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'''Gerhard Eisler''', along with his sister Ruth, was a prominent member of the [[Communist Party of Germany]] during the [[Weimar Republic]]. During his exile, he was a liaison between the [[Communist International]] and the Communist Parties in China and the [[United States]]. Although accused of espionage after [[World War II]], he was never charged with violating U.S. laws apart from misrepresenting his Communist Party affiliation on his emigration application. ''[[Newsweek]]'' (February 23, 1948) described him as the "Number One Red Agent" in the U.S. In a dramatic escape in 1950, Eisler secretly boarded a Polish freighter bound for London and was discovered by the crew after the ship was at sea. Once in England, authorities allowed him to leave for the [[German Democratic Republic]], where Eisler became chief of East German radio and a leading propaganda voice for the Communist government. After his death, several schools and streets in the GDR were named in his honor. He was the brother of leftist composer [[Hanns Eisler]].
'''Gerhard Eisler''' or '''Gerhart Eisler''' (alias '''Hans Berger''') was the brother of [[Ruth Fischer]]<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,780027,00.html?promoid=googlep Of All the Virtues . . .], ''[[Time magazine]], September 27, 1948.</ref>, was a prominent member of the [[Communist Party of Germany]] {KPD) during the [[Weimar Republic]], and chief [[Comintern]] agent in the [[United States]] from 1933 until 1936, and again from 1941 until 1947. He is brother was [[Hanns Eisler]]<ref>[http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/eisler.htm Hanns Eisler], FBI file.</ref> and was once married to [[KGB]] agent and later defector, [[Hede Massing]]. With the creation of the [[East Germany|East German]] [[communist]] [[puppet regime]], Eisler became Minister of [[Propaganda]].
Eisler served as a Comintern agent in [[China]] in the 1920s unitl 1933.
From 1933 to 1936, he supervised the development of the tactics for penetrating the [[Congress of Industrial Organizations]] (CIO).
Former editor of the Communist party ''[[Daily Worker]]'' newspaper and later defector [[Louis Budenz]] describes Eisler as one who "ordered party leaders about with a sharpness and even [[brutal]]ity of manner that suited well the [[Gauleiter]] of a ruthless [[dictatorship]]. Budenz quotes Eisler outlining Soviet Far Eastern policy at a [[CPUSA]] Politburo meeting saying in 1936, "This USA-[[USSR]] collaboration, we understand, comrades, would eventually make the Pacific a Soviet lake. That would give the Soviet fatherland the power to defend itself against American imperialism, after having won the original aid of the [[United States]] against [[Japan]]ese imperialism."
Shortly thereafter Eisler traveled to the [[Spanish Civil War]] zone. Eisler reentered the United States illegally in 1941.
In the November 1942 issue of ''The Communist'' Eisler wrote an article demanding all-out American action for the Second Front and belaboring Americans for permitting "prejudice" to blind them to the virtues of [[Soviet Russia]].
During his exile, he was a liaison between the [[Communist International]] and the Communist Parties in China and the [[United States]].
Although accused of espionage after [[World War II]], he was never charged with violating U.S. laws apart from misrepresenting his Communist Party affiliation on his emigration application. ''[[Newsweek]]'' (February 23, 1948) described him as the "Number One Red Agent" in the U.S.
In a dramatic escape in 1950, Eisler secretly boarded a Polish freighter bound for London and was discovered by the crew after the ship was at sea. Once in England, authorities allowed him to leave for the [[German Democratic Republic]], where Eisler became chief of East German radio and a leading propaganda voice for the Communist government.
After his death, several schools and streets in the GDR were named in his honor.
==References==
<references/>
*State Department passport brief, A115–A116
*State Department passport brief, A115–A116
*''Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States,'' hearings of 6 February 1947, U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Un-American Activities, 80th Cong., 1st sess., 14–19.
*''Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States,'' hearings of 6 February 1947, U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Un-American Activities, 80th Cong., 1st sess., 14–19.