List of members of the Central Commission of the Communist Party of Germany

This list provides an alphabetically ordered overview of the members of the Zentralausschuss (literally "Central Commission")^[1] of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) elected at the Party Congresses (1920–1923). It was abolished at the 10th Party Congress of the KPD in July 1925 in Berlin.^[2]

3rd Party Congress (February 1920)

The (illegally assembled) third Party Congress in Karlsruhe (25 – 26 February 1920) elected a Central Commission consisting of eleven members:

Members:

4th Party Congress (April 1920)

The (illegally assembled) fourth Party Congress in Berlin (14 – 15 April 1920) elected a Central Commission consisting of 20 members:

Members:

5th Party Congress (November 1920)

The delegates of the fifth Party Congress in Berlin (1 – 3 November 1920) elected a Central Commission consisting of 22 members:

Members:

6th Party Congress (December 1920)

The sixth Party Congress in Berlin (4 – 7 December 1920) was the unification congress of the KPD and the left wing of the USPD. The delegates elected a Central Commission consisting of 39 members:^[3]

Members:

Waldemar Behrs
Max Bock [de]
Paul Böttcher [de]
Bruno Böttge [de]
Franz Dahlem
Paul Franken
Ernst Friesland (alias for Ernst Reuter)
Otto Geithner [de]
Otto Graf
Max Heydemann [de]
Alwin Hentschel
Wilhelm Herzog
Karl Jannack [de]
Walter Kaiser
Leo Klinger
Artur König
Otto König
Joseph Koering [de]
Hermann Krause
Hedwig Krüger
Herbert von Mayenburg
Fritz Ohlhof [de]
Karl Poschmann
Heinrich Rau
Ulrich Rogg
Friedrich Schnellbacher [de]
Robert Siewert
Johann Skjellerup [de]
Konrad Sychalla [de]
Bruno Schramm
Georg Schumann
Josef Staimer [de]
Heinrich Teuber [de]
Ernst Thälmann
Hans Tittel [de]
Hans Weber [de]
Paul Wegmann [de]
Hugo Werner
Karl Winkelsässer

7th Party Congress (1921)

The seventh Party Congress in Jena (22 – 26 August 1921) elected a Central Commission consisting of 36 members:

Members:

8th Party Congress (1923)

The delegates of the eighth Party Congress meeting in Leipzig (28 January – 1 February 1923) elected a Central Commission consisting of 38 members:

Members:

References

^ Fowkes 1984, p. xi.
^ Fowkes 1984, p. 185–186.
^ Bericht über die Verhandlungen des Vereinigungsparteitages U.S.P.D. (Linke) und der K.P.D. (Spartakusbund) Abgehalten in Berlin vom 4. bis 7. Dezember 1920 [Report on the Proceedings of the Unification Congress of the U.S.P.D. (Left) and the K.P.D. (Spartacus League), Held in Berlin from December 4 to 7, 1920] (in German). Berlin: Communist Party of Germany. 1921. pp. 270–271. Retrieved 10 April 2026.

Sources

Aoki, Kunihiko (September 2022). "戦前期ドイツ共産党（KPD）の変遷－東独支配党 SED 指導部の背景－" [The Evolution of the Pre-war German Communist Party (KPD) —The Background of the Leadership of the GDR’s Ruling Party, the SED—] (PDF). Historical Studies of Socialist System (in Japanese) (30). The Japan Collegium for Historical Studies of Socialist System: 15–16. ISSN 2432-8774.
Hermann Weber (Hrsg.): Der deutsche Kommunismus. Dokumente 1915–1945. 3. Auflage. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1973, S. 425–434.
Fowkes, Ben (1984). Communism in Germany Under the Weimar Republic (PDF). London: Macmillan Publishers.

[FOOTNOTEFowkes1984xi-1] Fowkes 1984, p. xi.

[FOOTNOTEFowkes1984185–186-2] Fowkes 1984, p. 185–186.

[3] Bericht über die Verhandlungen des Vereinigungsparteitages U.S.P.D. (Linke) und der K.P.D. (Spartakusbund) Abgehalten in Berlin vom 4. bis 7. Dezember 1920 [Report on the Proceedings of the Unification Congress of the U.S.P.D. (Left) and the K.P.D. (Spartacus League), Held in Berlin from December 4 to 7, 1920] (in German). Berlin: Communist Party of Germany. 1921. pp. 270–271. Retrieved 10 April 2026.

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