{{Infobox officeholder | name = Stefan Heymann | image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-52145-001, 70. Geburtstag von Robert Siewert.jpg | alt = | caption = From left to right: Robert Siewert, Stefan Heymann, Walter Bartel, 1957 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1896|03|14}} | birth_place = Mannheim, Republic of Baden, German Empire {{small|(now Baden-Württemberg, Germany)}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1967|02|03|1896|03|14}} | death_place = East Berlin, East Germany | resting_place = Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde | known_for = | office1 = East German Ambassador to the<br />Polish People's Republic | term_start1 = 1953 | term_end1 = 1957 | predecessor1 = Aenne Kundermann | successor1 = Josef Hegen | office2 = East German Ambassador to the<br />Hungarian People's Republic | term_start2 = 1951 | term_end2 = 1953 | predecessor2 = Erich Kops | successor2 = Sepp Schwab | office3 = Head of the Culture and Education Department of the Central Committee | 1blankname3 = {{nowrap|Secretary}} | 1namedata3 = {{ubl|Fred Oelßner|Hans Lauter}} | term_start3 = 1949 | term_end3 = 1950 | predecessor3 = Fred Oelßner<br />Richard Weimann | successor3 = Egon Rentzsch | office4 = Member of the<br />Landtag of the Republic of Baden | term_start4 = 4 June 1928 | term_end4 = 24 October 1929 | predecessor4 = Paul Schreck | successor4 = ''multi-member district'' | awards = {{hlist|Patriotic Order of Merit, 2nd class}} | alma_mater = | spouse = Erika Heymann | party = Socialist Unity Party<br />{{small|(1946–1967)}} | other_party = Communist Party of Germany<br />{{small|(1919–1946)}} | module = {{Infobox military person | embed = yes | embed_title = Military Service | allegiance = {{flagicon|German Empire}} German Empire | branch = Imperial German Army | service_years = | unit = | rank = | awards = | battles = First World War{{WIA}} }} }}
'''Stefan Heymann''' (March 14, 1896 – February 3, 1967) was a German diplomat, politician, and Holocaust survivor.
== Life == Heymann was born on March 14, 1896, in Mannheim to a Jewish family.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hartewig |first=Karin |title=Zurückgekehrt: Die Geschichte der jüdischen Kommunisten in der DDR |publisher=Böhlau Verlag |year=2000 |isbn=978-3412028008 |location=Cologne |language=de |trans-title=Returned: The History of Jewish Communists in the GDR}}</ref> After completing school, he did an apprenticeship as a banker. Heymann volunteered for military service in the First World War and was wounded several times. At the conclusion of the war, he took part in the proclamation of a Soviet in the Palatinate alongside Ernst Toller and Erich Mühsam. Heymann joined the Communist Party of Germany upon its foundation. He was dismissed from his job at a bank in Mannheim due to his communist sympathies. Heymann was an active member of the ''Rotfrontkämpferbund'', and held regional leadership roles in the organization. In 1924 he was sentenced by a court in Leipzig to three and a half years in prison for "preparing for high treason", but was pardoned in 1926.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Barth |first=Bernd-Rainer |title=Wer war wer in der DDR? |publisher=Ch. Links Verlag |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-86153-561-4 |edition=5th |volume=2 |location=Berlin |language=de |trans-title=Who was who in the GDR?}}</ref> Heymann was active in the charitable organizations ''Rote Hilfe'' and Workers International Relief. From 1928 to 1929 he was a member of the Landtag of the Republic of Baden, succeeding Paul Schreck.<ref name=":0" /> From 1930 to 1932 he worked as an editor of the ''Die Rote Fahne'' in Berlin.
From January 1933, Heymann was editor-in-chief of the newspaper ''Arbeiterzeitung'' in Breslau. After the Nazi Party seized power in 1933, Heymann was arrested and later sent to the Kislau concentration camp in 1936. In 1938, he was transferred to the Dachau concentration camp and then in 1940 to the Buchenwald concentration camp. In 1942, he was sent to the Auschwitz-Monowitz concentration camp, where he was a clerk in the infirmary, and in January 1945 he was sent back to Buchenwald.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |title=Konzentrationslager Buchenwald |publisher=Thüringer Volksverlag |year=1949 |editor-last=Heymann |editor-first=Stefan |location=Weimar |language=de |trans-title=Buchenwald Concentration Camp}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Koch |first=Heinz|last2=Wohlfeld|first2=Udo |title=Das deutsche Buchenwaldkomitee. Die Periode von 1945 bis 1958|year=2010 |isbn=978-3-935275-14-9 |location=Weimar |language=de |trans-title=The German Buchenwald Committee: The period from 1945 to 1958|pages=179}}</ref>
Stefan Heymann's first marriage was with Erika Heymann (née Geck), the daughter of the Reichstag member and Offenburg publisher Adolf Geck. The marriage produced two children, daughter Sonja Nerlich (née Heyman) and Dr. Dieter Heymann.
After the liberation from Nazi rule, Heymann was a member of the Communist Party regional leadership in Thuringia and founding member of the Association of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime – Federation of Antifascists.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1949-04-30 |title=Stephan Heymann sprach über Paris |url=https://www.nd-archiv.de/artikel/30410.stephan-heymann-sprach-ueber-paris.html?sstr=Stephan|heymann |access-date=2024-10-18 |work=Neues Deutschland |pages=2 |language=de}}</ref> From 1950 to 1953 he was the ambassador of the German Democratic Republic to Hungary. In 1953, he became the ambassador to Poland, replacing Aenne Kundermann.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1955-03-06 |title=Weitere Verhandlungen in Warschau |trans-title=Further Negotiations in Warsaw |url=https://www.nd-archiv.de/artikel/1116926.weitere-verhandlungen-in-warsdiau.html?sstr=Stephan|heymann |access-date=2024-10-18 |work=Neues Deutschland |pages=1 |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1956-03-14 |title=Glückwünsche des ZK der SED für Stephan Heymann |url=https://www.nd-archiv.de/artikel/1207276.glueckwuensche-des-zk-der-sed-fuer-stephan-heymann.html?sstr=Heymann |access-date=2024-10-18 |work=Neues Deutschland |pages=5 |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Baumgartner |first=Gabriele |title=Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ/DDR. 1945–1990. |last2=Hebig |first2=Dieter |publisher=De Gruyter |year=1996 |isbn=978-3598111303 |volume=1 |location=Munich |pages=449 |language=de |trans-title=Biographical Handbook of the SBZ/DDR}}</ref> He would remain in this role until 1957, when he was succeeded by Josef Hegen.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Herbst |first=Andreas |title=SED-Kader: Die mittlere Ebene, Biographisches Lexikon |publisher=Brill Schoningh |year=2010 |isbn=978-3506769770 |pages=224–225 |language=de |trans-title=SED Cadres: The Middle Level}}</ref> He then became head of the press department in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and in 1960 professor at the ''Walter Ulbricht'' Academy of Political Science and Law. Heymann died on February 3, 1967, in East Berlin.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1967-02-05 |title=Stefan Heymann - Nachruf des Zentralkomitees |url=https://www.nd-archiv.de/artikel/1648265.stefan-heymann.html?sstr=Heymann |access-date=2024-10-18 |work=Neues Deutschland |pages=8 |language=de}}</ref>
== Selected works == * Heymann, Stefan (1950). ''Balzac, der grösste kritische Realist der französischen Literatur.'' Berlin: Volk u. Wissen. * — (as co-editor) (1949). ''Konzentrationslager Buchenwald''. Weimar: Thüringer Volksverlag. * — (1949). ''Wirtschaft, Horatio! Wirtschaft!'' Weimar: Werden und Wirken Verlag. * — (1948). ''Kampf um Wahrheit und Freiheit''. Weimar: Thüringer Volksverlag. * — (1948). ''Marxismus und Rassenfrage''. Berlin: Dietz Verlag
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heymann, Stefan}} Category:1896 births Category:1967 deaths Category:20th-century German Jews Category:People from Mannheim Category:People from Berlin Category:German Jewish military personnel of World War I Category:Rotfrontkämpferbund members Category:Communist Party of Germany members Category:Buchenwald concentration camp survivors Category:Auschwitz concentration camp prisoners Category:German Holocaust survivors Category:Socialist Unity Party of Germany members Category:Ambassadors of East Germany to Poland Category:Ambassadors of East Germany to Hungary Category:Recipients of the Banner of Labor Category:Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver