The image of Kurt Schumacher in Polish post-war journalism, 1946–1951

Abstract

In German historiography and the German popular tradition Kurt Schumacher is seen as a man of character and a beacon of personal and political integrity. Arrested in 1933, he spent more than a decade in prisons and concen- tration camps. But neither harsh treatment nor torture could force him to renounce his anti-Nazi views. In the last weeks before the liberation of the Neuengamme camp network, the Gestapo put his name on a death list. He survived by going into hiding. As soon as the war was over, he joined the budding political life of the West Germany at the head of the SPD. He was a one of the most uncompromising opponents of any form of return of the members of the Nazi regime into social or political life. As he was a staunch enemy of all totalitarianisms, and made no exception for communism, he became the object of hatred of the communist leaders based in East Germany. They falsely accused of collaboration with the Gestapo and the SS, serving as a kapo and committing crimes in the concentration camps.
The same discourse of hate was adopted by the whole Eastern block. In Poland he was denounced as a new Hitler, or at least an heir of the Nazi ideological dreams, who allegedly hobnobbed with activists of the old regime. The truth of the matter is that Schumacher was firmly committed to the idea of German unity and the return of the territories beyond the Oder-Neisse line. As he had excellent relations with the Western allies and tried to bring them round to his point of view, to which Poland reacted with irritation, anger and fear. However, he was also a radical pacifist and certainly there was no danger of him supporting any violence. That aspect was left out of the communist discourse which created an image of Schumacher the war monger, bent on mobilizing the Germans to a new war with Poland.
In a society where the memory of German atrocities was alive and strong, it was easy not only to stir the emotions but also to instrumentalize them for the communists' own political ends.