Emil Unfried

Emil Unfried (21 April 1892 – 16 June 1949) was a German communist politician. He served in various capacities in the Communist Party until 1924. Then he involved in film industry. He resumed his political activity in the Communist Party in 1945. However, the same year he was detained by the Soviets and died in a special camp in Sachsenhausen in 1949.

Emil Unfried
Born21 April 1892
Untergrönningen, Württemberg, German Empire
Died16 June 1949(1949-06-16) (aged 57)
NKVD special camp Nr. 7, Sachsenhausen, Allied-occupied Germany
NationalityGerman

Early life and education

Unfried was born in Untergrönningen, Württemberg, on 26 April 1892.[1] He was trained as a mechanic.[1] He settled in Stuttgart where he joined the Social Democratic Party in 1912.[2]

Career and activities

Unfried fought in the German army during World War I and became part of the Spartacus group.[2][3] In 1918 he was a member of the executive committee of the workers' council in Stuttgart.[3] In 1919 he joined the Communist Party and served as its vice chairman in Stuttgart until 1921.[2] He was appointed secretary for agrarian work for the party leadership from 1921 to 1924.[2] He represented the Communist Party at the fourth World Congress of the Communist International in 1922.[2] Unfried was expelled from the Communist Party in 1924 due to his alleged right-wing views.[2]

In the period between 1924 and 1933 Unfried served as the chairman of the film division of a political-cultural enterprise owned by the communist activist Willi Münzenberg.[2] In 1926 Unfried co-founded and directed a film company, Prometheus-Film G.m.b.H.[4] He also headed another company named Weltfilm.[5] In 1933 he retired from politics and began to involve in film production business during the Nazi rule in Germany.[1] His company was Forum Film which mostly produced entertainment movies.[1] He had movie theatres in Hanover and Minden.[1] He resumed his political activities in the Communist Party following the fall of Nazi government in 1945.[1][2]

Personal life and death

Unfried was married to Lina Becker, a communist politician.[1] He was arrested by the Soviet forces in late 1945.[1] He died in the NKVD special camp Nr. 7 in Sachsenhausen on 16 June 1949.[1]

Selected filmography

Some of the movies produced by Unfried included:[6]

  • Aufstieg - Ein Film vom Werden und sozialen Wirken des Verbandes der Fabrikarbeiter Deutschlands (1929)
  • Morgen beginnt das Leben (1933)
  • Das Gewehr über! (1939)

References
  1. Hermann Weber; Andreas Herbst. "Unfried, Emil * 21.4.1892, † 16.6.1949". Handbuch der Deutschen Kommunisten. Berlin: Karl Dietz Verlag, Berlin & Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  2. John Riddell, ed. (2015). To the Masses. Proceedings of the Third Congress of the Communist International, 1921. Vol. 91. Leiden; Boston: Brill. p. 1276. doi:10.1163/9789004288034_038. ISBN 9789004288034.
  3. Georg Adler; et al., eds. (2013). The Letters of Rosa Luxemburg. London; New York: Verso Books. pp. 485, 562. ISBN 978-1-78168-107-7.
  4. Kasper Braskén (2015). The International Workers' Relief, Communism, and Transnational Solidarity: Willi Münzenberg in Weimar Germany. Basingstoke; New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 279. ISBN 978-1-137-54686-9.
  5. John Green (2019). Willi Münzenberg: Fighter against Fascism and Stalinism. Abingdon; New York: Routledge. p. 219. ISBN 978-1-000-75153-6.
  6. "Emil Unfried. Produktionsleitung". filmportal.de (in German).
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