Jacob Walcher (May 7, 1887 – March 27, 1970) was a German communist politician and trade unionist.

Jacob Walcher
Walcher in 1912
Born(1887-05-07)May 7, 1887
DiedMarch 27, 1970(1970-03-27) (aged 82)
Resting placeZentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde, Berlin
Political partySocialist Unity Party of Germany (1946-1951)
Other political
affiliations
Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (1932-1946)
Communist Party of Germany (Opposition) (1929-1931)
Communist Party of Germany (1918-1928)
Social Democratic Party of Germany (1906-1918)
AwardsPatriotic Order of Merit in Gold (1967)

Biography

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Walcher was born in 1887 in the rural Swabia to a family of poor religious Protestant farmers and learned the profession of metal working. He became a member of the German Metal Workers' Union and of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

After World War I, he joined the newly founded Communist Party of Germany. He was a delegate to the Second Congress of the Communist International in 1920.[1]

Walcher split from this party and become a leading member of the illegal Socialist Workers' Party of Germany after 1933.

In the German Democratic Republic he was a member of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). He was the victim of a purge in 1952[2] but was re-admitted in 1956.

References

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  1. ^ Delegates to the Second Congress of the Communist International
  2. ^ Ernst Stock, et.al.: Jacob Walcher. Gewerkschafter und Revolutionär zwischen Berlin, Paris und New York. Berlin 1998.