Emil Carlebach
Encyclopedia
Emil Carlebach was a Hessian
Landtag
member, a writer, and a journalist
. He was born and died in Frankfurt am Main.
s who had practiced in Germany
for generations. However, at the time he was born, his father was the only non-religious member of the Carlebach family in Frankfurt. While still young, Emil turned away from the conservative secular attitude of his parents and in 1932 he joined the Young Communist League of Germany
(Kommunistischen Jugendverband Deutschlands) KJVD. In early 1934, he was sentenced
to three years in prison
for spreading anti-fascist union
publications. When the sentence was completed in 1937, he was sent to Dachau concentration camp and then imprisoned at Buchenwald
in 1938. At Buchenwald, he was active in the illegal resistance organization. Following plans he designed, he launched "with the call to mutiny on April 4, 1945." He was to have been shot by the SS on April 6, 1945, for his efforts in the camp revolt, but was hidden by other prisoners and survived till liberation. After the liberation of the concentration camp, the prisoners from Buchenwald chose him as their spokesman; later he became the vice-president of the International Buchenwald Committee.
After 1954, he became first a Frankfurt city council member, then a member of the Hessian parliament, where he worked on the Hesse constitution
.
Carlebach was one of seven original licensees of the Frankfurter Rundschau
, a licensed daily newspaper based in Frankfurt and the first licensed newspaper in the American Zone of Occupation in Germany. In 1947, without explanation, the U.S. Military Government in Germany revoked Carlebach's publisher's license. He was also a co-founder of the Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime
(Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes) or VVN.
In the early 1950s a fierce dispute began between Carlebach and Margarete Buber-Neumann
over the torture
of German communists by Joseph Stalin
in the Soviet Union
. Carlebach contested Stalin’s responsibility; he maintained this position his entire life. In connection with this dispute and later publications, Carlebach’s conduct towards those Buchenwald prisoners who he did not consider loyal communists was also criticized. Because of this, his former fellow prisoner, Benedikt Kautsky, accused him of being partially responsible for the death of least two Polish prisoners.
After the Communist Party of Germany
(KPD) was banned in 1956, he fled to the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR, East Germany
). There he was a staff member for the Deutscher Freiheitssender 904 (German Freedom Radio 904). After his return to the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (BRD, West Germany
) he was active in the VVN, the German Communist Party
(DKP) and the Deutsche Journalistinnen- und Journalisten-Union (dju, Union of German Journalists) until his death.
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
Landtag
Landtag
A Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...
member, a writer, and a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. He was born and died in Frankfurt am Main.
Life
Emil Carlebach was descended from a family of rabbiRabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
s who had practiced in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
for generations. However, at the time he was born, his father was the only non-religious member of the Carlebach family in Frankfurt. While still young, Emil turned away from the conservative secular attitude of his parents and in 1932 he joined the Young Communist League of Germany
Young Communist League of Germany
The Young Communist League of Germany was a political youth organization in Germany. It was formed in 1920 from the Free Socialist Youth of the Communist Party of Germany, which itself was formed in October 1918, with support from the Spartacus League . The KJVD was created in 1925...
(Kommunistischen Jugendverband Deutschlands) KJVD. In early 1934, he was sentenced
Sentence (law)
In law, a sentence forms the final explicit act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. The sentence can generally involve a decree of imprisonment, a fine and/or other punishments against a defendant convicted of a crime...
to three years in prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
for spreading anti-fascist union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
publications. When the sentence was completed in 1937, he was sent to Dachau concentration camp and then imprisoned at Buchenwald
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
in 1938. At Buchenwald, he was active in the illegal resistance organization. Following plans he designed, he launched "with the call to mutiny on April 4, 1945." He was to have been shot by the SS on April 6, 1945, for his efforts in the camp revolt, but was hidden by other prisoners and survived till liberation. After the liberation of the concentration camp, the prisoners from Buchenwald chose him as their spokesman; later he became the vice-president of the International Buchenwald Committee.
After 1954, he became first a Frankfurt city council member, then a member of the Hessian parliament, where he worked on the Hesse constitution
Hesse constitution
The Constitution of Hesse, signed on the December 1, 1946, is the constitution of the German state of Hesse.- Origins :A committee was formed for the preparation of the draft constitution and made up of 12 participants from each party...
.
Carlebach was one of seven original licensees of the Frankfurter Rundschau
Frankfurter Rundschau
The Frankfurter Rundschau is a German daily newspaper, based in Frankfurt am Main. It is published every day but Sunday as a city, two regional and one nationwide issues and offers an online edition as well as an e-paper...
, a licensed daily newspaper based in Frankfurt and the first licensed newspaper in the American Zone of Occupation in Germany. In 1947, without explanation, the U.S. Military Government in Germany revoked Carlebach's publisher's license. He was also a co-founder of the Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime
Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime
The Society of People Persecuted by the Nazi Regime – Federation of Anti-Fascists is a political organization founded in 1947....
(Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes) or VVN.
In the early 1950s a fierce dispute began between Carlebach and Margarete Buber-Neumann
Margarete Buber-Neumann
Margarete Buber-Neumann , was a leading member of the Communist Party of Germany during the years of the Weimar Republic. She survived imprisonment during World War II in both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany...
over the torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
of German communists by Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Carlebach contested Stalin’s responsibility; he maintained this position his entire life. In connection with this dispute and later publications, Carlebach’s conduct towards those Buchenwald prisoners who he did not consider loyal communists was also criticized. Because of this, his former fellow prisoner, Benedikt Kautsky, accused him of being partially responsible for the death of least two Polish prisoners.
After the Communist Party of Germany
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
(KPD) was banned in 1956, he fled to the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR, East Germany
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
). There he was a staff member for the Deutscher Freiheitssender 904 (German Freedom Radio 904). After his return to the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (BRD, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
) he was active in the VVN, the German Communist Party
German Communist Party
The German Communist Party is a Marxist-Leninist party in Germany.-History:The DKP was formed in West Germany in 1968, in order to fill the place of the Communist Party of Germany , which had been banned by the Federal Constitutional Court in 1956...
(DKP) and the Deutsche Journalistinnen- und Journalisten-Union (dju, Union of German Journalists) until his death.
Literary works
- Am Anfang stand ein Doppelmord
- Tote auf Urlaub - Kommunist in Deutschland Dachau und Buchenwald 1937-1945
- Zensur ohne Schere Die Gründerjahre der Frankfurter Rundschau 1945/47
- Hitler war kein Betriebsunfall- Hinter den Kulissen der Weimarer Republik
- Meldung als Waffe
- Kauf Dir einen Minister
- Von Brünning zu Hitler
- Buchenwald. Ein Konzentrationslager (by Emil Carlebach and Paul Grünewald, Hellmuth Röder, Willy Schmidt, Walter Vielhauer)
Other sources
- Emil Carlebach, Zensur ohne Schere. Die Gründerjahre der 'Frankfurter Rundschau' 1945/1947 (Frankfurt, a.M.: Röderberg-Verlag, 1985)
- Ephraim CarlebachEphraim CarlebachEphraim Carlebach , was a German-born Orthodox rabbi.Carlebach belonged to a well known German rabbi family. His father Salomon Carlebach was rabbi in Lübeck. He had seven brothers and four sisters...
Stiftung (Ed.), Die Carlebachs: Eine Rabbinerfamilie aus Deutschland, Hamburg 1995 - Hans Schafranek, Zwischen NKWD und Gestapo, Frankfurt/M, 1990, Dokumentenanhang
- Lutz Niethammer (Ed.). Der "gesäuberte" Antifaschismus. Die SED und die roten Kapos von Buchenwald. Dokumente. Berlin, 1994
- Wolfgang Kraushaar, Sonnenuntergang - Das Verhältnis europäischer Intellektueller zum Kommunismus im Spiegel dreier Prozesse, in: Linke Geisterfahrer: Denkanstöße für eine antitotalitäre Linke, Frankfurt/M 2001