Hermann Schwarzbold

Hermann Schwarzbold (born April 19, 1886 in Arnstadt ; † August 1956 ) was a German trade unionist , participant in the Ruhrkampf 1920, party functionary ( USPD / KPD / KPO ), resistance fighter against National Socialism and local politician ( SED ).

Life

Schwarzbold learned the trade of machine fitter after attending primary school . In 1906 he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and became chairman of the local metalworkers' union . From 1917 to 1918 he was an army soldier in the First World War , then a worker again. In 1918 he joined the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD). In 1920/21 he took part in the Ruhr fight against the Kapp Putsch , which is why he was sentenced to two years in prison . After the dissolution of the USPD, he joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), returned to Thuringia in 1924 and was political director of the KPD sub-district in Arnstadt and a member of the KPD district leadership from 1925 to 1929. In 1928 he protested against the ultra-left strategy in the KPD leadership, so that he was expelled from the party and now belonged to the Communist Party (opposition) .

After the transfer of power to the NSDAP , he continued to work illegally against the Nazi system. In January 1935 he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for this. In August 1944, he was arrested again during the " Operation Grid ".

After liberation from National Socialism , he joined the re-established SPD in May 1945 and, with her mandate, became mayor of Arnstadt until 1946 . After that he worked after the forced unification of the SPD and KPD with the mandate of the SED as city ​​councilor and head of municipal services . Until 1948 he was a member of the SED district executive, but was expelled from the party in 1950 because he did not want to distance himself from the KPO policy, which he had advocated out of conviction.

literature

• Steffen Kachel : A red-red special path? Social Democrats and Communists in Thuringia 1919 to 1949 , = publications of the Historical Commission for Thuringia, Small Series Volume 29, p. 566, ISBN 978-3-412-20544-7
• Theodor Bergmann : "Against the current": the history of the KPD (opposition). Page 534, Issue 2, VSA-Verlag, 2001 ISBN 3879758360