[1][2] Karl Mache was born in Deutsch Lissa, then a small industrial town a short distance to the west of Breslau, as Wrocław was known till 1944/45.
[3] He was also active in the trades union movement, serving as chairman of the Breslau branch of the Bakers' Association between 1900 and 1908.
[4] In January 1933 the political context changed dramatically when the Nazi Party took power and converted Germany into a one-party dictatorship.
[1] He was re-arrested in August 1944, during the course of a mass round up of people with records of left-wing political activity, which came in the wake of a failed assassination attempt against the leader, and taken to Gross-Rosen concentration camp.
According to the testimony of Paul Löbe, who was detained in the same concentration camp at the same time, the immediate cause of Karl Mache's death was a heart attack.