KARL MARX ACADEMY; PROGRESS OF THE ONE-YEAR COURSE FROM 1 AUGUST TO 1 NOVEMBER 1950; START OF SECOND ONE-YEAR COURSE; PERSONNEL CHANGES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R006400360005-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 7, 2003
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: December 22, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

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INFORMATION REPORT
Geroany (Russian Zone)
A
Karl Uarx Academy; .Progress of the One-Year
Course from 1 August to 1 'elovember 1953;
Start of Secone One-Year Course; Personnel
Changes
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THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
The second half of the one and two-year study courses at the Karl
Marx Academy commenced on 1 August 1950. A four week summer va-
cation had afforded the students of the Academy an opportunity to
become acquainted with the prevailing sentiment in the Soviet hone.
Many of the students were grieved to learn that the attitude of the
populace toward the SED was not what they had been led to expect
at the Academy. Popular seaside resorts were found to be infested
with visitors from test Berlin, who spread the gospel ofIqestern
freedom and prosperity. Some of the students were apparently af-
fected by the more relaxed atmosphere prevailing outside the Academy,
and the contact with reactionary thought caused them to criticize
the Soviet film dramatizing the fall of Berlin. The more convinced
Communists at the Academy, however, soon remedied these deficiencies.
2, As was t?e expected, the Third. SED Party Conference, its speeches
and resolutions, keynoted the ensuing study program and,at times9
overshadowed the regularly scheduled course in political economy.
On 9 A ugust 1950 Bred Oelssner, chief theoretician and the man most
directly concerned with drafting the final resolution of the Party
Conference, spoke about its importance and the salient issues it
treats. It was a foregone conclusion that continuing emphasis of
the Conference and its decisions would, in the months to come, exert
a fundamental influence on the affairs of the Academy. Attendance
at a cycle of meetings devoted to the discussion of the Conference .
was mandatory for all students and employees of the Academy. The
first meeting in this series was addressed by the head of the Academy,
Rudolf Lindau, who treated WilhOlm Pieck's opening speech to the
Conference, stressing the theme of criticism and SelfeCriticism
Among the visiting lecturers was Greta Kuckhoff who spoke on the
economic and political development of the People's Democracies.
3. By the end of August 1950, the lectures of the Political/Economic
Department had been concluded and, after an interim oral and written
examination, the history faculty began its series with a lecture
dealing with the industrial revolution in England. The curriculum
of the History Department covers the period from 1789 to the pre-
sent, with special emphasis on the workers movement. Lecture out-
lines dealing with the period since 1918 have been classified con-
fidential because there remain some debatable points on which the
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History Department is loath to commit itself. The faculty has been
subjected to criticism for devoting too much time, at the expense
of Ernst Tbaelmanngs place in history, to the role played by the
Fischer-Maslow faction of the old KPD. In the instructors' meet-
ing on 17 October, Hanna Wolf aimed particularly severe criticism
at the History Department, accusing it of lacking the bolshevist
spirit, of failing to base its work on the classics (Marx, Engels,
Lenin, Stalin and particularly the &mt., DIAtou of ka CP USSR la),
and of not organizing the course properly. This meeting,in fact,
introduced an important new phase in the development of the Academy
toward a school of the bolshevist type. In future, the syllabus
of the Academy will be fashioned on lines set by the Party Academy
In Moscow; this also applies to the contents of lectures and Party
work within the Academy. All instructors are required to base their
lectures on translated outlines prepared by the Moscow academy.
In September 19509 studentsof the two study courses were scheduled
to prepare their written self-assessments, including a statement
concerning the function for which they consider themselves best
suited. This self-assessment, with the added endorsement of the
Party group, goes to the school board and the Party directory of the
Academy.
5. On 30 September and 1 October thePhilosophy Congress held its ses-
sions at the Academy. The guest of honor was a Soviet national
named Professor Feodejev(d.c University professors editors of glarallt,
members of the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute, representatives of the
Party schooling section of the various Party directorates of the
Leander, of the Party schools of the Leander, of the Ministry for
People's education, ' of the Central Pedagogic Institute in Berlin,
and Academy instructors and students attended. Feodejev's lecture
was not well received e the principal criticism pointed. out that it
dealt more with polities than with philosophy. In addition, Feodojev
answered questions from the audience in a fashion which most of his
listeners considered inadequate.
6,, In October 1950, the first one-year course and the second two-year
course, entered the final phase which stressed reviews of previous
lectures. ?Final examinations are scheduled to coemence early in
Novomber 1950. Both courses terminate on 18 December 1959. in addition to
the refresher courses, instructors were occupied in preparing the
so-called student characteristics, on the basis of which future as-
signments will be decided. During this period, practical problems
were treated by outside speakers. Wolfgang Groth, Referent for
school policy in Abteilung Kultur Erziehung, Central Committee,
spoke on DDR school policy objectives. Stefan Heymann, head of
Abteilung Massenagitation, Central Committee, talked on the im-
portance of agitation and propaganda. On 18 October Gerhard Eisler
lectured before the assembled student body on cosmopolitanism and
neo-fascism. His address was considered uninspiring, offering
nothing beyond the already known. A lecture by Anton Ackermann,
scheduled for 23 October, was cancelled as a result of Ackermann's
participation in the Prague Conference of atellite foreign ministers,
In the coming weeks, Alex Stark,. FDGB deputy chairman, and Wolfgang
Hang are to lecture, the former to :treat trade union policy Otto
Schoen, chief of the Cadre Section of the Central Coemittee, in his
talk on 18 October 1950 on the objectives of cadre policy, made the
following points:
A. In order to trail- cadres better qualified to discharge Party
functions within factories and todevelor independent judgment on
all matters relating to production, it is planned to send Party
functionaries to technical schools prior to placing them in industrial
firms as Party secretaries. Schoen stressed that "the Party function-
ary ought to be a qualified engineer".
B. Following the precedent established by the CP USSR (B), all Party
membership books will be exchanged early in 1951. This exchange,
Schoen pointed out, is not merely an administrative measure, but has
a very s ignificant bearing on the ideological indoctrination of Party
members.*
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C. The administrative schools are charged with the task of turn-
ing out a qualified civil service cadre. The Party must devote
more attentiOn to the students of administrative schools. The
Party schools, on the other hand, are primarily responsible for
turning out Party cadres.
D. An investigation of all university teachers is being carried
out. Teachers found to be politically unfit will be replaced by
younger, more reliable people.
E. In order to assure the full utilization of cadre reserves the
Party will pay more attention to students of technical azademies
se to activiets.
In August 1950 the various Laender directorates of the SED began
selecting and testing candidates for the next one-year study
course and the newly organized correspondence course. The examina-
tion board consisted of one representative each from the Cadre
Section of the Landesleitung, the Party Propaganda Section in the
Central Committeetand the Academy. These examinations were com-
pleted by the end of September the overall result indicated that
the general level of theoretical proficiency left much to be de-
sired.
8. The second one-year course began on 20 October 1950, instead
of 1 October as scheduled. Among the 200 participants are
20 students from Vest Germany, who arrived at the Acarlomv
on 3 October. Students from the DDR are, for the most part, key
functionaries of the Party, mass organizations, and Volkspolizei.
Some ministerial officials are included, and 20 per cent of the
student body are women. The majority of the students have a pro-
letarian background. Prominent among the members of the second
one-year course are the following:
A, A member of the North Rhine-Westphalian Diet and KPD secre-
tariat in that Land, who uses the alias Rudi Winter.
B. (fnu) Fugger, a member of the FDGB directorate and author of
a book on the history of the German trade union movement, which was
denied publication after the SED refused to license it.
C. The personal Referent (name unknown) of the 7inister President
of Thuringia,
D, The chairman (name unknown) of the VdgB of Saxony Anhalt.
The opening of the course was highlighted by a celebration on 24
October. Wilhelm Pieck delivered an address which was carried in
detail in Beues Deutschland, With Pieck were Fred Oelssner,
Hermann Matern, Schneideviind of Parteischulungof the SED Central
Committeepand (fnu) Schnein of the Soviet Control Commission.
This time contrary to the openings of previous courses, the offi-
cial Introduction of students to their Party groups was kept very
brief, and questions from the floor were prohibited.* *
The practice of having instructors and their assistant's introduce
themselves and recite their curriculum vitae was abandoned com-
pletely, and students from West Germany had been particularly en-
joined not to mention their place of residence,
9. Hanna Wolf has ordered that the system of periodic campaigns of
criticism and self-criticism be abandoned in favor of making such
criticism a more or less permanent feature of the course, thereby
lending justification to its reference as thetevelopmental lawn
(Entwicklungsgesetz) of the Party. ***
For the first time, lectures on international relations, given by
the History Department, are a part of the study program. The
second one-year course has set aside 36 hours for the History
Department, to include 14 lee ures on international relations.
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lO In early October 1950, a former graduate of the Academy and mem-
ber of the Propaganda Section of the Landesverband of Thuringia,
mentioned in the course of a private conversation with AeadeeY
students that the preparations for the election in Thuringia had
hit a snag. There had been a disquieting incidenoeof open re-
sistance, especially in some of the cities and particularly in
Weimar. This resistance had manifested itself in the tearing
down of election posters and the distribution of leaflets.
Furthermore, there had been a sizeable reduction in the number
of SED members running for election on the community, district,
and Land slate (en this connection, the figure of 36 per cent
was mentioned as the SED share). There were strong indications
that the bourgeois parties had been ?noes: effective than the SED
In penetrating the mass organizationspwith the result that those
organizations in many instances had nominated candidates from
among the bourgeois groups. Strong criticism had been expressed
by the Landesverband at the average age - 30 years - of FDJ nomi-
nated candidates. Symptoms of increasing resistance were also
reported by faculty members and students of the Academy on week-
end leave. In some instances, SED functionaries had been attacked.
Hans Viellaed, a student at the Academy, claimed that the Central
Committee had requested the personnel files of about 60 function-
aries of the Landesverband Brandenburg, some of whom were de-
tached to reinforce law enforcement agencies. At the Academy,
the pivotal issue was whether the ballot would be marked openly
or in secret, and mixed reaction was shown by both students and
instructors. At the beginning of October, the head of the History
of the CP USSR (B) Department, Wolfgang Sehiel, an authority on
Soviet Russia, took exception to.a statement made by Paul Verner,
Orgleiter of the Central Committee, that the vote would be open
and executed in groups. Schiel referred to the Soviet practice,
as described in a Taeeliche Rtyldscheu article on the electoral
system of the USSR, which provides for a secret vote and the use
of a voting booth? Ca 13 October. during a celebration in honor
of the activists of the DDR, Hanna Wolf disclosed to the as-
sembled student body that the Academy would cost its vote publicly.
This came as a great surprise to most of the students. Gustav
Wagner, Party functionary responsible for cultural affairs at the
Academy, openly raised objections against the open vote. After
discussing the matter with Ernst Mehlis, Party secretary of the
Academy, and with a former Academy instructor;(fnu) Puls, member
of the editorial board of Einheit (who cryptically ebserved
that "somebody is apparently off base") Wagner wrote a letter
to Herman Matern, chief of the SED Central Control Commission,
which Ernst Mehlis forwarded.**** The opposition cited Sackiet
election practice in favor of its stand. On 17 October, in the
course of an instructors, conference,jus Wagner and Ernst Mehlis
were called to task by Hanna Wolf. All those, she stated, who
had failed to comprehend the adopted election procedure, merely
manifested their inability to distinguish between formal and
real democracy. Ernst Mehlis tried to extricate himself by claim-
ing he had passed the letter on without reading it. Jus Wagner,
when called upon to recant and practice self-criticism, lost his
nerve, was unable to answer Hanna Wolf's questions and finally
left the conference room in tears. After a few days absence, he
made his re-appearance at the Academy.
lie The old bloc system under which the departments held their lec-
tures consecutively "in blocs" will not apply in the second one..
year course. As an example, the students of the second oneeerear
course had, by 29 October 1950, attended the following lectures:
A. History of the CP USSR (B) - Marxism and Leninism in action.
Lecturer: Kurt Hager,
B. Three lectures on the history of the USSR to the middle of
the 19th Century. Lecturers: Wolfgang Schiel and Heinz Lindner.
C. The first and second chapters of the Short History of the
CP USSR al, Lecturers: Hirzel and Wolfgang Klausnitzer.
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After the fourth lecture on the Short Elalguilthere follow the
lectures of the Philosophy Department and of the Polit/Economy
Department. The history faculty will start its lectures in
April 1951.
12. The correspondence course is scheduled to begin on 1 November
1950. Difficulties were encountered in finding qualified women
for correspondence courses. An analysis of the examination re-
sults proved that there was a lack of appreciation of the im-
portance of Stalin and his works.
13. The next study course at the Academy, scheduled to begin in
January 1951, is expected to last two years. In the course of
1951, certainly not later than 1952, a three-year course will
be started.
14. In September 1950 the physical protection of the Academy was taken
over by 20 uniformed Peoples Police who are housed inside tne' -
compound. The school directorate officially announced that the
police detail is.
A. to guard all exits Aud ,is authorized to inspect all suit-
cases, packagesond briefcases
'E4 to perform regular guard duty on the Academy site; (atudents
will be required to identify themselves at all times
C. to take part in all official affairs e4-.. the Academy; Catudents
will be selected to help in their ideological developmentN
Two nights after the police had been installed, a shooting fray
took place. Allegedly a horde of people from the West Sectors
tried to invade the Academy grounds, but nobody was arrested.
15. The Noel Field conspiracy and the decision of the Central Committee
of the SED to demote the implicated functionaries received, of
course, the full attention of the Academy. Needless to say, no
voice was raised in question of the facts as presented by the SED
leadership. One week after the disclosure, Rudolf Lindau addressed
the complete student body of the Academy, making the following
salieot observations:
A. Agents and their accomplices usually come from a lower middle-
clues environment.
B. The recruitment of agents and their activity meet least re-
sistance among those who underrate the role played by the USSR and
by Stalin, who do not fully confide in bothond who fail to under-
stand the role of Anglo-American imperialism. (Merker and his as-
sociates failed to comprehend that Noel Field and his circle, de-
spite the united front against Fascism, were class foes).
C. Uncontrolled passions and moral delinquency favor the actiel-
ties of the American Secret Service.
D. Based on the resolution of the Central Committee, both SED
functionaries and the broad membership must display increased
vigilance.
16. Early in September 1950, the students of the Academy were officially
advised by Fred Oelssner that, effective immediately, Rudolf Lindau
had been relieved of his position as arincipal of the Academy and
that Frau Hanna woir naa peen apprxtnted in his place. Lindau had
been instructed by the Politburo to write a comprehensive history
of the German workers movement, part of which would be the bio-
graphy of Ernst Thaelmann. This project had been launched in the
final resolution of the Third SED Party Conference. The prevailing
Impression, later confirmed by Hanna Wolf, was that Lindau had nut
performed to the Politbuerovs satisfaction in discharging his
duties as principal.
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17,, Hans Teubner and (fnu) Eppinger, both instructors left the
Academy in July 1950. The former, it was later disclosed,
was relieved of his Party functions (but not arrested) by a
decision of the Central Committee of the SED, dated 31 August
1950, on the grounds of his implication in the Noel Field
conspiracy. Eppinger, a philosophy teacher, was transferred
to the Hennigsdorf steel factory as manager's assistant. No
official reasons have been given for his transfer. Bruno
Rueffler, who had been a teacher at the Academy in the Basic
Issues (Grundfragen) Department for four years, was reportedly
sent to the Brandenburg steel plant to take up the position of
Kulturdirektor. Dorf. head of the Basic Issues Department,
had to resign because of poor health. The departure of Teubner
and Dorf necessitated a reshuffle of instructors. Replacements
y:ere as follows: Wolfgang Schiel was put in charge of History
of the CP USSR. Heinz Abraham was named to replace Teubner in
the Lehrabteilung. (fnu) Marx, a newcomer to the Academy, was
placed in charge of the Parteiaufbau Department (a new faculty,
the product of a merger of the Basic Issues and Philosophy De-
partments).
18. At the beginning of October 1950, a number of students attend-
ing the first one year study course were notified that they were
slated for premature withdrawal from the course in order to re-
ceive appointments as Academy instructors with the rank of As-
sistant. This action was taken in pursuance of the Third Party
Conference resolution envisaging a vastly increased system of
Party education. This, in turn, entails the building up of a
permanent training cadre composed of Party instructors versed
In the Leninist/Marxist theory and not subject to re-assignment
in other types of work for at least the next few years. The
measure was implemented on 9 October. All students slated for
aseist nt's positions were told that effective immediately they
would cease taking part in their respective eourses and would
join the Academy. For purposes of supervising their scholastic
progress the assistants are incorporated into Kollektivev each
headed by an experienced instructor. All students thus appointed
will no longer come under the jurisdiction of the Party units
that sent them to the Academy but will be placed under the
Central Committee, more specifically its Propaeanda Section
headed by Kurt Hager, which in turn, Is answerable to Politbuero member
Fred Oelssner.
19. The enlarged faculty, resulting from the above measure, brought
about the following personnel changes:
A. The Correspondence Course Department is under Ludwig Arnold.
He has several regional assistants, each handling the corres-
pondence students of one Land. Goetz Scharf, formerly with the
philosophy faculty, is responsible for Land Mecklenburg; Fritz
Metzner. who attended the one year course, handles Land Saxony;
Ilse Tischer, formerly a member of the Basic Issues Department
and editor of the wall newspaper Schwarz und Weiss was placed
in charge of a Land not as yet Identified.
13, The Philosophy Department under Victor Stern, with which .
Basic Issues and Literature and A rt have been merged, received
the following additions to its staff: Marianne Lange, a graduate
of the last nine-month course, was appointed Arts and Literature
teacher. Erika JAckell who attended the second two-year course,
and use Schiel and Egon Dummer, of the first one-year course,
have been appointed assistants.
C. The Economics Department, headed by (fnu) Lemnitz, includes
a recently created chair for political geography under Dieter
Hanneberg. Last additions to the staff are Richard Beim,
Wolfgang Nessler, Siegfried Freytag, Albrecht Heinze, Hans Lorenz,
all of whom attended the first one-year course, and Marianne
Henschel of the second two-7ea course. Richard Beim, whooduring
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the wartserved with the Red Army, was mayor of the borough of
Schbneberg in 1945. Nessler, 21 years of age, was a member of
the Central Council of the FDJ and a member of the Saxony-Anhalt
.SED secretariats; he is a fanatic with distinct sadistic traits.
D. Tho History Department, headed by Erich Paterna and his
deputy Felix Rossmann, received Adolf Wicklein, a former teacher
at the Landesparteischule, Saxony-Anhalt; Martin ;;einhold;
Brigitte Czech, a former teacher at the Kreisparteischule,
Saxony-Anhalt; and Erika Asmuss, formerly an SED Landesverband
Brandenburg fenctionary. All of these students were attending
the first one-year course. The second two-year course provided
the following additions: Rudi PfUtzner, of Radio Leipzig or
Dresdentand Gisela Trautsch,
E. The CP USSR (B) Department under Wolfgang Sehiel received
the following additions: Hanni Glbckner, whose husband will at-
tend the second one-year course; Willi Roesel; Heinz Juch, former
teacher at the -entral FDGB school (Bundesschule); Sepp Sobeck,
formerly Kreisinstrukteur in Mecklenbure. The aforementioned
persons attended the first one-yeareourse.
F. The Lehrabteilung, headed by Heinz Abraham, added Heinz
Doege, transferred from the economics faculty, and (mu) Steigerwald,
a student in the second two-year course, who comes from Western
Germany.
10, re'
20. According to Kurt Hager, it is planned to equalize the status of
Academy instructors and University professors. This would result
In an improvement, as far as the instrnctors are concerned, both
In respect to pay and to title. If this scheme materializes, the
following categories of instructors in order of rank would be
created:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
LU
*It
Department Head (Fakultaetsleiter)
Deputy Department Head
Teacher (Oberlehrer)
Instructor (Lehrer)
Teaching Assistants (Oberassistent)
Assistant (Assistent)
Islemaill1 This paragraph is transmitted as received
spite oi its obscurity.
t: This was presumably done to prevent disclosure
of oo muc etailed information on the personal and political past
of the students .
see ommente Under the old system, students noted down all
symptoms of deviation disclosed by their colleagues, keeping these
notes aside until the date of the scheduled criticism and self-
criticism period .
25X1 *904 Comment: gathered that the core of opposition
against tne open vote centered among instructors who, like Wagner,
had returned from the USSR in January 1950,and who had taught at
Antifa Schools.
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