Karl Steinhardt

Portrait of Steinhardt at the Second World Congress of the Comintern. By I. Brodsky

Karl Steinhardt (1 August 1875, Gyöngyös — 21 January 1963, Vienna) was an Austrian politician and activist who was one of the founders and leaders of the Communist Party of Austria.

Biography Born in Gyöngyös in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in to the family of an officer of a hussar regiment. After graduating from his apprenticeship as a printer he became a member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria in 1894. He continued his work as a printer throughout Europe and eventually settled in Hamburg where he was later expelled for his political activities. He went to Vienna in 1913 and became fully committed to political activism until he was expelled from the SDAPÖ for during the First World War for his internationalist stance and anti-war propaganda.

Steinhardt and his "Communist Group" alongside other political radicals such as Ruth Fischer who were formerly members of the Social Democratic Party founded the Communist Party of Austria. In 1919 he was elected to the leadership if the party and became a delegate to the First Congress of the Communist International. Upon his return to Vienna the plane he was a passenger of was shot down in Romaniac and he was arrested for espionage. At first he was sentenced to death however it was later revoked and Steinhardt was sentenced to forced labor instead. After he managed to get in contact with the International Red Cross he was set free and returned to Vienna.

Steinhardt was also a delegate of the Second and Third World Congresses of the Comintern and was elected to its Executive Committee. He was also a delegate at the Congress of the Peoples of the East.

Karl Steinhardt died on 21 January 1963 in Vienna.