1. Gustav Sobottka was a German politician, a member of the Communist Party of Germany in exile during the Nazi era who returned in 1945 as head of the Sobottka Group and later worked in the East German government.
19 Facts About Gustav Sobottka
1. 2.
Gustav Sobottka was born in Turowen, in the administrative district of Johannisburg in East Prussia.
3.
In World War I Gustav Sobottka served in the German Army from August 1914 to November 1918.
4.
Gustav Sobottka joined the Social Democrats in 1910, and his wife joined in 1912.
5.
Gustav Sobottka was one of the founding members and head of the "Miners' Group" in the communist-leaning Union of Manual and Intellectual Workers, whose 1925 merger into the confederation of unions, the Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, he initially opposed, but later worked to accomplish.
6.
Gustav Sobottka served in the Prussian Landtag as a representative of the KPD and he was the leader of the mining industry group of the KPD Central Committee.
7.
Gustav Sobottka then went to Paris and continued his work.
8.
Gustav Sobottka was arrested and imprisoned in Nazi concentration camp.
9.
Gustav Sobottka was liberated from Fuhlsbuttel, but died in the infirmary, shortly afterward.
10.
Gustav Sobottka was arrested by the NKVD on February 5,1938, as part of the so-called Hitler Youth Conspiracy, after which his mother had a nervous breakdown.
11.
Gustav Sobottka died in Moscow's Butyrka prison in September 1940.
12.
In 1943, Gustav Sobottka was condemned to death in absentia for high treason by the Reich Military Court.
13.
In 1945, Gustav Sobottka returned to Germany from the Soviet Union as leader of the Gustav Sobottka Group, which along with the Ulbricht Group and the Ackermann Group, were sent to lay the groundwork for the Soviet Military Administration in Germany.
14.
Gustav Sobottka reported on the chaos in Germany as forced labour from Poland and Russia turned on their former masters.
15.
Gustav Sobottka's group was sent to Mecklenburg, where he prepared reports on the state of the agriculture for the Soviet Central Committee.
16.
Gustav Sobottka retired with an honorary pension as an "Honored Miner of the German Democratic Republic", but was depressed about his son's death in Moscow and his wife's ill health.
17.
Gustav Sobottka's wife was away at a health resort at the time.
18.
Gustav Sobottka received an "Honorary pension, Fighter against Fascism" and was awarded "Honored Miner of the German Democratic Republic".
19.
The VEB Braunkohlenwerk in Roblingen was named for Gustav Sobottka, as were many streets and schools.