Activities and affiliations

What people did, and whom they served in that activity.

Activity

All 17 Political and party leadership 5 Government and administration 2 Legislature and state representation 2 Security, intelligence and policing 6 Diplomacy and international organization 1 Economy, finance and planning 1 Industry and production 1 Ideology and propaganda 1 Law and justice 1

State, movement or organization

All 54 Hungary 14 Soviet Union 14 Germany state institutions 5 Czechoslovakia 2 Estonia state institutions 2 Ukrainian People's Republic 2 Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) 2 East Germany 2
All 19 affiliations by country

Austria

Austria state institutions 1

Belarus

Belarus state institutions 1

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia 2

East Germany

East Germany 2

Estonia

Estonia state institutions 2

France

France state institutions 1 French monarchy 1

Germany

Germany state institutions 5 Communist Party of Germany (KPD) 1 Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) 2

Hungary

Hungary 14

Italy

Italy state institutions 1

Laos

Laos 1

Latvia

Latvia state institutions 1

Russia

Russian Federation state institutions 1

Soviet Union

Soviet Union 14

Ukraine

Ukrainian People's Republic 2

United Kingdom

United Kingdom state institutions 1

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia 1

Legislature and state representation · East Germany people 2

Clear all

Otto Nuschke

Otto Nuschke
East Germany Conservatism and Christian democracy East Germany Germany 1883–1957 ○ Natural death

Kaiser’s successor at the head of the East German CDU, who brought it into line with the SED as deputy prime minister

Born in Frohburg in Saxony, he worked as a journalist, moved through the left-liberal parties, helped found the German Democratic Party in 1918, and sat in the Weimar National Assembly and the Prussian Landtag. He joined the opposition after 1933 and went into hiding after the 1944 attempt on Hitler’s life. In 1945 he co-founded the CDU in the Soviet zone; when the Soviet authorities deposed Jakob Kaiser and Ernst Lemmer in 1947 he became acting chairman, and chairman in 1948. As a co-chairman of the German People’s Council he took part in drafting the GDR constitution, and in 1949 became deputy prime minister and head of the Church Office. A loyal supporter of the SED regime, he pushed out CDU members unwilling to follow the Communists. He died in 1957.

Career timeline
  • 1918Co-founder of the German Democratic Party
  • 1921–1933Member of the Prussian Landtag
  • 1945Co-founder of the CDU in the Soviet zone
  • 1948–1957Chairman of the East German CDU
  • 1949–1957GDR deputy prime minister and head of the Church Office

Hermann Matern

Hermann Matern
Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) Communism East Germany Germany 1893–1971 ○ Natural death

SED Politburo member and chairman of the Central Party Control Commission who stood by Ulbricht in 1953

Born in Burg, the son of a Social Democratic worker, he worked as a tanner and left the SPD when it voted for war loans. He went through the USPD into the KPD and led its Magdeburg and East Prussia districts. Arrested in 1933, he escaped and went into exile, joining the National Committee for a Free Germany in the Soviet Union. He returned in 1945 with Anton Ackermann’s group and until 1946 was first secretary of the KPD in Saxony. From 1948 until his death he chaired the SED’s Central Party Control Commission, responsible for party discipline, and was a Politburo member and vice-president of the People’s Chamber. After the 1953 uprising, when a Politburo majority wanted to remove Ulbricht, he and Honecker alone stayed loyal. He died in East Berlin in 1971.

Career timeline
  • 1918Joined the USPD; workers’ and soldiers’ council
  • 1931–1933KPD political leader in East Prussia
  • 1945–1946First secretary of the KPD in Saxony
  • 1948–1971Chairman of the SED Central Party Control Commission
  • 1950–1971Politburo member