Ernst Thalmann

Ernst Thalmann was the leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) during much of the Weimar Republic era. In this, the first biography of Thalmann in English, Norman LaPorte provides a fascinating insight into the life of one of the most important, yet often forgotten, political characters in interwar German history and communist studies. Thalmann's importance to the study of communism is illustrated by his role as the chairman of the largest and most important communist party outside Soviet Russia during the 1920s. Furthermore, the development of German communism, its leadership and relations with Moscow, often served as the prototype for the wider trajectory of European, even world, communism. Locating Thalmann's life within the wider context of German communism, the world communist movement and the crisis of the Weimar Republic which led to its collapse in 1933 and the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, LaPorte provides a critical and analytical study of communism in interwar Germany and shows how Thalmann became the symbol of communist antifascist resistance after 1933. Shedding new light on a pivotal period in German and European history, this book will be essential reading for students of German history, communism and twentieth-century political and world history.