Anton Ackermann(real name: Eugen Hanisch, 25 December1905-4 May1973) was an East German politician. In 1953 he briefly served as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
From 1920 to 1928 he worked as functionary of the Communist Youth Movement of Germany. In 1926 he joined the Communist Party of Germany. He studie at the Lenin School in Moscow. Back in Germany, the Communist Party was expelled after the Nazi's seized power in 1933. Ackermann continued working for the illegal Communist Party.
From 1935 to 1937 he lived in Prague. During the Spanish Civil War, Ackermann was the leader of the Political School of the International Brigades. After staying a shortwhile, he went to Moscow and became editor of the German language newspaper "The Free Word".
After World War II he went back to Germany and joined the East German Communist party, the Socialist Unity Party (SED). He was elected into the Central Committee and became a candidate member of the Politburo in 1949. From 1950 to 1954 he was a member of the People's Chamber.
From 1949 to 1953 he was the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. After the arrest of the minister, Georg Dertinger, Ackermann served briefly as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
In 1953/1954 he was expelled from the Politburo and fired as minister because of "party-hostile activity."
In 1956 he was rehabiltated and worked for the State Planning Bureau.
In 1970 he was rewarded with the Patriotic Service Medal. In 1973 he committed suicide.
Ackermann said he would only continue when the Department of Justice had repaid him the R12000, plus interest and banking costs, that he had had to pay out of his own pocket to Belgian businessman Bernard Zimmer, who testified in the trial last week.
Ackermann said that when he was tasked with prosecuting the case in 1998, he drew up a report making it clear that Basson's trial would be expensive and the director-general of Justice, the then Public Prosecutor's Office and several ministers were aware of this.
Ackermann said he handed in a full account for Zimmer's flight and accommodation costs on July 20, with the understanding that Zimmer had to be paid by August 17.
AntonAckermann, a deputy director of public prosecutions, alleged that Judge Willie Hartzenberg had decided 18 months ago that Basson was innocent.
Early in the trial, Mr Ackermann applied unsuccessfully to have Judge Hartzenberg recuse himself from the trial, claiming that he was biased.
Mr Ackermann said he would not present argument on the credibility of witnesses as the judge had already made up his mind that none of them were credible.
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