Franz Dahlem

Franz Dahlem (14 January 1892 – 17 December 1981) was a German communist politician who was a leading official of the Socialist Unity Party (SED). Dahlem helped establish the SED and German Democratic Republic, and held senior positions in the Volkskammer and SED Central Committee.

Dahlem participated in the German revolution of 1918-19 and joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) during the Weimar Republic, serving as a KPD member in the Landtag of Prussia from 1921 to 1924 and the Reichstag from 1928 to 1933. Dahlem went into exile in France during the Nazi period and continued KPD activities until the end of the Second World War. Dahlem became well-known and popular in the SED leadership by the early 1950s and was seen by some as a possible rival to Walter Ulbricht. Dahlem was one of several high-ranking SED officials to be removed from power by Ulbricht after the Uprising of 1953. Dahlem was formally rehabilitated by the SED in 1956, serving on the Central Committee from 1957 until his retirement in 1974.