Georg Laursen

Georg Laursen alias Georg Franzewitsch Moltke , Russian Георг Францевич Мольтке , (born September 18, 1889 in Svendborg ; † May 2, 1977 in Moscow ) was a Danish - Soviet communist .

Life

origin

Laursen came from a Danish working class family. While he was still a child, the family moved to Aarhus , where he completed his training as a decorative painter in 1908 after leaving school. His father was Jørgen Laursen.

career

Immediately after his apprenticeship, Laursen joined the painters' union and the Social Democratic Party , where his father was already a member. In 1909 he went rolling . In Kiel he was arrested by the police for his political attitude . He was only released after five months and went to Stuttgart via other stations , from there to France , Switzerland and Algeria . Because of his continued revolutionary actions and agitation, he was a member of the left wing of the Danish Social Democrats, and the resulting police persecution could never stay in one place for long. In 1912 he arrived again in Zurich . He was one of the founders of the Zimmerwald Manifesto , and since he was able to move freely in Europe with his Danish passport even across the borders of warring parties, he served as a secret courier for Lenin and Zinoviev . According to his own admission, he should also have kept in contact with Luxemburg and Liebknecht during this time . Laursen stayed in Switzerland after Lenin's departure and was only arrested and deported because of his role in the general strike . After a short stay in Germany, he returned to Denmark.

In Denmark he immediately resumed his political activities, was arrested, retired and was a founding member of the Communist Party . He became chairman of the Aarhus region and the painters' union. In 1922 he joined the Blågårdsgade party and was appointed in 1923 by the Comintern as a special commissioner for the union of Danish communists. After doing his job, he served as Vice President of the United Communist Party from 1923 to 1925. In the summer of 1925 he emigrated to Moscow.

In Moscow, Laursen took over tasks for the Comintern outside the Soviet Union . He was arrested in Leipzig in February 1926, convicted, but exchanged towards the end of 1927. Back in Moscow, he was drafted into the Red Army and was given a new identity in March 1928 as Georg Franzewitsch Moltke ( Russian Георг Францевич Мольтке ) and was naturalized. His next major assignment took Laursen to Shanghai in January 1930 . During this time he worked closely with Richard Sorge . Officially, he was a German journalist specializing in the Chinese framework. He has received several awards for his work in China . In 1939 he returned to the Soviet Union.

During the war , Laursen was a Comintern employee responsible for Scandinavia at Radio Moscow and broadcast for Radio Moscow from Ufa during the Great Patriotic War . During this time Laursen operated under the name of Pieter Hansen . After the war he was arrested with other communists as part of a “purge” and was brought to the Gulag in Siberia . The exact reasons for his arrest are unknown. Among other things, after his friend and comrade Martin Andersen Nexø had stood up for him, he was rehabilitated in 1954, honored and received a state pension. He moved into a Moscow apartment with his family and resumed his work for Radio Moscow.

Laursen died in Moscow, but his ashes were transferred to Denmark, where he was buried.

family

Laursen met Elfriede Marczinski during his imprisonment in Germany, married her and had their daughter Solveig with her. Both died a year after him, in 1978 in Moscow.

Web links

• Laursen (Moltke), Georg auf Leksikon for det 21. århundrede ( Danish )