People of the Revolution and the USSR
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Franz Erdmann Mehring Franz Mehring
The elder theoretician of German Marxism: historian, literary critic, and Spartacus League co-founder
Scholarship and theory · Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
1846–1919
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Clara Zetkin Clara Zetkin
Creator of International Women's Day, she set women's liberation at the heart of class struggle
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
1857–1933
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Karl Liebknecht Karl Liebknecht
The lone vote against the war; the revolution's first martyr
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
1871–1919
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Wilhelm Pieck Wilhelm Pieck
From the Spartacus League to GDR head of state, the sole founding member who lived the full arc of German communism
Political and party leadership · East Germany state institutions
1876–1960
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Heinrich Brandler Heinrich Brandler
KPD chairman who called off a revolution; co-founder of the International Right Opposition
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
1881–1967
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Paul Levi Paul Levi
From Rosa Luxemburg's lawyer to KPD leader, his 'anti-putschism' took on Comintern adventurism
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
1883–1930
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August Thalheimer August Thalheimer
Main theorist of the KPD and Bonapartist analyst of fascism
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Germany Opposition (KPO)
1884–1948
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Ernst Thälmann Ernst Thälmann
Hitler's personal prisoner, unbroken by eleven years in solitary
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
1886–1944
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Hugo Eberlein Hugo Eberlein
German Communist who abstained on the Comintern’s founding at its first congress and was later shot in the Great Purge
Social movements and organizing · Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
1887–1941
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Max Fechner Max Fechner
First East German justice minister, dismissed and imprisoned in 1953 after opposing the prosecution of striking workers
Law and justice · East Germany state institutions
1892–1973
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Hermann Matern Hermann Matern
SED Politburo member and chairman of the Central Party Control Commission who stood by Ulbricht in 1953
Political and party leadership · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1893–1971
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Walter Ulbricht Walter Ulbricht
German communist leader who built the GDR and erected the Berlin Wall
Political and party leadership · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1893–1973
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Otto Grotewohl Otto Grotewohl
The Social Democrat who led a divided state into being
Government and administration · East Germany state institutions
1894–1964
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Friedrich Ebert Jr. Friedrich Ebert junior
A social democrat who moved from municipal politics into state power amid Germany's division
Political and party leadership · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1894–1979