Willi Münzenberg (August 14, 1889–October 21, 1940) was a leading propagandist for the KPD (Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, Communist Party of Germany) in the Weimar Era. August 14 is the 226th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (227th in leap years), with 139 days remaining. ... 1889 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... October 21 is the 294th day of the year (295th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 71 days remaining. ... 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Communist Party of Germany (in German, Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands – KPD) was formed in December of 1918 from the Spartacist League, which originated as a small factional grouping within the Social Democratic Party (SPD) opposed to the First World War on the grounds that it was an imperialist war in... The period of German history from 1919 to 1933 is known as the Weimar Republic (Pronounced Vye-Mar, and in German it is known as the Weimarer Republik). It is named after the city of Weimar, where a national assembly convened to produce a new constitution after the German monarchy...

Born in Erfurt, Germany the son of a tavern keeper, Münzenberg grew up in poverty. As a young man, he became involved in trade unions and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Following a split in the SPD in 1914 between the moderate majority (known as the Majority SPD, MSPD) and the radical minority (known as the Independent SPD, USPD) over the issue of the First World War, Münzenberg sided with the Independent faction. In 1918, Münzenberg was a founding member of the KPD. Münzenberg was one of the few KPD leaders of working-class origin. Map of Germany showing Erfurt Erfurt [ˈɛrfʊrt] is a city in central Germany. ... The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD – Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands) is the second oldest political party of Germany still in existence and also one of the oldest and largest in the world, celebrating its 140th anniversary in 2003. ... 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... USPD election poster, 1919 The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, or USPD) was a short-lived political party in Germany during the Second Reich and the Weimar Republic. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... 1918 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... The term working class is used to denote a social class. ...

During the Weimar period, Münzenberg earned the reputation of a brilliant propagandist. His first major success was a triumphant effort to raise money and food for the victims of the 1921 famine in Soviet Russia. In addition, Münzenberg worked closely with the Comintern and the Soviet secret police (known as the CHEKA between 1917–22 and the OGPU in 1922–34) to advance Communist propaganda all over the world. Münzenberg founded a bewildering number of front organizations such the World League Against Imperalism, the International Worker's Relief Fund, and the International Labor Defense, to covertly spread Communist propaganda. Western intelligence agencies generally referred to all of these organizations as the "Münzenberg Trust". In addition, despite being a staunch Communist, Münzenberg used these front organizations to covertly make business investments. Münzenberg liked to live in high style and was popularly known as "The Red Millionaire". Droughts and famines in Imperial Russia and USSR are known to have happened every 10-13 years, with average droughts happening every 5-7 years. ... The first edition of Communist International, journal of the Comintern published in Moscow and Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg) in May 1919. ... The Cheka (ЧК in Russian) was the first of many Soviet secret police organizations. ... Obedinennoe Gosudarstvennoe Politicheskoe Upravlenie (or OGPU) (Combined State Political Directorate, also translated as All Union State Political Board) was the name of the secret police in the Soviet Union in one of the stages of its development. ...

After directing the Comintern's handling of the Sacco and Vanzetti case in 1925, in 1933 Münzenberg achieved his greatest success with the Counter-Trial he organized in London to blame the Reichstag fire on the Nazis. Münzenberg lived in Paris, France from 1933 to 1940. During his years in exile, Münzenberg seems to have had some role in recruiting Kim Philby to work for the Soviets. Having lost favor with Stalin, in 1937 Münzenberg was expelled from the KPD and in 1938 from the Comintern. In 1939–40, Münzenberg was employed by the French government to stage anti-Nazi radio broadcasts into Germany. In June 1940, Münzenberg fled from Paris to escape the German advance and was found dead under very mysterious circumstances in October 1940. It is generally believed that Münzenberg was murdered by the NKVD, the successor to the Soviet secret police service with which Münzenberg had once worked. Sacco (Right) and Vanzetti (Left) Nicola Sacco (April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were two Italian anarchists, who were arrested, tried, and executed in Massachusetts in the 1920s on charges of murder of a shoe factory paymaster named Frederick Parmenter and... The Reichstag fire was a pivotal event in the establishment of Nazi Germany. ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... Harold Adrian Russell Kim Philby also H. A. R. Philby (January 1, 1912 – May 11, 1988) was a British traitor, a high ranking member of British intelligence, and lifelong spy for the Soviet Union. ... Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; see Other names section) (December 21, 1879[1] – March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and leader of the Soviet Union. ... Black Ravens by Boris Vladimirski, a depiction of the cars used by NKVD agents. ...

Further Reading

• The Red Millionaire: A Political Biography of Willi Münzenberg, Moscow's Secret Propaganda Tsar in the West, 1917-1940, Sean McMeekin, 2004. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300098472
• Double Lives : Stalin, Willi Munzenberg and the Seduction of the Intellectuals, Stephen Koch, 1994, 1995. Enigma Books. ISBN 1929631200
• KGB: The inside story of its foreign operations from Lenin to Gorbachev, Christopher Andrew and Oleg Gordievsky, 1990. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0060166053

Yale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908. ...

External links

• Lying for the truth: Münzenberg & the Comintern (http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/12/nov93/koch.htm)
• The Red Millionaire (http://www.newsweekly.com.au/articles/2004aug14_b1.html)