Alois Pisnik (8 September 1911 – 2 October 2004) was an Austrian-born East German politician.

Life and career

In his younger years, Pisnik was member of various social-democratic youth and trade union organizations. He joined the

SDAPÖ 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 1928. From 1926 to 1929 he finished an apprenticeship as a machinist. Subsequently, in 1933, after another three years of training, he received a qualification as an electrical engineer. In 1934 he participated in the Austrian Civil War, in the course of which he was arrested, but freed soon after. After the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

, Pisnik was yet again arrested, this time by the

Nazis 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 N ...

, and consequently sentenced to 10 years prison. After his liberation he soon became First Secretary of the SED district chapter in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...

, an office he held until 1979. Concurrently, he was a member of the district parliament of Magdeburg from 1952 to 1958. Pisnik was known as one of the longest serving members of the SED Central Committee, having been part of it from 1950 to 1989. He was also a candidate of the SED Politburo from 1958 to 1963, a member of the

People's Chamber __NOTOC__ The Volkskammer (, ''People's Chamber'') was the unicameral legislature of the German Democratic Republic (colloquially known as East Germany). The Volkskammer was initially the lower house of a bicameral legislature. The upper house w ...

from 1958 to 1990 and a member of the

National Defense Council of East Germany The National Defense Council of the German Democratic Republic (German: ''Nationaler Verteidigungsrat der DDR'' - NVR) was created in 1960 as the supreme state body of the German Democratic Republic (also known as East Germany or the GDR) in charg ...

from 1960 to 1979.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pisnik, Alois 1911 births 2004 deaths Communist Party of Germany politicians Candidate members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany Austrian emigrants to East Germany