Hugo Eberlein ( 4 May 1887 – 16 October 1941 ) was a German Communist politician . He took part of the founding congress of the Communist Party of Germany ( Dec-Jan 1919 ) , and then in the First Congress of the Comintern ( 2 – 6 March 1919 ) , where he held important posts until 1928 , the result of his involvement with the Conciliator faction . When the Nazis took power in Germany in 1933 , Eberlein fled to the Soviet Union , where he found refuge at the Hotel Lux . In July 1937 he fell under the Stalinist terror . In January 1938 he was interrogated and tortured for ten days and nights . In April 1938 he was taken to Lefortovo Prison , where he was tortured for weeks at a time ; then in 1939 he was sentenced to 15 years in the Vorkuta Gulag . He was returned to Moscow in 1941 , when he was tried and sentenced again , and was shot on 16 October 1941 . Hugo Eberlein was later rehabilitated and became a national hero in East Germany ; his name was even borne by a guard regiment of the National People 's Army
Stalinist terror
Great Purge
Hugo Eberlein