Wilhelm Pieck was a communist activist and East German politician. He was born in 1876 and was educated as a carpenter. In 1894 he joined the German Timber Workers Association and the wood-worker’s federation. As a member, he became increasingly political and in 1895 he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany. He rose through he party, becoming chairman in 1906. Pieck opposed WWI and in 1915 was arrested at a demonstration. He was arrested again for opposing the war and moved to Luxembourg to live in exile for a short time. When he returned in 1918 he joined the Communist Party of Germany and in 1919 was arrested along with Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebknecht. The latter two were killed by Far-right partisans on the way to the prison, but Pieck managed to escape. He continued to lead communist organisations until 1933 when Hitler took power. He fled to Russia with his family and lived in Moscow until 1945. After the war ended he moved to East Germany and set about organizing the Socialist Unity Party. He was made president of East Germany and served in that position until 1960. However, after he lost the chairmanship in 1950 he was not dominant in party politics. He was very old and suffered two strokes in the 1950s. In August of 1960 he left Berlin and died the next month.
Update
As you may or may not be aware, I am a high school student. My school is set to begin the fall semester tomorrow. As such, I will not have the time to write as many posts as I do now or maintain a daily schedule for posts. That being said, I will attempt to write several posts each week. Further, I am considering shifting to a new format instead of discussing events that occurred on a given day.
German History 