National Committee for a Free Germany

National Committee for a Free Germany Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland
Abbreviation	NKFD
Founded	July 12, 1943
Political orientation	Anti-Fascism United Front
Party flag

The National Committee for a Free Germany (German: Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland) was an anti-fascist organization founded in the Soviet Union on July 12, 1943, during the Second World War. It brought together German prisoners of war, communist exiles, and anti-Nazi intellectuals, officers with the aim of overthrowing Hitler’s fascist dictatorship and establishing a democratic Germany.

Historical Background

Following the betrayal of socialism by the Nazi regime and the outbreak of WWII, millions of German workers and progressives were thrown into war in service of fascist imperialism. However, among these ranks, particularly those captured by the Red Army, were individuals and groups who refused to fight for the Hitlerite regime.

Under the leadership of German communists and with support from the Communist Party of Germany and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the NKFD was established to channel anti-fascist sentiment among German POWs into concrete resistance against Nazism.

Composition and Leadership

The NKFD was a united front organization that included:

• German Communists**, such as Wilhelm Pieck, Walter Ulbricht, and Erich Weinert (who served as president of the NKFD),
• Bourgeois-democratic anti-fascists and former Wehrmacht officers**, including General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach and others who broke with Hitler.

While the committee was broad in composition, its ideological leadership rested firmly with the communists, who saw the struggle against fascism as inherently tied to the struggle for socialism.

Goals and Activities

The NKFD’s primary objectives were:

1. To end the imperialist war waged by Nazi Germany,

2. To unite all patriotic Germans in resistance to fascism,

3. To support the Red Army’s liberation of German territory,

4. To build a democratic Germany based on the power of the working class.

The committee’s activities included:

• Issuing propaganda materials (leaflets, radio broadcasts, newspapers) to German soldiers urging them to surrender and oppose Hitler,
• Establishing anti-fascist schools in POW camps,
• Creating the League of German Officers (Bund Deutscher Offiziere, BDO) to win over sections of the officer corps,
• Supporting the broader antifascist democratic movement within Germany and the occupied territories.

Criticism

While the National Committee for a Free Germany (NKFD) played a historically progressive role in mobilizing German POWs and officers against fascism, certain contradictions and limitations should be noted:

• Over-reliance on Wehrmacht officers: The inclusion of reactionary elements such as former generals (e.g., Seydlitz-Kurzbach) posed ideological risks. These individuals were often motivated more by opportunism or disillusionment with Hitler's leadership than by a genuine commitment to socialism. This diluted the revolutionary clarity of the organization.

• Lack of revolutionary program: Although the NKFD called for a democratic Germany, it did not always make clear the need for working-class power and socialist construction. Its language often leaned toward vague "democracy" rather than emphasizing dictatorship of the proletariat and class struggle.

• Limited internal sabotage efforts: Despite its propaganda activities, the NKFD had limited ability to foment real resistance within Germany itself, due in part to the extreme repression of the fascist state and the committee's distance from mass resistance networks inside the Reich.

Nonetheless, from a Marxist-Leninist standpoint, the NKFD is judged primarily by its contribution to the anti-fascist struggle.

Legacy

Although the NKFD could not directly bring about the collapse of the Nazi state, it played a crucial ideological and organizational role. Its influence was later felt in the German Democratic Republic, where many NKFD members held leading positions.

The NKFD is remembered as a symbol of proletarian internationalism and the unity of all progressive Germans against fascism. It represented the Marxist-Leninist understanding that fascism must be overthrown not just militarily, but ideologically—by building the class consciousness of soldiers, workers, and peasants.