# Kurt Hager

Kurt Hager (24 July 1912 – 18 September 1998) was an East German statesman, a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany who was known as the chief ideologist of the party and decided many cultural and educational policies in the German Democratic Republic.

## Life

Hager was born in Bietigheim, Württemberg, on 24 July 1912, the son of a labourer and a cleaner. After attending primary and secondary school he passed the high school exam (Abitur) in 1931. He was a member of the YMCA and Socialist Student Union. Hager worked as a journalist and joined the KPD in 1930, and the Roter Frontkämpferbund in 1932. In 1933 he took part in a sabotage of Hitler's first speech on the radio (Stuttgarter Kabelattentat [de]). Hager was arrested and sent to the concentration camp Lager Heuberg. After a brief period of detention, he emigrated in 1936.
Until 1937, he worked as a courier for the Young Communist League of Germany in Switzerland, France and Czechoslovakia. From 1937 to 1939 he participated in the Spanish Civil War as a journalist, where he worked for the Deutscher Freiheitssender 29,8 [de] (German Freedom Broadcaster) and Radio Madrid's foreign program.
In 1939 he was detained in France and then emigrated to England. There he was responsible for the international organization of the KPD active, writing under the pseudonym "Felix Albin". After the outbreak of war, he was interned, first in an internment camp at Huyton near Liverpool, and later on the Isle of Man.

## East Germany

In 1945 Hager returned to Berlin. Until 1946 he first worked as forestry worker and welder, and later as a journalist for the magazine "Freie Tribüne".
Upon his return, he was deputy chief editor of "Vorwärts", the Monday edition of Neues Deutschland. In 1948, Hager graduated the Parteihochschule "Karl Marx", qualifying him to be a lecturer. In 1949 he became a full professor for philosophy at the Humboldt University in Berlin.
In 1946 he joined the SED, and became head of the party Training Division, then in 1949 the Head of the Propaganda Department. From 1952 he became the Head of the Science Department of SED, and from 1954 a member of the Central Committee of the SED. In 1955 he became the secretary, and was responsible for science, popular education and culture. A candidate in 1959, from 1963 he was a Member of the Politburo of the CC of SED and the Ideology committee of the Politburo. In 1958 he became a member of the Public Chamber and 1967 was made chairman of the Public Education Committee. He was also between 1976-1989 a Member of the Council of State and between 1979-1989 a member of the National Defense Council. In the SED-Politbüro Hager was "Chefideologe" and ultimately responsible for culture.
In speeches and writings Hager denied the existence of a single German cultural nation and a common German history. In 1987, in an interview with the German magazine Stern about the reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union, Hager gave the answer: "Would you, if your neighbor repapers his apartment, feel like you should also repaper your apartment?". This rejection of the policy of glasnost and perestroika of the Soviet military power met an angry reception both in the party base, as well as in the population of the GDR. Wolf Biermann titled Hager - probably due to this occasion, in his song "The Ballad of the corrupt old men" scornfully as "Professor Tapeten-Kutte". In an encounter with GDR-journalists spontaneously visiting his residence at "Wachobjekt Wandlitz", Hager claimed he was placed there against his will at the climax of the Cold War. He had "submitted to the decisions of the party," said Hager in the presence of his wife. He described Wandlitz, which after 1989 became a symbol of the duplicity of GDR leaders, as the seventh internment camp in his life.
In November 1989 Hager was removed from his functions, and in 1990 expelled from the SED-PDS.
Hager won numerous awards. He received 1956 Hans-Beimler-Medaille, 1962 Banner of Labor, 1964 Vaterländischer Verdienstorden, 1969 entitled Hero of Labour, as well as 1972, 1977 and 1982 Order of Karl Marx.
His daughter Nina Hager, joined somewhat in the footsteps of her father. She is vice chairman of the German Communist Party (DKP), a member of the National Executive and there are other positions.
Hager died in Berlin in 1998. His grave is located on the Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde.