Albert North

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Albert Norden, September 1963

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

North (left, next to Hermann Axen ) on the VI. SED party congress in 1963

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

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

Web links

Commons : Albert Norden  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ↑ Albert Norden in the Munzinger Archive , accessed on April 2, 2012 ( beginning of the article freely accessible)
  3. ^ 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