Fred Oelßner

Fred Oelßner (27 February 1903 – 7 November 1977) was a German communist politician, economist and a leading political figure in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

After attending middle school at nearby Weißenfels Oelßner remained in Weißenfels, where he embarked on an apprenticeship in business and milling at the Beuditz Mill between 1917 and 1919.

At the same time he continued his education, attending evening classes at a business school.

He joined the Young Socialists ("Sozialistische Arbeiter-Jugend" / SAJ) in 1917 and the Free Young Socialists ("Freie sozialistische Jugend" / FSJ) in 1918.

He was dismissed from his apprenticeship after eighteen month in account of his "political activities".

The Russian Revolution of 1917 had appeared to open up the possibilities for similar developments in Germany.

The Communist Party of Germany was founded at a congress held in Berlin during three days between 30 December 1918 and 1 January 1919.

Over the next year or so it was the turn of the USPD to break apart, with the majority of is members joining the newly formed Communist Party.

Despite still only being sixteen, Oelßner joined the Independent Social Democratic Party ("Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands" / USPD) in May 1919.

The party had been formed a couple of years earlier as the result of a split in the mainstream SPD.

At that point the principal cause of the split had been the decision by the SPD leadership to vote in support of funding for the war.

By 1919 the war was over and economic hardship was leading to increased political polarisation.

However, the USPD seems to have remained relatively active in the Halle-Merseburg locality (where Oelßner was based) through 1920, and it was only in December 1920 that he formally joined the Communist Party.

During this period he supported himself with an office job at a co-operative enterprise in Halle till 1921.

At the same time he served as a local team leader ("Bezirksleiter") for the Socialist Proletarian Youth organisation ("Sozialistische Proletarierjugend") and for the Young Communists in the Halle-Merseburg locality.

In 1921 Oelßner took part in the so-called March Action, a short-lived workers' revolt in central Germany.

He then accepted a paid job, working for the Communist Party Central Committee under the direction of Wilhelm Koenen and Walter Stoecker.

From Autumn 1921 till January 1922 he worked as a volunteer with the "Hamburgische Volkszeitung" (newspaper).

During 1922/23 he undertook an editorial role with the "Schlesische Arbeiterzeitung", based in Breslau (as Wrocław was then known).

Further editorial postings on left-wing newspapers followed in Chemnitz, Aachen and Stuttgart.

It was in Stuttgart that he was arrested in December 1923.

He faced trial in September 1924 at the Supreme Court in Leipzig and was sentenced to a year in prison.

The charge was the usual one under such circumstances of "preparing to commit high treason" ("Vorbereitung zum Hochverrat").

Most of his sentence had already been expunged during his pretrial detention and he was released from prison in Cottbus in January 1925.

After this he took further editorial posts in Remscheid and Aachen.

He was sent by the party to Moscow in April 1926 and joined the Soviet Communist Party the same year.

In Moscow he studied at the Comintern's newly established International Lenin School between 1926 and 1928.

He remained at the school in 1929, now as an "Aspirant" (loosely "graduate student").

After that, he undertook a higher degree course at the Economics Faculty at the Institute of Red Professors ("Институт красной профессуры").

He returned to Germany in the summer of 1932 and worked in Berlin under Ernst Schneller in the Propaganda Department of the party central committee.

His areas of responsibility included party training, and he himself taught at the party's "Rosa Luxemburg Party Academy ("Reichsparteischule Rosa Luxemburg") at Schöneiche-Fichtenau, just outside the city.

Oelßner became a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany's politburo in 1950.

He fell out of favour over the so-called Schirdewan affair in 1958, however, and was excluded from the politburo.

Tensions had arisen at the top of government over the extent which the country should be willing to respond positively to pressure from Moscow for a measure of De-Stalinization.

Oelßner was able to argue from an economic and political perspective in favour of a cautious easing of restrictions.

After a period of a year or so during which it might have been thought that the East German leader, Walter Ulbricht, was open to suggestions, the political downfall of Karl Schirdewan, Fred Oelßner and one or two others was seen as a sign that traditionalist economic hardliners would remain in control.

In September 1959 Oelßner published his self-criticism on account of his "opportunism and political blindness" ("Opportunismus und politische Blindheit") during the years 1956/57.

Fred Oelßner was born in Leipzig.

Alfred Oelßner, his father, was an activist member of the Social Democratic Party, and later became a prominent Communist Party activist and official.

His mother worked in the garments business.