[1][2] He was born into the family of a weaver and worked as an unskilled labourer from a young age while pursuing his elementary studies.

At the same time, he began his political career in the Free Socialist Youth (FSJ) of the Social Democratic Party.

After World War II, at the end of April 1945, he returned to Saxony as head of the Ackermann Group, one of the three teams, each of ten men, flown in by the Communist Party from Moscow to different parts of the Soviet occupation zone to lay the groundwork for the Soviet Military Administration in Germany.

[5] Though this was in line with a general rightward turn in the official communist parties following the Second World War, it would eventually be repudiated amidst the Soviet-Yugoslav split.

[1] In 1953–1954, he was expelled from the Politburo and Central Committee and fired as minister because of his factional opposition to party leader Walter Ulbricht.