Emmi Dölling

Emmi Dölling (born Emmi Effenberger; 5 February 1906 – 25 January 1990) was a Czechoslovak/German political activist (KPD/SED) and journalist.

Life Early years Emmi Effenberger was born in Ruppersdorf, one of a cluster of villages subsumed into Reichenberg (as it was then known) in north Bohemia, at that time an ethnically and linguistically German region in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Her father, like many in the area, was a textile worker. He later became a founder member of the Czechoslovak Communist Party ("Komunistická strana Československa" / KSČ), which some suggest must later have been helpful to his daughter in her own political career. After successfully concluding her schooling she moved on to a Teacher Training College and then embarked on a teaching career in nearby Neustadt. She took a leading role in building up the Young Pioneer organisation (for children) within the Communist Youth League. In 1928 she embarked on a course at the International Lenin School in Moscow. She returned to Czechoslovakia in 1931 and resumed party secretarial duties. or 1939

Soviet occupation zone / German Democratic Republic In December 1945, seven months after the formal end of the Second World War, Emmi Dölling returned from Moscow to Prague, joining her husband who had made the same journey seven months earlier.

She relocated again in January 1946, moving to what had been administered, since the previous summer, as the Soviet occupation zone in Germany. She settled in Berlin and transferred into the Communist Party of Germany, taking a job with the party Central Committee. and in 1946/47 of "Neuer Weg" ("New Way"). Between 1947 and 1949 she was for most purposes out of action, seriously ill with Tuberculosis. Much of this time was spent in a sanatorium in Sülzhayn.

Awards and honours (not a complete list) 1962 Badge of Honour for German-Soviet friendship 1978 Medal for Outstanding Performance serving Socialist Education in the "Ernst Thälmann" Pioneer Organisation in Gold 1981 Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold 1986 Patriotic Order of Merit Gold clasp