In May 1920 he traveled to the Soviet Russia and enlisted in the 3rd Cavalry Corps of the Red Army and joined the Russian Communist Party.

[2] From 1936 to 1945 Große was imprisoned, spending time in both the Brandenburg-Görden Prison and the Mauthausen concentration camp.

After being freed with the conclusion of the Second World War, Große travelled to Moscow, then returned to Germany alongside Wilhelm Pieck and Franz Dahlem.

[2] He then played a prominent role at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, including building relations between the GDR and Yugoslavia in 1957.

[5] Große's health had suffered greatly as a consequence of spending over eleven years in either a prison or a concentration camp.