In those turbulent years, a communist from Germany, Li De (formerly known as Otto Braun), was sent to China by the Comintern to participate in and guide the cause of the Chinese revolution. During his time in China, he married two Chinese women, but when he was transferred back to the Soviet Union in 1939, his two wives were never heard from him. What kind of lives did these two wives live?
An organized marriage
In 1933, at the behest of the Comintern, Li De came to the Central Soviet District, the base area of the Chinese revolution, and was appointed as a military adviser to the Provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. In order to retain this "foreign aid" from the Soviet Union, Bogu, the leader of the Communist Party of China at that time, made special arrangements for him.
In the Meikeng area, the revolutionary base in western Hunan and Hubei provinces, Bogu asked people to build a large independent house covering an area of more than 100 square meters as Li De's exclusive residence. In addition to such a luxurious housing, Li De also received special preferential treatment in life. At that time, the soldiers of the Red Army ate and drank poorly, but Li De was able to enjoy delicacies such as chicken, duck, fish, eggs, and occasionally rare items such as cigarettes and biscuits seized from the battlefield.
In order to further retain Li De, Bogu also arranged a woman named Xiao Yuehua as his wife. Xiao Yuehua was born in a poor peasant family, is twenty years old, and has a beautiful appearance. She was told that it was a glorious revolutionary task, and for the sake of the revolutionary cause, she gladly accepted it.
After marriage, Xiao Yuehua was considerate to Li De and served this husband from a foreign country with all her heart. But Li De has always been helpless for her. The age difference between the two is ten years, the language barrier, and the living habits are very different, and the conflict arises. Li De often gets angry with Xiao Yuehua because of some trivial things, and even has domestic violence. It is said that once, just because Xiao Yuehua ate a biscuit seized from the battlefield without permission, Li De beat her severely.
After the "Fifth Anti-Encirclement and Suppression" campaign began in 1934, Li De was assigned to be in charge of front-line operational command. In that big independent house, he sketched on the map every day and made a battle plan. However, due to his lack of understanding of China's national conditions and actual war situation, and his "short assault tactics" did not work in the vast territory of China, the Red Army was defeated again and again under his command.
In the face of such a defeat, Li De did not reflect on himself, but instead blamed the front-line soldiers for not fully carrying out his orders. For this reason, he not only lost his temper, but even shot quite a few people. And poor Xiao Yuehua has become a punching bag for him to vent his emotions, and he is often abused and beaten by him, even after giving birth to a son, the situation has not improved.
It was not until after the Zunyi Conference in 1935, when Mao Zedong established his leading position in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, that the erroneous line of Li De and Bogu was criticized and corrected. Although no longer held a leadership position, Li De remained in the ranks of the Red Army and eventually arrived in Yan'an with the army.
A short but beautiful love
In 1937, with the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Eighth Route Army was stationed in Yan'an one after another, and Li De also came here with the army. One night that year, a grand reception was being held in the Yan'an Cultural Palace, and literary and artistic workers from all over the world were invited to join in.
That night, a rescue troupe from Shanghai was also invited to perform a wonderful Cantonese opera for the frontline soldiers. There is a young and beautiful actress in the troupe, she not only has a tactful singing voice and exquisite dancing skills, but also has a slim and good figure, which can be described as dazzling on stage and attracts the attention of countless people.
This actress is Li Lilian, she was born in a scholarly family, she has loved art since she was a child, and once gave up her family education and devoted herself to opera. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, she joined the Shanghai Salvation Theater Troupe and contributed to the motherland in her own way.
After the night's performance, Li Lilian and other members of the troupe were backstage tidying up and preparing to leave. At this moment, a strange foreigner approached, wearing a plain military uniform and a heroic face, who looked like an important person.
"Hello, Miss. The man greeted Li Lilian in fluent English, and Li Lilian couldn't help but be stunned when she heard that he was a foreigner. Then she reacted and immediately replied in English: "Hello, sir." ＂
This foreigner was Li De, who was deeply attracted by Li Lilian's beauty and talent, and immediately became interested in her. Soon, Li De found out Li Lilian's details through the network and took the initiative to woo her.
At first, Li Lilian was still a little suspicious of this foreigner she had never met. But after learning that Li De was a military adviser sent by the Comintern and had a superior position in the Red Army, her attitude began to change.
At that time, many people had a sincere revolutionary heart and regarded it as the greatest honor to contribute to the revolutionary cause. Li Lilian has been nurtured by her family since she was a child, and she has a sincere yearning for the revolution, and now that she has the opportunity to contribute to it, she is naturally elated.
So, under Li De's repeated invitations, Li Lilian finally agreed to his courtship. Soon, the two officially registered as husband and wife, and the newlyweds had a very sweet and happy life.
is different from treating Xiao Yuehua coldly, Li De can be said to take good care of Li Lilian. They are inseparable all day long, talk about everything, and have a lot of feelings. Li De even swore to Li Lilian that they must live forever in the hot land of Yan'an.
It's a pity that this sweet love didn't last long before it was ruthlessly interrupted. In August 1939, the Comintern suddenly issued an order demanding that Li De immediately return to the Soviet Union to report on his work.
Although Li De once proposed to take Li Lilian with him, due to various reasons, Li Lilian was finally stopped in Yan'an. In this way, the newlywed two kissed goodbye at Yan'an Airport, and Li Lilian fainted on the spot, and the husband and wife have not been heard from since then, and they have never been able to meet again.
The later encounters of the two wives
After Li De was transferred back to the Soviet Union, his two wives in China parted ways and each embarked on a new journey in life.
Let's talk about Xiao Yuehua first, this woman who was once organized and arranged to marry Li De, has been engaged in women's work in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region in the days after Li De left. Although she had suffered from Li De's cold reception and domestic violence, as a staunch Communist Party member, she did not give up the revolutionary cause, but continued to contribute her strength to the party's women's movement.
In 1945, Xiao Yuehua met a local cadre at work, and the two fell in love soon after they met. This cadre is considerate of Xiao Yuehua, and the relationship between the two is getting deeper and deeper. In the end, with the support of the party organization, they tied the knot, and Xiao Yuehua started a new life for ordinary housewives.
Since then, Xiao Yuehua has lived a completely different life from Li De's marriage. They are a loving husband and wife, starting a business from scratch and earning money to support their families through their own hard work. Xiao Yuehua also gave birth to several children, and her life was very full and healthy.
In contrast, Li Lilian's experience was much more cruel. After Li De was transferred, she has been waiting for her husband's return in Yan'an, and she has expectations for whether the two can reunite.
However, year after year, Li De still has no news. Li Lilian's days in Yan'an also fell into a long wait. She is no longer engaged in acting, and spends her days at home, sometimes anxious, sometimes confused, for fear that her wait will be in vain.
It was not until the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 that Li Lilian returned to the stage and began her acting career. With her excellent basic skills and superb acting skills, she soon became famous in the Cantonese opera industry and was known as a "contemporary celebrity".
In 1956, Li Lilian was also invited to join the Guangdong Cantonese Opera Company, and since then she has become a professional Cantonese opera performance artist. Her wonderful performance on stage has won the applause of countless audiences, and she has also made outstanding contributions to the cause of Cantonese opera in China.
It wasn't until 1979 that Li Lilian mentioned her relationship with Li De for the first time in an interview. She said that although the fate of the two died, her feelings for Li De have not changed until today.
However, Li Lilian did not reveal much news about Li De, perhaps because she herself did not know anything about Li De's final whereabouts. And after that, Li Lilian never mentioned this past again.
In this way, the two Chinese wives who once married Li De embarked on different life paths after separation, one lived an ordinary life, and the other became a well-known performing artist in the Cantonese opera industry, but their encounters gradually drifted away from the former husband.
Lide's last years in the Soviet Union
In August 1939, after Li De left Yan'an and was transferred back to the Soviet Union, his fate changed dramatically.
It stands to reason that as an "internationalist fighter" who was born in Germany and later joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Li De should be rewarded and reused by the party and the state after returning to China. After all, he was an important adviser sent to China by the Comintern, and he was the only foreigner to take part in the Long March of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.
However, the reality is far from so. As soon as Li De returned to the Soviet Union, he was given an unprecedented cold reception. At first, he was simply ordered to "idle" in Moscow for a while, and no one cared about it. Soon, the situation began to take a turn for the worse.
At the end of 1939, Stalin launched a massive purge of "dissidents in the party", known as the "Third Purge". As an ethnic German, Leeder was quickly met with suspicion and scrutiny.
At that time, Stalin's deep-seated prejudice against the Germans, coupled with Li De's long-term "detachment" in China, made him doubt the loyalty of this "internationalist warrior". Soon, Li De was charged with "treason" and "espionage" and was imprisoned in Lubyanka prison.
In prison, Li De was subjected to unprecedented harsh interrogation and torture. He was deprived of all freedom to live in a small cell. Every day, he was questioned by agents and forced to confess all his experiences and activities while in China.
What's even more cruel is that Li De was also physically abused. He was often beaten by prison guards and sometimes burned with a soldering iron. It is said that at one point he was beaten so hard that he almost lost his life.
In this inhuman environment, Li De was finally sentenced to death on November 27, 1950, on charges of "treason" and "espionage". That night, he was secretly executed.
To this day, the real reason why Li De was sentenced to death remains a mystery. Some people believe that this was the work of Stalin's prejudice against the Germans, others say that it was because some of Li De's words and deeds during his time in China offended his superiors, and others speculate that this may be related to the change in the Soviet Union's foreign policy at that time.
In any case, however, he eventually fell victim to Stalin's "Third Purge" campaign. The German, who was once regarded as the "darling of the Comintern", ended his life journey in a dark corner of Moscow.
At the same time, the two wives he left behind in China have already entered a new life track, and their encounters have gradually drifted apart from this former husband.