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Stefan Heymann

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Stefan Heymann
Ambassador of the German Democratic Republic to Poland
In office
1953–1957
Preceded byAenne Kundermann [de]
Succeeded byJosef Hegen
Ambassador of the German Democratic Republic to Hungary
In office
1951–1953
Preceded byErich Kops
Succeeded bySepp Schwab [de]
Member of the Landtag of the Republic of Baden
In office
1928–1929
Personal details
Born(1896-03-14)March 14, 1896
Mannheim , German Empire
DiedFebruary 3, 1967(1967-02-03) (aged 70)
East Berlin, German Democratic Republic
Resting placeZentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde
Political partySocialist Unity Party (1946–)
Communist Party of Germany (1919–1946)
SpouseErika Heymann
AwardsPatriotic Order of Merit, in silver (1955)
Military Service
AllegianceGerman Empire German Empire
Service / branchImperial German Army
Battles / warsFirst World War (WIA)

Stefan Heymann (March 14, 1896 – February 3, 1967) was a German diplomat, politician, and Holocaust survivor.

Life

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Heymann was born on March 14, 1896, in Mannheim to a Jewish family.[1] After completing school, he did an apprenticeship as a banker. Heymann volunteered for military service in the First World War and was wounded several times. At the conclusion of the war, he took part in the proclamation of a Soviet in the Palatinate alongside Ernst Toller and Erich Mühsam. Heymann joined the Communist Party of Germany upon its foundation. He was dismissed from his job at a bank in Mannheim due to his communist sympathies. Heymann was an active member of the Rotfrontkämpferbund, and held regional leadership roles in the organization. In 1924 he was sentenced by a court in Leipzig to three and a half years in prison for "preparing for high treason", but was pardoned in 1926.[2] Heymann was active in the charitable organizations Rote Hilfe and Workers International Relief. From 1928 to 1929 he was a member of the Landtag of the Republic of Baden, succeeding Paul Schreck.[2] From 1930 to 1932 he worked as an editor of the Die Rote Fahne in Berlin.

From January 1933, Heymann was editor-in-chief of the newspaper Arbeiterzeitung in Breslau. After the Nazi Party seized power in 1933, Heymann was arrested and later sent to the Kislau concentration camp in 1936. In 1938, he was transferred to the Dachau concentration camp and then in 1940 to the Buchenwald concentration camp. In 1942, he was sent to the Auschwitz-Monowitz concentration camp, where he was a clerk in the infirmary, and in January 1945 he was sent back to Buchenwald.[2][3][4]

Stefan Heymann's first marriage was with Erika Heymann (née Geck), the daughter of the Reichstag member and Offenburg publisher Adolf Geck. The marriage produced two children, daughter Sonja Nerlich (née Heyman) and Dr. Dieter Heymann.

After the liberation from Nazi rule, Heymann was a member of the Communist Party regional leadership in Thuringia and founding member of the Association of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime – Federation of Antifascists.[5] From 1950 to 1953 he was the ambassador of the German Democratic Republic to Hungary. In 1953, he became the ambassador to Poland, replacing Aenne Kundermann.[6][7][8] He would remain in this role until 1957, when he was succeeded by Josef Hegen.[9] He then became head of the press department in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and in 1960 professor at the Walter Ulbricht Academy of Political Science and Law. Heymann died on February 3, 1967, in East Berlin.[10]

Selected works

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  • Heymann, Stefan (1950). Balzac, der grösste kritische Realist der französischen Literatur. Berlin: Volk u. Wissen.
  • — (as co-editor) (1949). Konzentrationslager Buchenwald. Weimar: Thüringer Volksverlag.
  • — (1949). Wirtschaft, Horatio! Wirtschaft! Weimar: Werden und Wirken Verlag.
  • — (1948). Kampf um Wahrheit und Freiheit. Weimar: Thüringer Volksverlag.
  • — (1948). Marxismus und Rassenfrage. Berlin: Dietz Verlag

References

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  1. ^ Hartewig, Karin (2000). Zurückgekehrt: Die Geschichte der jüdischen Kommunisten in der DDR [Returned: The History of Jewish Communists in the GDR] (in German). Cologne: Böhlau Verlag. ISBN 978-3412028008.
  2. ^ a b c Barth, Bernd-Rainer (2010). Wer war wer in der DDR? [Who was who in the GDR?] (in German). Vol. 2 (5th ed.). Berlin: Ch. Links Verlag. ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4.
  3. ^ Heymann, Stefan, ed. (1949). Konzentrationslager Buchenwald [Buchenwald Concentration Camp] (in German). Weimar: Thüringer Volksverlag.
  4. ^ Koch, Heinz; Wohlfeld, Udo (2010). Das deutsche Buchenwaldkomitee. Die Periode von 1945 bis 1958 [The German Buchenwald Committee: The period from 1945 to 1958] (in German). Weimar. p. 179. ISBN 978-3-935275-14-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ "Stephan Heymann sprach über Paris". Neues Deutschland (in German). 1949-04-30. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  6. ^ "Weitere Verhandlungen in Warschau" [Further Negotiations in Warsaw]. Neues Deutschland (in German). 1955-03-06. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  7. ^ "Glückwünsche des ZK der SED für Stephan Heymann". Neues Deutschland (in German). 1956-03-14. p. 5. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  8. ^ Baumgartner, Gabriele; Hebig, Dieter (1996). Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ/DDR. 1945–1990 [Biographical Handbook of the SBZ/DDR] (in German). Vol. 1. Munich: De Gruyter. p. 449. ISBN 978-3598111303.
  9. ^ Herbst, Andreas (2010). SED-Kader: Die mittlere Ebene, Biographisches Lexikon [SED Cadres: The Middle Level] (in German). Brill Schoningh. pp. 224–225. ISBN 978-3506769770.
  10. ^ "Stefan Heymann - Nachruf des Zentralkomitees". Neues Deutschland (in German). 1967-02-05. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
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