Rudi Wetzel

Rudi Wetzel (10 January 1909 - 31 August 1992) was a German political activist who became an East German journalist and newspaper editor after the Second World War.

Life Early years Rudolf "Rudi" Wetzel was born in Rechenberg, a small town in the mining region of Saxony on the frontier with what was, at that time, the Austrian province of Bohemia. His father worked as a decorator and furniture painter. After leaving school he attended the Construction Academy in Dresden before embarking, in 1929, on the study of Pedagogy at the Dresden Technical University ("TU Dresden"). In 1929 he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany ("Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands"; SPD). In 1931 he switched to the Communist Party. During the next couple of years he served as a party officer as chair of the Communist Students's Association in Dresden. It was also during this time that he met the Hungarian Communist activist, Inke Rosza, who became his partner - probably also at some stage his wife.

In August 1939 Wetzel was the author of the so-called "Gothenburg Resolution" which was critical of the non-aggression pact concluded between Germany and the Soviet Union that month. This opened Wetzel up to criticism from the leadership of the exiled Communist Party leadership based in Moscow. Wetzel's "Gothenburg Resolution" insisted that, despite the non-aggression pact, it was still Hitler and his power structure that must be seen as the true enemies of the German working class, rather than the old imperialist powers of Britain and France that were the implicit targets of understandings between Hitler and Stalin. Walter Ulbricht, already prominent among the exiled German communists in Moscow, issued instructions that German communists in Sweden should "isolate" Wetzel. Even if subsequent events may have vindicated Wetzel's judgements, incurring the suspicions of the man who later became the first leader of the German Democratic Republic is unlikely to have boosted his career prospects in Germany's Soviet occupation zone after 1945.

In 1942 Wetzel relocated to Stockholm. The 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union had led to a stark political reconfiguration affecting the various strands of the exiled German communist party. Wetzel's "Gothenburg Resolution" had become redundant, and by 1943 he was again fully engaged in party work. Around this time he and Inke separated, remaining on friendly terms.

During the ensuing years Wetzel was regarded with renewed suspicion by the East German leadership, and he held a succession of relatively low-profile journalistic positions. In June 1957 he became an editor with "Freie Welt", an illustrated magazine, but in February 1958 he was dismissed without notice on account of his "ideological failings" by the "Culture and Progress" publishing house. In 1959 he found an editorship with the magazine "Urania". He was also contributing to publications such as "Wissen und Leben".