 His brother, Heinrich Kurella, also in exile in the Soviet Union, was arrested by the NKVD during the Great Purge and was executed.In 1954, Kurella returned to East Germany and became a member of the ideological committee of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED).His ashes were interred in the Memorial of the Socialists in the Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery in Berlin-Lichtenberg.