Hanna Wolf
Hanna Wolf (née Haschka; 4 February 1908 – 22 June 1999) was an East German historian and socialist politician. She left Germany in 1932 for the Soviet Union where she became a Soviet citizen. She returned to East Germany in 1947 and held various posts, including rector of Parteihochschule Karl Marx (Party Academy Karl Marx). She was a long-term member of the central committee of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).
Hanna Wolf | |
|---|---|
| Born | Hanna Haschka 4 February 1908 Goniądz, Poland |
| Died | 22 June 1999 (aged 91) Berlin, Germany |
| Alma mater | University of Berlin |
| Occupation | Historian |
Early life and education
She was born in Goniądz, Poland, on 4 February 1908.[1] Her father was a rabbi and teacher, and her mother was also a teacher.[1][2] In 1922 she became a member of the Polish branch of the Young Communist League of Germany.[2] She studied philosophy and history at the University of Berlin.[1]
Career and exile
Following her graduation she worked as a teacher.[2] In 1927 she left the Jewish community.[1] She joined the Communist Party of Germany in 1930.[2] She emigrated to the Soviet Union in April 1932 after the Nazi Party had started to gain power.[2] She became a Soviet citizen in 1934 and started to become involved in scientific research.[2] Between 1942 and 1947 she was a teacher at the Central School for German War Prisoners in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast.[2]
Wolf moved back to East Germany in 1947 and held several posts. She first worked at the Central Administration for Public Education[1] before she became a citizen of East Germany in 1950.[1] In September of that year she was appointed rector of the Party Academy Karl Marx run by the SED and remained in office until June 1983.[1] She did, however not publish any research work.[3] In 1954 she became a candidate member of the SED's central committee.[1] She was made its full member in 1958 and she held that position until 1989.[1] That same year she was also promoted to professorship.[2] From 1983 to 1989 she acted as consultant at the central committee of the SED.[1] She was one of the most influential Stalinist members of the SED.[4]
Wolf joined the Party of Democratic Socialism, successor of the SED, but she was expelled from the party on 10 February 1990.[1]
Personal life and death
Wolf married three times.[1] She died in Berlin on 22 June 1999.[1]
Awards
Wolf was the recipient of the following: Soviet medal of Fatherland (1946), Banner of Labor (1959), Clara Zetkin Medal (1964), Order of Karl Marx (1965; 1978), Patriotic Order of Merit (Gold; 1968), Soviet Order of the Fatherland (1970) and Lenin Commemorative Medal (1970).[1][2]
References
- "Wolf, Hanna" (in German). Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung. October 2009. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
- "Wolf, Hanna". Biographische Handbücher der deutschsprachigen Emigration nach 1933 (in German). K. G. Saur. 1980.
- Stefan Berger (2003). "Former GDR Historians in the Reunified Germany: An Alternative Historical Culture and its Attempts to Come to Terms with the GDR Past". Journal of Contemporary History. 38 (1): 70. doi:10.1177/0022009403038001964. S2CID 154720242.
- Dietrich Orlow (2006). "The GDR's Failed Search for a National Identity, 1945-1989". German Studies Review. 29 (3): 550. JSTOR 27668125.