Karl Steinhardt (1 August 1875,

Gyöngyös Gyöngyös (; german: Gengeß) is a town in Heves county in Hungary, east of Budapest. Situated at the foot of the Sár-hegy and Mátra mountains, it is the home of numerous food production plants, including milk production and sausage factori ...

— 21 January 1963,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

) was an Austrian politician and activist who was one of the founders and leaders of the

Communist Party of Austria The Communist Party of Austria (german: Kommunistische Partei Österreichs, KPÖ) is a communist party in Austria. Established in 1918 as the Communist Party of Republic of German-Austria, German-Austria (KPDÖ), it is one of the world's oldest ...

Biography

Born in Gyöngyös in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in to the family of an officer of a hussar regiment. After graduating from his apprenticeship as a printer he became a member of the

Social Democratic Party of Austria The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...

in 1894. He continued his work as a printer throughout Europe and eventually settled in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

where he was later expelled for his political activities. He went to Vienna in 1913 and became fully committed to political activism until he was expelled from the SDAPÖ for during 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 ...

for his

internationalist Internationalist may refer to: * Internationalism (politics), a movement to increase cooperation across national borders * Liberal internationalism, a doctrine in international relations * Internationalist/Defencist Schism, socialists opposed to ...

stance and anti-war propaganda. Steinhardt and his "Communist Group" alongside other political radicals such as

Ruth Fischer Ruth Fischer (11 December 1895 – 13 March 1961) was an Austrian and German Communist, and a co-founder of the Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ) in 1918. Along with her partner Arkadi Maslow, she led the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) through ...

who were formerly members of the Social Democratic Party founded the Communist Party of Austria. In 1919 he was elected to the leadership if the party and became a delegate to the First Congress of the

Communist International The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...

. Upon his return to Vienna the plane he was a passenger of was shot down in Romaniac and he was arrested for espionage. At first he was sentenced to death however it was later revoked and Steinhardt was sentenced to forced labor instead. After he managed to get in contact with the

International Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...

he was set free and returned to Vienna. Steinhardt was also a delegate of the

Second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

and

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

World Congresses of the Comintern and was elected to its

Executive Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

. He was also a delegate at the

Congress of the Peoples of the East The Congress of the Peoples of the East () was a multinational conference held in September 1920 by the Communist International in Baku, Azerbaijan (then the capital of Soviet Azerbaijan). The congress was attended by nearly 1,900 delegates from a ...

. In 1921 he traveled to

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

and worked for the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...

and its publications. He was expelled from the Bremen committee of the KPD and later traveled to Hamburg where he worked in the Soviet trade agency until he was once again expelled from Hamburg and went on to work for the Soviet trade agency in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. In 1925 he was expelled from Germany and re settled in Vienna where he worked as a district activist for the KPÖ. After the Nazi annexation of Austria Steinhardt returned to his work as a printer. He was arrested by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

for multiple times and was under surveillance. After the Soviet liberation of Austria Steinhardt was appointed deputy mayor of Vienna. From 1945 to 1949 he was a member of the Gemeinderat and Landtag of Vienna for the KPÖ and was also elected to the central committee of the party. In 1945 he was also for a period head of the Welfare Department of Austria. Karl Steinhardt died on 21 January 1963 in Vienna.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steinhardt, Karl 1875 births 1963 deaths People from Heves Austrian communists Communist Party of Austria politicians Executive Committee of the Communist International