Teddy

This cache is dedicated to Ernst Thälmann. The sculptor Otto Leibe (1913-2002) from Halle, who is best known for his animal sculptures, created this bust from Lusatian granite, which was placed here on a porphyry pedestal and inaugurated on 7 November 1981 (the 64th anniversary of the start of the Russian October Revolution). (source) Ernst Thälmann has since been looking towards Thälmannplatz (photo) (today: Riebeckplatz).

Ernst Thälmann was born in Hamburg. He married Rosa Kochin 1915, with whom he had a daughter Irma.

In 1923, Thälmann took over the leadership of the KPD, pursued its "Bolshevisation" along the lines of the CPSU and established authoritarian rule in the party. Thälmann imitated the leader cult around Stalin and was considered the "infallible leader" of the KPD. With the founding of the Red Front Fighters' League he created a paramilitary organisation opposed to the right-wing nationalist Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten, which continued the street war even after the latter was banned in 1929. Although it weakened the anti-fascist forces, he polemicised against the SPD in particular.
In March 1933 he was arrested in Berlin by the National Socialists, although within the party it was not possible to ultimately clarify any co-responsibility through repeated cover-ups and mutual suspicions. Thälmann was mistreated several times in "protective custody". Neither Stalin nor Walter Ulbricht made any effort to release Thälmann [source]. He was murdered in Buchenwald concentration camp on 18 August 1944.

There are still many who think they know all sorts of things about Thälmann, after all, the Thälmann pioneers zu DDR-Zeiten in überreichem Maß traktiert. Es lohnt sich, hinter dieses verzerrte Bild zu schauen, und auch das Totalitäre und Destruktive zu sehen, neben seinem Missbrauch zu DDR-Zeiten, als seinen Tarnname »Teddy« jedes Kind kannte.
The occasion for this cache was the creepy event of the MLPD in April 2023 at this very monument.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The easiest way to reach the box is via the indicated entrance. The short path leads past the monument. Please make sure to come via Voßstraße and do not try to stop briefly on Franckestraße.