As a result of years of research, a handbook featuring the biographies of 1,400 leading German communists is now available for the first time. This provides a comprehensive view of the leadership corps of German communism from 1918 to 1945. A look into the 1,400 biographies reveals the dramatic fates of these active communists, with the figures presenting some surprising yet simultaneously shocking facts. Of the 1,400 leading communists, well over 400, nearly one in three, lost their lives violently. Shortly after the founding of the KPD, Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, and some of their comrades were murdered in 1919, and later, communists fell during the Spanish Civil War against Franco. However, the most significant losses for the German communist leadership corps were inflicted by the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century: 222 leading officials were affected by barbaric violence.