The Last Revolutionaries: German Communists and Their Century

by Catherine Epstein

Overview

The Last Revolutionaries tells a story of unwavering political devotion: it follows the lives of German communists across the tumultuous twentieth century. Before 1945, German communists were political outcasts in the Weimar Republic and courageous resisters in Nazi Germany; they also suffered Stalin's Great Purges and struggled through emigration in countries hostile to communism. After World War II, they became leaders of East Germany, where they ran a dictatorial regime until they were swept out of power by the people's revolution of 1989.

In a compelling collective biography, Catherine Epstein conveys the hopes, fears, dreams, and disappointments of a generation that lived their political commitment. Focusing on eight individuals, The Last Revolutionaries shows how political ideology drove people's lives. Some of these communists, including the East German leaders Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker, enjoyed great personal success. But others, including the purge victims Franz Dahlem and Karl Schirdewan, experienced devastating losses. And, as the book demonstrates, female and Jewish communists faced their own sets of difficulties in the movement to which they had given their all.

Drawing on previously inaccessible sources as well as extensive personal interviews, Epstein offers an unparalleled portrait of the most enduring and influential generation of Central European communists. In the service of their party, these communists experienced solidarity and betrayal, power and persecution, sacrifice and reward, triumph and defeat. At once sordid and poignant, theirs is the story of European communism—from the heroic excitement of its youth, to the bureaucratic authoritarianism of its middle age, to the sorry debacle of its death.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674010451
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	04/15/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	842,983
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.25(d)

About the Author

Catherine Epstein is Assistant Professor of History at Amherst College.

Table of Contents

Illustrations

Abbreviations

Introduction

1. Outcasts: Communists in the Weimar Republic

2. Persecuted: At Home and Abroad after 1933

3. Survivors: Communists during World War II

4. Victors: The Founding of East Germany

5. Purged: Veteran Communists and Stalinist Terror

6. Rulers: East German Politics during the Ulbricht Era

7. Legends: Veteran Communists as Antifascist Heroes

8. Outdated: East German Generational Dynamics

Epilogue

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

What People are Saying About This

A path breaking study that explores the world of veteran communists and puts forward fresh interpretations of their peculiar mentality. Moving well beyond traditional institutional and organizational analyses of communism, Epstein demonstrates in her richly documented collective biography how social conditioning and experiences during a time of struggle and sacrifice prior to 1945 shaped the ideologies and policies of this small band of East German leaders. Essential reading for an understanding of the communist mind and of communist practice.

V. R. Berghahn

A path breaking study that explores the world of veteran communists and puts forward fresh interpretations of their peculiar mentality. Moving well beyond traditional institutional and organizational analyses of communism, Epstein demonstrates in her richly documented collective biography how social conditioning and experiences during a time of struggle and sacrifice prior to 1945 shaped the ideologies and policies of this small band of East German leaders. Essential reading for an understanding of the communist mind and of communist practice.
— V. R. Berghahn, Columbia University

Editorial Reviews

In this absorbing study, Epstein records the history of the German communist movement from the Weimar era to the demise of the German Democratic Republic by focusing on the careers of eight ‘old communists,’ those who joined the party before Hitler assumed office in 1933, including Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker, and one woman, Emmy Koenen. Epstein’s extensive research reveals a wealth of new information…that alter[s] heretofore widely accepted interpretations of this period.

Choice - T. M. Keefe

Catherine Epstein’s The Last Revolutionaries is the most comprehensive, deeply researched, and nuanced history of the leading German communists in English, and perhaps in German as well. Her use of the East German archives opened in the early 1990s expands our understanding of German communism from the 1920s to 1989, and makes for grim but essential reading. She has captured the illusions but also the engagement and tragedy of the veteran German communists with the balance, thoroughness, and fairness we expect from our best historians.

Jeffrey Herf

A pathbreaking study that explores the world of veteran communists and puts forward fresh interpretations of their peculiar mentality. Moving well beyond traditional institutional and organizational analyses of communism, Epstein demonstrates in her richly documented collective biography how social conditioning and experiences during a time of struggle and sacrifice prior to 1945 shaped the ideologies and policies of this small band of East German leaders. Essential reading for an understanding of the communist mind and of communist practice.

V. R. Berghahn

Catherine Epstein tells the story of a unique generation, but also provides a novel explanation far the failure of the ‘old comrades’ to build their communist paradise. [The Last Revolutionaries] is an extraordinary book, and an important one.

Jonathan Steinberg

Epstein argues persuasively that…internment, Soviet exile and Western exile all led to redoubled emphasis on party discipline… Epstein’s work is essential to study of the GDR and will be a prerequisite for wider comparative considerations of communist elites.

Martin Bergern Historical Review

Catherine Epstein has written a lively and engaging study of a remarkable generation of German leftists who entered radical politics in the Weimar period, fought fascism, and ended up ruling one of the most bureaucratic and stultifying political entities on earth, the German Democratic Republic. Anyone who wants to understand the rise and fall of the communist movement in the twentieth century should read this important and original comparative biography.

Norman M. Naimark

Epstein argues persuasively that…internment, Soviet exile and Western exile all led to redoubled emphasis on party discipline… Epstein’s work is essential to study of the GDR and will be a prerequisite for wider comparative considerations of communist elites.

American Historical Review - Martin Berger

Epstein argues persuasively that…internment, Soviet exile and Western exile all led to redoubled emphasis on party discipline…Epstein's work is essential to study of the GDR and will be a prerequisite for wider comparative considerations of communist elites.
— Martin Berger

American Historical Review

In this absorbing study, Epstein records the history of the German communist movement from the Weimar era to the demise of the German Democratic Republic by focusing on the careers of eight 'old communists,' those who joined the party before Hitler assumed office in 1933, including Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker, and one woman, Emmy Koenen. Epstein's extensive research reveals a wealth of new information...that alter heretofore widely accepted interpretations of this period.
— T. M. Keefe

Choice

Catherine Epstein tells the story 0f a unique generation, but also provides a novel explanation far the failure of the 'old comrades' to build their communist paradise. It is an extraordinary book, and an important one.

University of Pennsylvania Jonathan Steinberg

Catherine Epstein's The Last Revolutionaries is the most comprehensive, deeply researched, and nuanced history 0f the leading German communists in English, and perhaps in German as well. Her use of the East German archives opened in the early 1990s expands our understanding of German communism from the
1920s to 1989, and makes for grim but essential reading. She has captured the illusions but also the engagement and tragedy of the veteran German communists with the balance, thoroughness, and fairness we expect from our best historians.

author of Divided Memory: The Nazi Past in the Jeffrey Herf

Epstein (history, Amherst) takes a biographical approach in this fascinating study of communism in Germany. After interviewing and researching hundreds of "Old Communists," she chose eight representatives of the long-term Communist experience and intertwines their stories. Among the eight are Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker, the leaders of East Germany after World War II. The others reflect the prominent strains of German communism: Weimar Republic outcasts, Nazi resisters, and rivals to Ulbricht's rule. Despite their political differences, all eight were loyal to the Communist Party and were political survivors. Their lives make for compelling reading, but perhaps the most interesting figure is Emmy Koenen, an activist whom the party ultimately marginalized (as it did most women). Epstein made good use of the newly accessible Socialist Unity Party archives, yet much source material remained elusive or nonexistent. Nevertheless, this collective biography offers a revealing and readable account of an important aspect of modern European history. A worthy complement to scholarly studies of East Germany (e.g., Martin McCauley's Marxism-Leninism in the German Democratic Republic), this is highly recommended for academic libraries.-Thomas A. Karel, Franklin & Marshall Coll. Lib., Lancaster, PA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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