Kurt Hager (24 July 1912 – 18 September 1998) was an East German statesman, a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany who was known as the chief ideologist of the party and decided many cultural and educational policies in the German Democratic Republic. Life Hager was born in Bietigheim, Württemberg, on July 24th, 1912, the son of a labourer and a cleaner. After attending primary and secondary school he passed the high school exam (Abitur) in 1931. He was a member of the YMCA and Socialist Student Union. Hager worked as a journalist and joined the KPD in 1930, and the Roter Frontkämpferbund in 1932. In 1933 he took part in a sabotage of Hitler's first speech on the radio (). Hager was arrested and sent to the concentration camp Lager Heuberg. After a brief period of detention, he emigrated in 1936. Until 1937, he worked as a courier for the Young Communist League of Germany in Switzerland, France and Czechoslovakia. From 1937 to 1939 he participated in the Spanish Civil War as a journalist, where he worked for the (German Freedom Broadcaster) and Radio Madrid's foreign program. In 1939 he was detained in France and then emigrated to England. There he was responsible for the international organization of the KPD active, writing under the pseudonym "Felix Albin". After the outbreak of war, he was interned, first in an internment camp at Huyton near Liverpool, and later on the Isle of Man. East Germany In 1945 Hager returned to Berlin. Until 1946 he first worked as forestry worker and welder, and later as a journalist for the magazine "Freie Tribüne". Upon his return, he was deputy chief editor of "Vorwarts", the Monday edition of Neues Deutschland. In 1948, Hager graduated the Parteihochschule "Karl Marx", qualifying him to be a lecturer. In 1949 he became a full professor for philosophy at the Humboldt University in Berlin. In 1946 he joined the SED, and became head of the party Training Division, then in 1949 the Head of the Propaganda Department. From 1952 he became the Head of the Science Division of the Code of SED, and from 1954 a member of the Central Committee of the SED. In 1955 he became the secretary, and was responsible for science, popular education and culture. A candidate in 1959, from 1963 he was a Member of the Politburo of the CC of SED