Gerhard Reinhardt (May 4, 1916 – August 22, 1989) was an

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

politician and

German Resistance German resistance can refer to: * Freikorps, German nationalist paramilitary groups resisting German communist uprisings and the Weimar Republic government * German resistance to Nazism * Landsturm, German resistance groups fighting against France d ...

fighter against

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

Life and work

Reinhardt was born in

Werdau Werdau () is a town in Germany, part of the Landkreis Zwickau in Saxony. It is situated on the river Pleiße, 8 km from Zwickau. The town was mentioned as early as 1304, and in 1398 it was purchased by Frederick, then margrave of Meissen, ...

, in the

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. The kingdom was formed from the Electorate of Saxon ...

, a state of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

. He was born into a family of textile workers and himself learned how to be a locksmith, finishing his training with

journeyman years In a certain tradition, the journeyman years () are a time of travel for several years after completing apprenticeship as a craftsman. The tradition dates back to medieval times and is still alive in France, Scandinavia and the German-speaking c ...

spent traveling through several countries in Europe, including France, Switzerland and Austria. In 1930, he joined the

Young Communist League of Germany The Young Communist League of Germany (, abbreviated KJVD) was a political youth organization in Germany. History The KJVD was formed in 1920 from the Free Socialist Youth () of the Communist Party of Germany, A prior youth wing had been forme ...

. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, Reinhardt became active in the German Resistance. He was arrested and in 1936, sentenced to a prison term in the

Zuchthaus The prisons in Germany are run solely by the federal states but governed by a federal law. The aim of prison confinement in Germany is twofold: emphasis is placed on enabling prisoners to lead a life of "social responsibility free of crime" upon rel ...

Waldheim, Saxony Waldheim is a town in Mittelsachsen district, in Saxony, Germany. Geography It is situated in the valley of the river Zschopau, southwest of Döbeln, and north of Chemnitz. The municipal area comprises Waldheim proper, the localities of Reins ...

.Gottfried Hamacher et al. (Ed.)
''Gegen Hitler. Deutsche in der Résistance, in den Streitkräften der Antihitlerkoalition und der Bewegung »Freies Deutschland«. Kurzbiografien''
(PDF) (Series: Manuskripte/Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung; Vol. 53). Dietz, Berlin (2005), p. 171. He worked as a

machinist A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who not only operates machine tools, but also has the knowledge of tooling and materials required to create set ups on machine tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling ...

in Werdau between 1939 and 1942, when he was forced to fight in the 999th Light Afrika Division, a

penal battalion Penal military units, including penal battalions, penal companies, etc., are military formations consisting of convicts mobilized for military service. Such formations may contain soldiers convicted of offenses under military law, persons enrolled ...

. In 1943, he deserted and went to fight with the Greek partisans as part of the

Anti-Fascist Committee for a Free Germany The Anti-Fascist Committee for a Free Germany (German: ''Antifaschistische Komitee Freies Deutschland'', or AKFD) was an organization of former Wehrmacht soldiers modeled after the National Committee for a Free Germany. The organization was formed ...

in Greece, which he co-founded with

Falk Harnack Falk Harnack (2 March 1913 – 3 September 1991) was a German director and screenwriter. During Germany's Nazi era, he was also active with the German Resistance and toward the end of World War II, the partisans in Greece. Harnack was from a famil ...

. Later, he became its representative for the XIII

Greek People's Liberation Army Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

(ELAS) Division. He became a captain in ELAS before going to

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, where he became an officer in the Second Austrian Freedom Battalion in the Third Yugoslavian Army. He returned to Germany in summer 1945 and in 1946, became a member of the Socialist Unity Party. He went to work in the Land and Forest Ministry, part of the Ministry of the Interior. In 1961, he became the Secretary of the Central Committee for

Jugendweihe Jugendweihe (''Youth consecration'') or Jugendfeier (''Youth ceremony'') is a secular coming of age ceremony practised by German 14-year-olds. It originated among the secular societies in the 19th century as an alternative to Confirmation by th ...

; later, he became the Secretary of the central leadership of the Committees of the Anti-Fascist Resistance Fighters.

References

Sources

*''Strafdivision 999: Erlebnisse und Berichte aus dem antifaschistischen Widerstandskampf''. Deutscher Militärverlag, Berlin (1965), p. 332 *Andreas Herbst et al. (Ed.): ''So funktionierte die DDR''. Volume 3: ''Lexikon der Funktionäre''. Rowohlt, Reinbek (1994), p. 271 *Gerd-Rüdiger Stephan et al. (Ed.): ''Die Parteien und Organisationen der DDR. Ein Handbuch''. Dietz, Berlin (2002), p. 1060 {{DEFAULTSORT:Reinhardt, Gerhard 1916 births 1989 deaths People from Werdau People from the Kingdom of Saxony Socialist Unity Party of Germany politicians Communists in the German Resistance Greek People's Liberation Army personnel German Army soldiers of World War II German defectors