Gerhart Eisler Scrapbook
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Historical/Biographical Note
Gerhart Eisler (1897-1968) was a prominent communist in Austria, Germany, the United States, and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). His brother was the leftist composer Hanns Eisler. From 1929 to 1931 he was a liaison between the Communist International and the Communist Parties in China and then from 1933 to 1936 to the United States. Gerhart Eissler was charged in two trials in 1947 first with refusing to testify before the U.S. Congress' House Un-American Activities Committee, then of violating U.S. laws by misrepresenting his Communist Party affiliation on his immigration application. He was sentenced to one and three years in prison, but was released on caution. When his last legal appeal had failed he jumped bail and secretly boarded the Polish liner MS Batory bound for London in May, 1949. Once in England, authorities allowed him to leave for the German Democratic Republic, where Eisler became chief of East German radio.
Scope and Contents
The Gerhart Eisler Scrapbook is a one flat box collection containing pages from a scrapbook kept by Eisler of newspaper clippings. The clippings pertain to radical and leftist figures and organizations, particularly in reference to persecution from HUAC, and span from 1946 to 1947.
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive has no information about copyright ownership for this collection and is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials from it. Materials in this collection, which were created in 1946-1947, are expected to enter the public domain in 2067.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Materials found in collection; provenance is unknown. The accession number associated with this collection is 2008.005.