Kuratorium "Gedenkstätte-Ernst-Thälmann" e. V., Hamburg

	Exhibition	Library	Archive	iin the Thälmann House
	Ernst-Thälmann-Platz in Hamburg-Eppendorf

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Ernst Thälmann Memorial Museum
Historical Research Centre

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This exhibition tells the story of the political and trade union organisations of the workers movement in the first half of the twentieth century and attempts to give visitors an insight into the causes and background of German fascism and the Second World War.

What can be seen in the Ernst Thälmann Memorial Museum?
Over 500 exhibits can be seen in 32 display cases and on 34 display boards. Written and pictorial material, newspaper of the time, magazines, posters etc. documents shows the rise from the Hamburg transport worker Ernst Thälmann to a young social democrat and trade union functionary and to a chairman of the KPD (Communist Party of Germany) and representative df the Communist International (Comintern), through to his representative roles in both local and national parliaments, as initiator of antifascist campaigns and his struggle as Hitler's prisoner up to his murder in the Buchenwald concentration camp.

The section about resistance and persecution in Hamburg shows visitors documents about the fates of women, men and teenagers, those who risked their lives in the struggle against Hitler and war. We show things connected with their activity, such as a printing press, pamphlets, illegal newspaper and secret material hidden inside other publications together with Gestapo protective custody orders, death sentences issued by the Nazi judiciary documents ańd the last letters, written by inmates from Neuengamme and other concentration camps.

Ernst Thälmann was a committed campaigner for world peace, because he had experiences of the horrors of war himself. From January 1915 to the end of the war in 1918, he shared the fate of millions of soldiers at the front, whose lives were put at risk for the interests of the international finance capital and militarism.
Ernst Thälmann stood for the struggle against Nazis.
Erom the beginning, Ernst Thälmann was among those who warned peoples for the dangers of fascism in Germany. In 1932 he denounced fascism with his short and direct “Hitler means war!"

One of Thälmann's initiative, the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) called a widespread antifascist campaign in Germany!" in order to remove the barrier between social democratic and communist workers. In many places were formed and functionaries united front committees and members of both parties - KPD and SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany) discussed together, how could be fought against fascism.

The leadership of the SPD and the ADGB (All-German Trade Union League) rejected a united struggle. The leadership of the trade unions declined to call a general strike and agreed to allow members to demonstrate under Nazi banners on the 1" May. This enabled the Nazis to arrest a lot of trade union leaders. The strength of the communists and those social democratics and non-aligned antifascists, who were prepared fight against Hitler, fascism and war, was not enough to prevent the rise of a fascist dictatorship. 

"Ernst Thälmann and comrades: A Hamburg exhibition in pictures and words" published by the curators of the Ernst Thälmann Memorial Museum Hamburg 2009.
Similar to an exhibition catalogue, this publication documents the exhibits in Hamburg's Ernst Thälmann Memorial Museum, which was set up over four decades ago. This memorial museum is housed in the house at the corner of Tarpenbekstrasse 66 in Hamburg's Eppendorf district. In the same building where the Thälmann family had rented an apartment from the end of the 1920s.

We look forward to your visit and to providing you with further information about future events. Further informations is available from:

The curators of the “Ernst Thälmann Memorial Museum e.V.", located at Ernst-Thälmann-Platz in the Eppendorf district of Hamburg.Address: Tarpenbekstrasse 66, 20251 Hamburg,Tel. +49 40 474184,E-mail: kuratorium@thaelmann-gedenkstaette.de, Internet: www.thaelmann-gedenkstaette.de

Opening times: Wed 2pm to 5 pm, Thu 10am to 1pm, Fri 2pm to 5pm and by arrangement via email

Bank details: Postbank Hamburg IBAN: DE98 2001 0020 0133 7372 04, BIC: PBNKDEFF

Letztes Änderungsdatum: