Eisler, Gerhart

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.

From the guide to the Gerhart Eisler Scrapbook, 1946-1947, (Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive)