Commemorative stamp series - Germany / German Democratic Republic 1982 - 10 Pfennig

Meritorious Personalities of the German Workers 'Movement, Issue 1982 The Department of Postal and Telecommunications of the German Democratic Republic publishes five commemorative postage stamps depicting meritorious personalities of the German workers' movement. No special first-day cover envelope Special cancellation from March 23 to May 22, 1982 Ottomar Geschke was born on November 16, 1882 in Fürstenwalde (Spree), the son of a blacksmith. In 1910 he joined the German Metalworkers' Federation and the Social Democratic Party and in 1917 became a member of the USPD. During the November Revolution, when he was a member of a workers 'and soldiers' council and was later convicted of participating in the battles in Berlin, he joined the KPD. Since 1921 O. Geschke has been responsible for responsible functions. in the Central Committee, in the headquarters and in the Central Committee of the KPD and made an important contribution to the development of the trade union policy of the KPD. He was from 1921 to 1924 Member of the Prussian Landtag and from 1924 of the Reichstag. O. Geschke participated in congresses of the Red Union International (1922/1924) and at the 5th World Congress of the Communist International (1924) in Moscow, where he was elected as a member of the Executive Committee and its Presidium. From 1929 to 1930 he worked as managing director of the central board of the Red Aid Germany. As responsible for the work with the unemployed he campaigned for the realization of the job creation plan of the KPD and for the inclusion of the unemployed against the threatening fascist danger. O. Geschke was arrested on February 28, 1933 by the Nazis and imprisoned in the prison Spandau and then in the concentration camps Lichtenburg and Buchenwald. Released from Buchenwald concentration camp in 1940, he established contact with anti-fascist resistance groups. In 1944 he was again arrested and taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and freed in May 1945 during the evacuation march by the Red Army. As one of the signatories of the programmatic appeal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (June 11, 1945) and as chairman of the Communist Party of Greater Berlin, he actively prepared for the unification of the two workers' parties. O. Geschke made a significant contribution from 1946 to 1953 as a member of the regional management and district management of the SED of Greater Berlin. The delegates of the Founding Conference of the Association of Victims of the Nazi Regime (VVN) for the Soviet Occupation Zone elected O. Geschke in 1947 as its chairman. Since 1953 he worked in the Presidium of the Committee of anti-fascist resistance fighters in the GDR. He belonged to the People's Chamber since 1949. O. Geschke died on 17 May 1957 on the way to Munich for the congress of the VVN in the FRG.