigas, Berlin 1959
- German politics 1945 in the year of liberation and decision. Berlin 1960
- To the conscience of the world. Berlin 1960
- The Spanish drama. Berlin 1961
- Forger: On the history of German-Soviet relations. Berlin 1963
- The Nation and Us: Selected Essays and Speeches, 1933–1964. Berlin 1964
- Multilateral nuclear power: torpedo against Germany's reunification. Berlin 1964
- Do you need politics to live? Berlin 1966
- Where is the Federal Republic headed? Berlin 1966
- From Hitler's chief agitator to candidate for Chancellor in Bonn: Speech by Professor Albert Norden at the international press conference on November 22, 1966 in Berlin. Dresden 1966
- Two German states. The national politics of the GDR. with Friedrich Ebert and Hermann Matern, Vienna 1967
- Gray book. Berlin 1967
- For a new policy in West Germany. Dresden 1970
- Around the nation: Contributions to Germany's vital question. Regensburg 1971
- What the National Front is and should do. Berlin 1971
- With and for one another. Berlin 1972
- Cooperation with socialist citizens of the Christian faith. with Gerald Götting, Berlin 1973
- Five decades in the service of its class: Selected essays and speeches, 1922–1974. Berlin 1974
- Ruler without a crown. Frankfurt / Main 1974
- How Maoism is fighting against peace in Europe. Berlin 1975
- The focus is on people: selected essays and speeches 1971–1979. Berlin 1979
- Events and experiences. Berlin 1981
literature
- Michael Lemke: Campaigns against Bonn. The systemic crisis of the GDR and the Western propaganda of the SED 1960–1963. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte . Stuttgart 41.1993, ISSN 0042-5702 , pp. 151-174 ( PDF ).
- Heike Amos: North, Albert. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , p. 340 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Norbert Podewin : Albert North. The rabbi's son in the Politburo . Edition Ost , Berlin 2003 (2nd edition).
- Bernd-Rainer Barth , Helmut Müller-Enbergs : North, Albert . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
- Conny Norden, Johnny Norden (ed.): Peace without socialism? Albert Norden on the causes of wars and the possibility of preventing them. Verlag am Park, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3945187609 .
- Mario Keßler : Western emigrants. German communists between USA exile and GDR. Böhlau Verlag Cologne, Göttingen 2019, ISBN 978-3-412-50044-3 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Albert Norden in the catalog of the German National Library
- Ina Wudtke: Who was Albert Norden? Art in the Underground, 2015
- Norbert Podewin: Relentless accuser “Without Globke, no Eichmann”. Show trials against desk criminals and “brown book” against war and Nazi criminals: on the hundredth birthday of Albert Norden . ( Memento of December 16, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Marxist sheets , as of December 16, 2004. From: Junge Welt , accessed on November 23, 2015.
- Thomas Klug: The brown book Albert Norden and the campaign to expose war criminals in West Germany . Deutschlandradio Kultur , broadcast “Zeitfragen”, August 19, 2015 (pdf; 283 kB).
Individual evidence
- ↑ HD Heilmann: From the war diary of the diplomat Otto Bräutigam. In: Götz Aly u. a. (Ed.): Biedermann and desk clerk. Materials on the German perpetrator biography, Institute for Social Research in Hamburg: Contributions to National Socialist Health and Social Policy 4, Berlin 1987, p. 165.
- ↑ Albert Norden in the Munzinger Archive , accessed on April 2, 2012 ( beginning of the article freely accessible)
- ^ Johnny Norden portrait of the author published by Eulenspiegel-Verlag
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | North, albert |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Behrend, Hans |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German politician (KPD, SED), MdV |
DATE OF BIRTH | 4th December 1904 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Myslowitz , Katowice district |
DATE OF DEATH | May 30, 1982 |
Place of death | East Berlin |