As an SS man and concentration camp guard, Ernst Großmann (1911-1997) was a staunch National Socialist until 1945. After the war he became a farmer in Thuringia – and a communist. He was a member of the Central Committee (ZK) of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) until his past was disclosed in 1959.
During the process of removing Großmann from the ZK, the SED forbid any discussion about his Nazi past. He continued to fulfil his other functions.