Johann Gockel-Ehrlich

Johann Gockel-Ehrlich (Hans Gockel; ; 8 July 1896 − 11 March 1938) was an Austrian communist. He was an activist in the Austrian and Soviet communist movement, and editor-in-chief of Neuland magazine. Early life Gockel-Ehrlich was born in Salzburg in 1896. His parents ran a paper goods store in Hallein. Gockel-Ehrlich learned bookbinding in Salzburg and Hallein. Communist In 1919, he joined the Communist Party of Austria. Johann founded several Party groups in western Austria. He became chairman of the Communist Party of Austria in Hallein. In 1920, he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In 1923 Johann emigrated to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, where he became the first Austrian student at the Communist University of the National Minorities of the West in Moscow, which he left before the end of the 1923 one-year course. Haeckel-Erlich then moved to Kharkiv. There he began to work as an editor in the German department of the central publishing house. In Kharkiv in 1926, John became editor-in-chief of the atheistic magazine Neuland. This magazine was published in German and provided communist and atheist propaganda among the German-speaking population of the USSR. Living there he received a new name, Gans Gansovich Gokkel (Ганс Гансович Гоккель). He signed his writings in the USSR as Hans Gockel, publishing several books. Hans was arrested on 10 December 1933 for participating in the German counter-revolutionary organization, which set out to overthrow the Soviet regime by force of arms. In his house, two revolvers were discovered during a search. He was convicted under Article 54 of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR and incriminated by his relationship with the German consulate and Hitler’s agitation. By the decision of the NKVD troika under the college of the GPU of the Ukrainian SSR of 29 May 1934, he was imprisoned for 10 years in labour camp. Gockel served his sentence in Ukhtpechlag. In the camp, he was a senior rationing officer for the 9th detachment of railway construction. While in the camp, he was restrained on 19 December 1937 and sentenced on 5 January 1938 by the “troika” under the administration of the NKVD of the Arkhangelsk Oblast under articles 58–10, 58-11 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to capital punishment. The verdict was executed on 11 March 1938. In 1937, his wife tried in vain to persuade the Austrian Legation to intervene in favor of her husband.