Wittorf affair

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The Wittorf affair was an embezzlement affair triggered by the fact that the KPD functionary John Wittorf (1894–1981) appropriated 1,500 to 3,000 Reichsmarks from the campaign fund during the election campaign for the 1928 Reichstag election. The KPD chairman as well as Wittorf's friend and supporter, Ernst Thälmann , knew about the embezzlement, but kept it quiet for reasons of election campaigning. After rumors of the embezzlement leaked into the press, the KPD Central Committee excluded Wittorf and three other Hamburg functionaries from the party on September 26, 1928. Thälmann was forced to resign his party offices for the time being.

However, the removal of Thälmann did not fit into the plans of Stalin , who in 1925 ensured that Thälmann's positions were strengthened in order to use his help to combat the "ultra-left" KPD course of Ruth Fischer and Arkadi Maslow . Stalin wanted to keep Thälmann as a proven ally in order to purge the KPD of right and left tendencies. In a telegram to Molotov dated October 1, 1928, Stalin spoke out in favor of Thalmann: his motives were "unselfish". On the other hand, Stalin saw “no mitigating circumstances” in relation to the Central Committee members and “ conciliators ” Arthur Ewert and Gerhart Eisler , who in his opinion had put their factional interests above those of the party and the Comintern .

Stalin's stance became a maxim for action: on October 6, 1928, the Executive Committee of the Communist International passed a resolution in which it expressed Thälmann “full political confidence”. Finally, on October 20, 1928, under pressure from Moscow and after stubborn resistance from some well-known functionaries, the Central Committee of the KPD decided to reinstall Thälmann as party leader.

In terms of scope, the Wittorf affair, according to the editors of the document edition "Der Thälmann-Scandal", meant a final step towards the Stalinization of the KPD and a final manifestation of the extension of Stalin's cadre policy to foreign communist parties . The Soviet leader relied on loyal “climbers” in order to eliminate actual and supposed political opponents. The discussion in the Comintern about the removal and reinstallation of Thälmann had far-reaching consequences for other communist parties, including the Communist Party of Italy .

literature

  • Friedrich Firsow: Stalin's intervention in the politics of the Communist Party of Germany. In: Klaus Schönhoven, Dietrich Staritz (ed.): Socialism and communism in change. Hermann Weber on his 65th birthday. Bund, Cologne 1993, pp. 174-187.
  • Michael Krejsa: Where's John Heartfield? In: Günter Feist, Eckhart Gillen , Beatrice Vierneisel (eds.): Art Documentation SBZ / GDR 1945–1990. DuMont, Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-7701-3846-5 .
  • Hermann Weber, Bernhard H. Bayerlein (ed.): The Thälmann scandal. Secret correspondence with Stalin. Structure, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-351-02549-1 .
  • Hermann Weber : The change in German communism. The Stalinization of the KPD in the Weimar Republic , 2 volumes. European Publishing House, Frankfurt am Main 1971, ISBN 3-434-45008-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Krejsa: Where's John Heartfield? In: Günter Feist, Eckhart Gillen , Beatrice Vierneisel (eds.): Art Documentation SBZ / GDR 1945–1990. DuMont, Cologne 1996, p. 112.