Erich Ziegler

Erich Ziegler (29 February 1914 – 6 May 2004) was a German politician and resistance activist. He was active in the "Heinz Kapelle Group" during the 1930s. After the war, Ziegler was a leader of the Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin (SEW).

Early years Ziegler was born in Neukölln in 1914 and grew up in a working class family. In 1929 he witnessed clashes between police and demonstrators on May Day in Neukölln. He joined the Young Communist League of Germany in the same year. was an activist of the Socialist Workers Youth (the youth wing of the SPD). To make ends meet, Erich Ziegler also worked delivering newspapers during these years. In 1936 he was drafted to the Wehrmacht. Once the war broke out in 1939, the group to which the Zieglers belonged began distributing anti-war propaganda in Berlin, calling for the overthrow of Adolf Hitler and demanding an end to hostilities with neighbouring countries.

Between 15 and 17 October 1939 the state authorities conducted a crack-down on the resistance activists in Berlin. The group that Ziegler belonged to was broken up. Ziegler took part in the construction of the Free German Youth and the Democratic Sports Movement of Greater Berlin.

SEW leader When the Socialist Unity Party of Germany-West Berlin (later renamed the Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin, SEW) was founded as an independent party in 1962, Ziegler was named Second Secretary of the Presidium of the party. Between May 1967 and April 1977 he served as Vice Chairman of the party.

After withdrawing from full-time politics Ziegler would continue some political activities, giving lectures to youth movements about his experiences of the underground struggle against the Hitler regime. At the time of his death in 2004, he was the last survivor of the Heinz Kapelle group.