Anton Ackermann

Anton Ackermann
Anton Ackermann in Berlin (1950)
Born	Eugen Hanisch 25 November 1905 Thalheim, Saxony, Germany
Died	4 May 1973 East Berlin, GDR (East Germany)
Occupation	Politician
Political party	KPD SED
Spouse(s)	(1908–1980) (married 1932–1949) Irmgard Kuske (married 1949–)
Children	2

Anton Ackermann (real name: Eugen Hanisch, 25 November 1905 Thalheim, Saxony – 4 May 1973 East Berlin) was an East German politician. In 1953, he briefly served as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

From 1920 to 1928, he worked as functionary of the Communist Youth Movement of Germany. In 1926 he joined the Communist Party of Germany. He studied at the Lenin School in Moscow. Back in Germany, the Communist Party was expelled after the Nazis gained power in 1933. Ackermann continued working for the illegal Communist Party.

From 1935 to 1937 he lived in Prague. During the Spanish Civil War, Ackermann was the leader of the Political School of the International Brigades. After staying a shortwhile, he went to Moscow and became editor of the German language newspaper "The Free Word".

In 1943 he became an active member of the Moscow-based National Committee for a Free Germany (NKFD).

After World War II, at the end of April 1945, he returned to Saxony as head of the Ackermann Group, one of the three teams, each of ten men, flown in by the Communist Party from Moscow to different parts of the Soviet occupation zone to lay the groundwork for the Soviet Military Administration in Germany. He joined the newly reformed East German Communist party, the Socialist Unity Party (SED) in 1946. He was elected into the Central Committee and became a candidate member of the Politburo in 1949. From 1950 to 1954, he was a member of the People's Chamber.