Emil Otto

The title of this article is ambiguous. On the German Protestant theologian, author and lecturer, see Emil Otto (lecturer) .

Emil Otto (born November 24, 1903 in Kolberg , † September 1, 1974 in Berlin ) was a German politician ( KPD / SED ) and trade unionist . He was chairman of the central board of the metal industry union in the Free German Trade Union Federation (FDGB).

Life

Otto came from a working class family. After attending elementary school , he worked as a farm and construction worker. In 1923 he joined the Communist Youth Association of Germany and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). From 1929 he was an employee of the KPD district leadership in Pomerania . In 1929 he attended the Reich Party School of the KPD in Fichtenau , and in 1931/32 he was a student at the International Lenin School in Moscow . From 1932 he was head of the KPD sub-district Stettin and member of the secretariat of the Pomeranian district management .

After 1933 Otto was head of the illegal KPD district secretariat in Mecklenburg. Arrested in the same year and to three years in prison convicted, he 1934-1936 in prison Bützow-Dreibergen spent. He was then transferred to Sachsenhausen concentration camp . In 1941 he was released and placed under police supervision. In 1943 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht . On the Eastern Front , Otto joined the Red Army and committed himself to the goals of the National Committee “Free Germany” . From 1944 to 1946 he was a teacher at the Antifa school for German prisoners of war in the village of Talizy.

In 1946 he returned to Germany and became a member of the FDGB and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). From 1946 to 1949 he was a member of the SED state board of Mecklenburg and from April 1947 to July 1950 chairman of the FDGB state board of Mecklenburg. From 1948 to 1950 he was a member of the People's Council and the People's Chamber . From 1950 to 1952 he was chairman of the central board of IG Metall, from 1952 to 1953 he represented the FDGB at the World Trade Union Confederation in Vienna . From 1955 to 1961 he was chairman of the FDGB district committee in Gera , where he was also a member of the SED district leadership.

Emil Otto received various state awards, including the Order of the Banner of Labor and the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver.

tomb

His urn was in the grave conditioning Pergolenweg the memorial of the socialists at the Berlin Central Cemetery Friedrichsfelde buried.

literature

• Andreas Herbst (eds.), Winfried Ranke, Jürgen Winkler: This is how the GDR worked. Volume 3: Lexicon of functionaries (= rororo manual. Vol. 6350). Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-499-16350-0 , p. 251.
• Gottfried Hamacher et al. (Ed.): Against Hitler. Germans in the Resistance, in the armed forces of the anti-Hitler coalition and the "Free Germany" movement. Short biographies (series: Manuscripts / Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung; Vol. 53) (PDF; 894 kB). 2., corr. Edition. Dietz, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-320-02941-X , p. 159.
• Otto, Emil . In: Hermann Weber , Andreas Herbst: German Communists. Biographical Handbook 1918 to 1945 . 2., revised. and strong exp. Ed., Dietz, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-320-02130-6 , p. 658.
• Andreas Herbst: Otto, Emil. In: Dieter Dowe , Karlheinz Kuba, Manfred Wilke (Hrsg.): FDGB-Lexikon. Function, structure, cadre and development of a mass organization of the SED (1945–1990). Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86872-240-6 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Obituary in Neues Deutschland from September 10, 1974, p. 5.
2. ^ New Germany , December 10, 1968, p. 2.
3. ↑ Honor her memory! In: Neues Deutschland , September 11, 1974, p. 8.