Otto Braun (communist)

Otto Braun (28 September 1900 – 15 August 1974) was a German Communist with a long and varied career. His most significant role was as a Comintern agent sent to China in 1934, to advise the Communist Party of China (CPC) on military strategy during the Chinese Civil War. At the time Braun adopted a Chinese name, Li De (Chinese: ; pinyin: Lǐ Dé); it was only many years later that Otto Braun and "Li De" came to be known as the same person.

Otto Braun was born in Ismaning, Upper Bavaria, near Munich. Even though his mother was still alive, he grew up in an orphanage.

He enrolled at a teachers' training college in Pasing in the Munich area. In June 1918 Braun was drafted into the ranks of the Bavarian army, part of the Imperial German Army, but the First World War ended before he could face combat duty.

After the armistice he went back to complete his studies at the teachers' training college. However, he did not take a job as a primary school teacher. Rather, he joined the newly founded Communist Party of Germany (KPD), embarking on what would be a lifelong vocation and career, and traveled widely, mainly in North Germany.

It seems that it was in 1921 that Braun became a full-time paid KPD party worker.

He was involved in an affair concerning the theft of some sensitive documents from Colonel Freyberg, a White Russian emigre based in Berlin. For his part in this he was detained by the police in July 1921. He was put on trial but managed to hide his Communist connections and convince the court that he was a "right-winger." Due to the bias often exhibited by the judicial system of the Weimar Republic, this masquerade helped him get off with a light sentence. In fact, he did not go to jail, but went into hiding.

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