36 Facts About Ernst Lohagen

Ernst Lohagen was a member both of the German parliament before the Nazis took power in 1933 and of the East German equivalent assembly between 1946 and 1952, although under the Leninist power structure applied in East Germany it was his membership of the party Central Committee till 1952 that was of greater significance.

Ernst Lohagen suffered a fall from grace in February 1952 and never recovered his former political influence.

Ernst Lohagen was born in Elberfeld in the heart of the intensively industrialised Ruhr region.

Ernst Lohagen's father worked as a weaver, his mother as a leather worker.

Ernst Lohagen attended school locally and then took work as an errand boy.

Ernst Lohagen joined the Young Socialists in 1911 or 1912.

In 1915 Ernst Lohagen joined the "International Group", set up that year by Rosa Luxemburg to oppose the parliamentary votes that funded the war.

Ernst Lohagen was a co-founder, in 1916, of a Spartacus League local group for the Elberfeld-Barmen region.

Ernst Lohagen was nevertheless conscripted for military service, serving in the army from 1916 till 1918.

Ernst Lohagen was elected by local revolutionaries to be a member of the Soldiers' Council in Strasburg.

Ernst Lohagen was, during 1923, secretary to the local party leadership team for Hesse-Waldeck.

Ernst Lohagen was regional "Policy chief" and, from 1926, sat as a member of the regional parliament for Hesse-Nassau.

Ernst Lohagen became a member of the Kassel District Council the next year.

Ernst Lohagen was released during one of the Hindenburg Amnesties.

Ernst Lohagen was not among those re-elected to the Reichstag in the election of May 1932.

The consequences for Communists such as Ernst Lohagen were dire and almost immediate.

Ernst Lohagen was let out in April 1934 after signing a number of declarations which amounted to an undertaking to desist from further actions damaging to the state, and returned to his role as regional "Policy chief" on Hessen-Kassel for the Communist party.

Ernst Lohagen remained locked up till April 1945 when the US army released him from the concentration camp at Lengefeld.

Ernst Lohagen sat between 1946 and 1950 as an SED member of the Saxon regional parliament, where he succeeded Wilhelm Koenen as leader of the SED parliamentary group on 4 February 1949.

Nationally Ernst Lohagen was a member of the party Central Committee, the real fulcrum of political power in the country, from 1950 or earlier.

Ernst Lohagen became a member of the German People's Council in 1949, and then, when the People's Council evolved into the People's Chamber, he became a member of that body, sitting for the SED.

Ernst Lohagen served as chair of the parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee, and retained his place till the "announcement of the laying down of his mandate" which took place on 23 July 1952.

In February 1949 Ernst Lohagen came under attack in the western media on account of his "attitude during the Nazi years".

Ernst Lohagen now responded to the critical article in Tagliche Rundschau with a public piece of "self-criticism", published in Neues Deutschland, which included an undertaking not to repeat his error.

Various sources indicate that Ernst Lohagen was one of a number of casual scapegoats caught up in a long running top level power struggle, but that did nothing to ameliorate his position at the time.

Ernst Lohagen tried again on 21 February 1952, accepting that his self-criticism to date had been "false and insufficient" and accepting that he had made a succession of errors on account of a personality defect identified as "Selbstherrlichkeit".

Not withstanding these renewed protestations of subordination, on 23 February 1952 Ernst Lohagen was excluded from the party Central Committee.

In May 1957 Ernst Lohagen celebrated his sixtieth birthday and in June 1957 the National Party Control Commission cancelled or expunged his penalties.

Ernst Lohagen died at Bad Saarow, a health spa to the east of Berlin, on 2 November 1971.

Ernst Lohagen's body was buried in the "Grove of Honour" in the Southern Cemetery at Leipzig.

Paula Ernst Lohagen was born into a politically aware family on 17 January 1897 in Herford, a midsized town a short distance to the north of Bielefeld.

Ernst Lohagen joined the Young Socialists when she was 14 and the Communist party in 1920.

Ernst Lohagen played an important part in creating the Communist youth organisation in the Ruhr district.

Ernst Lohagen remained in Kassel after the Nazis took power at the start of 1933, and played a leading role in organising anti-Fascist actions by Communists in the region.

Ernst Lohagen held regular meetings with Henschel workers' at the former sports hall of the plant sports club.

Ernst Lohagen was sentenced to a three-year jail term which she served at Ziegenhain.