Ernst Paul

Paul was born on 27 April 1897 in Steindorf, Bohemia, the son of Anton Paul and Anna Paul (née Tampe).[1] His father was a weaver and the family lived in poverty.[1] He attended volksschule in Riegersdorf 1903–1908.[2] Between 1908 and 1911 he attended bürgerschule in Eulau.[2]

After leaving school, Paul worked as a typesetter apprentice 1911–1915.[2] Paul's mother died in 1912.[1] In the same year he joined the Young Workers League of Austria.[3] He became a SDAPÖ member in 1913.[2]

During World War I he served as corporal in the Austro-Hungarian army.[1] He fought at the Battles of the Isonzo and on the Eastern Front in Galicia, Bukovina and Romania.[1] He was awarded a Medal for Bravery.[2]

After his military service, he became a member of the German Social Democratic Workers Party in the Czechoslovak Republic (DSAP).[3] He took part in founding of the Social Democratic Workers Youth League and served as chairman until 1920.[2] In 1920 he moved to Teplitz-Schönau.[2] Between 1920 and 1926 he served as chairman of the Socialist Youth League.[2][3][4] He took part in the founding of the Socialist Youth International, and served as a member of its bureau between 1923 and 1932.[2][4] In 1924 he moved to Prague.[2] Between 1925 and 1938 he served as editor of the Prague-based newspaper Der Sozialdemokrat ('The Social Democrat').[1][3] In 1930 he was named Educational Secretary of the party, later being named Central Secretary of DSAP.[3] He served as vice chairman of the German Popular Education Institute.[2] Moreover, Paul led the paramilitary wing of the party, Republikanische Bürgerwehr.[1]

At the time of the signing of the Munich Agreement, Paul was visiting Sweden.[1] He stayed in Sweden in exile to avoid arrest back home.[1] Paul lived in Stockholm from 1938 to 1948.[2] He functioned as the leader of Sudeten German exiles in Sweden.[3] 1941–1942 he went to London to negotiate with the Czechoslovak government-in-exile president Edvard Beneš on the future of the Sudeten Germans.[2] He took part in forming the International Group of Democratic Socialists in Stockholm in 1942.[1] His Czechoslovak citizenship was withdrawn in 1943 by the government-in-exile, rendering Paul stateless.[2]

In 1948 Paul moved to the West German town of Esslingen am Neckar.[1][3] He served as editor-in-chief of the SPD organ in Baden Württemberg, Allgemeine Zeitung in Stuttgart/Mannheim, 1949–1951.[1][3][5] He was a Bundestag member 1949–1969.[3][5] He was part of the West German delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe 1956–1967.[3] Moreover, he was a delegate to the assembly of the Western European Union.[1]

Paul died on 11 June 1978 in Gallspach, Austria.[1][3] He was buried in Esslingen am Neckar on 16 June 1978.[1][2]