parents. After eight years of school, he became a weaver and joined the
Sozialistische Arbeiterjugend Österreichs, the Austrian socialist orga-
nization for working-class youth. His wartime service began in 1918
and included a year in an Italian prisoner of war camp. To avoid being
inducted in the new Czechoslovakian army, Linke moved to Germany
and worked in the lignite coal industry in a small town near Cottbus.
His return to Czechoslovakia in 1923 coincided with the expiration of
his eligibility for military service. In 1924, he joined the Sudeten Ger-
man branch of the Czechoslovakian Communist Party (KSC), which
his father had helped bring into existence. Linke received ideological
and organizational training before beginning his role as an agitator in
several labor disputes. A warrant for his group’s arrest led to his return
to Germany in 1928.
In Berlin and also briefly in Chemnitz, Linke was affiliated with
the Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung (Workers’ Illustrated Newspaper),
the driving force of the proletarian press with strong ties to the
Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands and the Comintern. On as-
signment in Czechoslovakia, he came into conflict with authorities
by illegally photographing iron and steel works in Witkowitz (now
Vlkovice, Czech Republic). In 1930, the KSC approved his transfer
to Moscow, where he resumed his career as a weaver and achieved
the status of master. Linke also attended evening classes at the Com-
munist University of National Minorities in the West, which prepared
its students for political underground activities in their native lands.
Despite completing an officers’ course in preparation for duty in the
Spanish Civil War, he remained in Moscow, first at the Ministry for
Light Industry and then at the Chamber of Commerce, and managed
to emerge untouched by Stalin’s purges. Germany’s invasion of the
Soviet Union in June 1941 caused him and his son Heinz to enlist in
the People’s Militia. Having met the requirement of Soviet citizen-
ship, both were among the relatively few foreign-born communist
members of the NKVD (Soviet People’s Commissariat of Internal
Affairs) and performed behind-the-line duties in the German-
occupied areas. While Heinz was killed in January 1944, Linke held
a key position as a commissar and party secretary for the Chrabrecy
unit. In September, he joined another group of partisans supporting
the ultimately unsuccessful Slovakian revolt against German rule.
Wounded, he was back in Moscow the following spring.266 • LINKE, KARL