Hans Kippenberger
| Hans Kippenberger | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 January 1898 Leipzig, Saxony, Germany |
| Died | 3 October 1937 Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Occupation | Political militant and politician |
| Political party |
USPD KPD |
| Spouse(s) | Thea Niemand (1901-1939) |
| Children | Margot (1924-2005) Jeanette (1928-) |
| Parent(s) | Friedrich Wilhelm Johann Kippenberger (1871-1941) Katharina Leicht (1869-1942) |
Hans Kippenberger (15 January 1898 - 3 October 1937) was a German politician (KPD). Between 1928 and 1933 he sat as a member of the National Parliament (Reichstag).
Like many Communist Party members at the time, he also operated under "party names", by which he may be identified in sources. These included "A. Neuberg", "Leo Wolf" and "Ernst Wolf".
Kippenberger was born in Leipzig. His father was a preacher. He attended school up to the middle level, and then became an intern at a printing machine factory, still in Leipzig, shortly afterwards embarking on a traineeship for bank work. However, in 1915 he volunteered for military service, and spent the rest of the First World War in the army. He served on the western front and was wounded several times, and when discharged in January 1919 had reached the rank of Oberleutnant. Early in 1919 he embarked on a commercial traineeship which led to a clerical job in Leipzig. From June 1921 he was based in Hamburg, employed as a foreign languages correspondent for various firms, and working with the English, French, Italian and Spanish languages.
He had already, in Leipzig, joined the anti-war Independent Social Democratic Party ("Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands" / USPD), and when this broke apart he was part of the left-wing majority that joined with the newly formed Communist Party. By 1922 he was employed full-time by the party and part of what one source identifies as the party's "secret apparatus". Meanwhile he attended lectures at the University of Hamburg on socioeconomics ("Volkswirtschaft") although it is not clear that he was formally enrolled as a student at the university.
He became a leader in the Communist Party student group and played a leading role in the Hamburg Uprising which erupted in October 1923. In the city's politically left-wing Barmbek quarter Kippenberger led a fighting group of workers, also managing to infiltrate Communist Party members into local police and army units. It was thanks to his careful oversight and military training that the communist fighter groups were able to retreat in good order. Despite being elected to the regional Hamburg Parliament in 1924, after the Hamburg uprising the local prosecutor issued a warrant for his arrest. Badly wounded, for several months he lived illegally (unregistered with the local city hall) in Leipzig till March 1924 when Kippenberger fled to the Soviet Union where he attended a military academy. Sources differ over whether he returned from the Soviet Union at the end of 1924 and then lived illegally (unregistered) in Germany or stayed in the Soviet Union till 1926 (or beyond). There is also a suggestion that in Moscow, as well attending a military academy, he studied at the "Communist University of National Minorities in the West". During 1924/25 he was still being sought - apparently without success - by the Hamburg police in connection with the part he had played in the Hamburg uprising.
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