Eighty-one years ago today, on August 18, 1944 (June 30, 1944), the Chairperson of the German Communist Party, Thelmann, was murdered. On April 16, 1886, Ernst Johannes Fritz Thelmann was born into a family of carriage workers in Hamburg. He started working at the age of 16, working as a theater set worker, a dock porter, and so on. This made him a member of the German proletariat at a very young age. He joined the German Social Democratic Party at the age of 17, with the goal of achieving socialism as his combat goal. During World War I, Thelmann carried out revolutionary work among the soldiers against imperialist wars, against the chauvinism of the Social Democratic Party, and actively participated in the November Revolution of 1918, which overthrew the German Emperor with the majority of the German people. In 1920, Thalmann joined the Communist Party of Germany. Since then, he has led the workers' uprising in Hamburg with distinction, served as an executive member of the Communist International, and was elected chairperson of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Germany in 1925. When Germany elected the president in 1932, the candidates of four political parties were fiercely campaigned. Three of them were: former President Hindenburg, Nazi leader Hitler, and Communist Party chairperson Thalmann. At that time, the atmosphere of the war was quite strong, and Thalmann's campaign slogan was: "Whoever chooses Hindenburg, chooses Hitler; whoever chooses Hitler, chooses war!" Due to Hindenburg's original status, he was elected president. As Thalmann expected, soon after Hindenburg came to power, he appointed Hitler as chancellor, inciting a war frenzy. In order to promote the reactionary policy of fascism, Hitler regarded the German Communist Party and its leader Thurmann, who adhered to the truth, as a thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh. On January 22, 1933, Hitler organized Nazi stormtroopers to provoke the central seat of the German Communist Party. Thurmann immediately exposed it in the magazine Red Flag, and organized 130,000 Communists and anti-fascist fighters to hold a demonstration in Berlin, which dealt a heavy blow to the Nazis politically. After Hitler became Chancellor, the first thing he did was to dissolve the Reichstag and ban all activities of the Communist Party. The German Communist Party was forced to go underground. Thurmann severely exposed and criticized the crimes of fascism among the broad masses of the people and called on the people to overthrow the Hitler government. After Hitler was exposed politically, he could only resort to force. He arrested the Communists on the pretext of the "Reichstag arson case". Thalmann was secretly arrested by the Nazis in Berlin on March 3, 1933 and sent to the Alexanderplatz police headquarters. From that year's arrest until he was killed by the fascists on August 18, 1944, Thalmann was imprisoned for 11 and a half years. During this time, he endured countless hardships and waged a long and tenacious struggle. In prison, Thalmann taught himself the theory of Marxism-Leninism with amazing perseverance. During the seven years from 1937 to 1943, he wrote 22 notebooks on politics, history, and literature while in prison. All these notebooks were transferred outside the prison through various channels. After the summer of 1944, the Allied forces launched a comprehensive counteroffensive. Facing extinction, Hitler finally murdered Thelmann. On the night of August 18, 1944, Thelmann was brutally murdered in Buchenwald prison camp.