{{Infobox officeholder |name = Erich Kops |image = |alt = |caption = |birth_date = {{Birth date|1905|01|20}} |birth_place = Jena, German Empire |death_date = {{Death date and age|1961|05|28|1905|01|20}} |death_place = Dresden, German Democratic Republic |other_names = |known_for = |office1 = Ambassador of the German Democratic Republic to Hungary |term_start1 = 1949 |term_end1 = 1951 |predecessor1 = ''position established'' |successor1 = Stefan Heymann |awards = Patriotic Order of Merit, in bronze (1959) |alma_mater = International Lenin School |party = Socialist Unity Party of Germany (1946–) <br> Communist Party of Germany (1923–1946) <br> Social Democratic Party of Germany (1922–1923) |module = {{Infobox military person | embed = yes | embed_title = Military Service | allegiance = {{flagicon|Spain|1931}} Second Spanish Republic | branch = Spanish Republican Army | service_years = 1937–1939 | unit = {{Tree list}} * 35th Division ** XII International Brigade *** Thälmann Battalion {{Tree list/end}} | rank = | awards = | battles = Spanish Civil War }} }}

'''Erich Ernst Kops''' (January 20, 1905 – May 28, 1961) was a German politician, diplomat, and Holocaust survivor.

== Life == Erich Kops was born on January 20, 1905, to a working-class family in Jena; his father was a metalworker.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |year=2008 |title=Kops, Erich |url=https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/de/recherche/kataloge-datenbanken/biographische-datenbanken/erich-kops |access-date=2024-10-16 |website=bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de |publisher=Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship |language=de}}</ref> In 1922, he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). In Jena, he became chairman of the ''{{ill|Sozialistische Arbeiter-Jugend|de}}'' (trans. Socialist Workers' Youth) for Thuringia. In August 1923, he left both the SAJ and SPD; joining the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Kops then became chairman of the Young Communist League of Germany (KJVD) in Thuringia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kachel |first=Steffen |title=Ein rot-roter Sonderweg? Sozialdemokraten und Kommunisten in Thüringen 1919 bis 1949. |publisher=Böhlau Verlag |year=2011 |isbn=978-3412205447 |location=Cologne |language=de |trans-title=A red-red special path? Social Democrats and Communists in Thuringia 1919 to 1949}}</ref> Party leadership considered him to be associated with the left communist faction of the party. In October 1924, Kops was arrested; he was sentenced to two years in prison in Leipzig at the end of 1925 for "preparing for high treason" but was released shortly afterwards due to an amnesty.<ref name=":0" /> From 1925 to 1928, he worked in the youth section of the ''Roter Frontkämpferbund''. Between 1928 and 1929 he attended the International Lenin School in Moscow, after which he became local editor of the "Neue Zeitung" newspaper in Jena.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weber |first=Hermann |title=Deutsche Kommunisten. Biographisches Handbuch 1918 bis 1945 |last2=Herbst |first2=Andreas |publisher=Karl Dietz Verlag |year=2008 |isbn=978-3-320-02130-6 |edition=2nd |location=Berlin |language=de |trans-title=German Communists: Biographical Handbook 1918 to 1945}}</ref>

After the Nazi Party seized power in 1933, Kops joined the underground resistance against Nazism. Government crackdowns forced him to emigrate to Czechoslovakia in 1934. In Czechoslovakia, Kops assisted with the smuggling of anti-fascist literature into the German Reich. In 1935, he went to the Soviet Union and worked there as a machine fitter. In 1937, he enlisted in the International Brigades, and fought in the Spanish Civil War as an officer in the Thälmann Battalion. Following the conclusion of the Spanish Civil War, he was interned in France, along with many other members of the Thälmann Battalion. In 1943, Vichy French authorities handed Kops over to the Nazi authorities. He was transferred to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he would remain until the conclusion of the Second World War.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Koch |first=Heinz |title=Das deutsche Buchenwaldkomitee. Die Periode von 1945 bis 1958 |last2=Wohlfeld |first2=Udo |publisher=Prager-Haus Apolda |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-935275-14-9 |location=Weimar |language=de |trans-title=The German Buchenwald Committee: The period from 1945 to 1958}}</ref>

In 1945, he was appointed as the Landrat of Ludwigslust by the Soviet occupation authorities. When the KPD merged into the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in 1946, Kops joined the SED. He then held a series of regional leadership roles in Thuringia for the SED. In 1949, Kops was appointed as the first ambassador of the German Democratic Republic to Hungary.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=Wer war wer in der DDR? |publisher=Ch. Links Verlag |year=2010 |isbn=978-3861535614 |editor-last=Müller-Enbergs |editor-first=Helmut |edition=5th |location=Berlin |language=de |trans-title=Who was who in the GDR?}}</ref> He held this role until 1951, when he was replaced by Stefan Heymann.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kurz |first=David |title=Jüdische Schüler des Vereinigten Großherzoglichen Lyceums – Karl-Friedrich-Gymnasiums Mannheim – Porträts aus zwei Jahrzehnten. |publisher=Wellhöfer Verlag |year=2014 |isbn=978-3-95428-153-4 |editor-last=Kreuz |editor-first=Wilhelm |location=Mannheim |pages=209–218 |language=de |chapter=Stefan Heymann (1896–1967) – Überzeugter Kommunist und Funktionär der SED.}}</ref> In 1959, he was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze.<ref name=":1" /> Kops died on May 28, 1961, in Dresden.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1961-06-01 |title=Genosse Erich Kops |trans-title=Comrade Erich Kops |url=https://www.nd-archiv.de/artikel/630838.genosse-erich-kops.html?sstr=Kops |access-date=2024-10-16 |work=Neues Deutschland |pages=2 |language=de}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kops, Eich}} Category:1905 births Category:1961 deaths Category:Members of the Volkskammer Category:People from Jena Category:Rotfrontkämpferbund members Category:International Brigades personnel Category:Emigrants from Nazi Germany Category:German resistance members Category:International Lenin School alumni Category:Sachsenhausen concentration camp prisoners Category:Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Category:Communist Party of Germany members