Karl Schirdewan
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Karl Schirdewan was a German anti-fascist activist who after World War II became a high-ranking politician of the SED, later becoming disgraced for his outspoken critique of the party from a communist
Schirdewan in Wilhelm Pieck – Das Leben unseres Präsidenten, 1952
Schirdewan gives a speech at the Friedrichstadt-Palast in East Berlin commemorating the 36th anniversary of the October Revolution, 6 November 1953
On 6 May 1955, in a ceremony timed to honour the tenth anniversary of the "Liberation from Fascism", Karl Schirdewan was an early recipient of the Patriotic Order of Merit (Vaterländischer Verdienstorden) in Gold from president Wilhelm Pieck in recognition of his "struggle against Fascism and his contributions to the creation of the German Democratic Republic"
Schirdewan gives a speech, 1952
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic from the country's establishment in 1949 until the Peaceful Revolution of 1989. Formed in 1946
Karl Schirdewan
…Karl Schirdewan (14 May 1907 – 14 July 1998) was a German anti-fascist activist who after World War II became a high-ranking politician of the SED, later becoming disgraced for his outspoken critique of the party from a communist perspective. During the mid 1950s, Schirdewan was seen as a potential…
Otto Grotewohl (right) and Wilhelm Pieck (left) seal the unification of the SPD and KPD with a symbolic handshake. Walter Ulbricht is seated in the foreground to the right of Grotewohl. Photograph by Avraham Pisarek, 21 April 1946.
1950, before the East German uprising of 1953
1954, after the East German uprising of 1953
International Relations Secretary Hermann Axen (left) and PCI Politburo member Pietro Ingrao (right) at the 7th Party Congress, 18 April 1967