Hermann Remmele (15 November 1880 – 7 March 1939) was a German communist politician of the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been t ...

USPD The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, USPD) was a short-lived political party in Germany during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. The organization was establis ...

and KPD. During exile in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

he carried the code name ''Herzen'' ( en, "Hearts").

Biography

Early years

Born in Ziegelhausen near Heidelberg, Hermann Remmele was the son of a miller, and brother of the later president of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...

, Adam Remmele. Remmele attended elementary school in Ludwigshafen and then trained as an iron turner. After a period as an itinerant labourer, he worked until the start of the First World War in 1914 in the profession for which he had trained. In 1897, Remmele became a member of the

, as well as the German Metal Workers' Union. In the years 1901 to 1914 he was an honorary representative and board member of the union's

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...

, Darmstadt and Offenbach am Main branches. Remmele also became involved in leading the association of young workers in Mannheim and attended the SPD's in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

in 1907/08. At the same time, he wrote for several social democratic publications.

1914 to 1932

From 1914 Remmele served in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1917, he co-founded the

. During the November Revolution he was a member of the Workers' and Soldiers' Council in Mannheim, and in was one of the co-initiators of the Soviet Republic in Mannheim (1919). That same year he was USPD District Secretary for

and the Palatinate. He held the same position in

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

until the end of 1920. Together with a faction of the party, Remmele joined the KPD in 1920, where he was a member of the Central Committee between 1920 and 1933, while being a member of the Reichstag during the same period, and briefly becoming KPD chairman in 1924. From 1923 to 1926 he assumed the editor position of the party mouthpiece, ''

Die Rote Fahne ''Die Rote Fahne'' (, ''The Red Flag'') was a German newspaper originally founded in 1876 by Socialist Worker's party leader Wilhelm Hasselmann, and which has been since published on and off, at times underground, by German Socialists and Communi ...

''. Remmele became Member of the Executive Committee of the Comintern (ECCI) from 1926 onwards. From 1930 he was chairman of the Kampfbund gegen den Faschismus ( de). From 16 members of the committee of the Communist Party organ, in 1924 only Remmele and

Ernst Thälmann Ernst Johannes Fritz Thälmann (; 16 April 1886 – 18 August 1944) was a German communist politician, and leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) from 1925 to 1933. A committed Marxist-Leninist and Stalinist, Thälmann played a major r ...

were left in the Official in 1929.

Exile in Moscow

After he, along with

Heinz Neumann Heinz Neumann (6 July 1902 – 26 November 1937) was a German politician from the Communist Party (KPD) and a journalist. He was a member of the Communist International, editor in chief of the party newspaper ''Die Rote Fahne'' and a member of the ...

, lost a factional war within the KPD, Remmele relinquished his position in the party's Secretariat of the Central Committee in October 1932. This was followed in November 1933 by his exclusion from the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Politbüro, and forced to resign from his functions in the ECCI. He subsequently left Germany for Moscow. Following the Nazi seizure of power, his German citizenship was revoked in March 1934.

Death

Remmele, his wife and son Helmut were arrested during the

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secret ...

.Kurzbiographie ''Remmele, Anna'' in: Institut für Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung (Hrsg.): ''In den Fängen des NKWD: Deutsche Opfer des stalinistischen Terrors in der UdSSR''. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1991, , S. 183 On 7 March 1939, Remmele was sentenced to death and shot the same day at

Donskoy Cemetery The New Donskoy Cemetery (Новое Донское кладбище) is a 20th-century necropolis sprawling to the south from the Donskoy Monastery in the south-west of Central Moscow. It has been closed for new burials since the 1980s. Histo ...

. A Soviet court rehabilitated him in 1988.

Personal life

Remmele was married (Anna (1888-1947) and had two children, one of them Helmut Remmele (1910–1938).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Remmele, Hermann 1880 births 1939 deaths Politicians from Heidelberg German newspaper editors Communist Party of Germany politicians German Comintern people Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic Refugees from Nazi Germany in the Soviet Union Great Purge victims from Germany German military personnel of World War I