Artur König

Artur König (18 April 1884 1945) was a German politician (KPD). He sat, briefly, as a Communist member of the Reichstag (national parliament) in 1924/25. He fell out with the party leadership after he was appointed party treasurer in 1924, and investments made with party funds turned sour. There was no evidence or lasting support for initial suggestions that König had enriched himself personally, but a significant amount of money was nevertheless lost and his influence within the fractious Communist Party was permanently diminished. During the twelve Nazi years he was involved in resistance but no details survive. It is thought that he died when he was shot, early in 1945, by Nazi paramilitaries, in Strausberg near Berlin.

Life Artur König was born in Breslau (as Wrocław was then known) into a family registered as "non-religious" (which in Germany confers certain tax advantages).

The Communist Party invested its funds in various factories and other businesses, selected to maximise financial returns. One of the companies in which the party had invested was even engaged in producing gramophone records, an investment which the party leadership would later deride as crazy, because it was obvious that the gramophone record industry would be destroyed by the rapidly emerging world of Radio broadcasting. There were naturally calls on party funds. During König 's time as party treasurer there were unplanned additional expenses in connection with the start-up costs for the party news-sheet "Sichel und Hammer" (which was relaunched in 1925 as the Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung ("Workers' Illustrated Newspaper"). In 1925 it emerged that ill-judged investment/spending decisions had led to a loss of party funds assessed, initially, at 100,000 Marks. The party's "business dealings" had previously been celebrated, and when information about the losses came out, wild rumours began to circulate within the party, hinting at wild parties and embezzlement. Still in 1925, Artur König was replaced as party treasurer and an enquiry was launched into what had happened.

The scandal attracted the attention of the Comintern which used it to try and discredit other party comrades who had fallen out of favour with the leadership, notably Werner Scholem and Ruth Fischer. In the aftermath of the affair König was also obliged to resign his parliamentary (Reichstag) seat in November 1925. The seat was taken on by his party comrade Agnes Plum. Nevertheless, although the middle 1920s were characterised by serious party ructions and many expulsions from the party, Artur König was not expelled from the party. The investigation evidently concluded very quickly that he had not enriched himself at the party's expense. His name continued to appear on party lists till the early 1930s. However, he never again held any important positions in the party structure.

After January 1933 political activity (except in support of the Nazi Party) became illegal, and many previously active communists were arrested and/or killed by the authorities. Others managed to flee abroad. Information on Artur König's final twelve years is sparse and based on hearsay. It is thought that he became involved in an underground antifascist resistance group in the Lusatia area. According to Robert Neddermeyer, a Reichstag and Communist Party contemporary who was also actively involved in antifascist resistance (and survived), Artur König died when he was shot, early in 1945, by Nazi paramilitaries, in Strausberg near Berlin.