EAST GERMANY: Soldier of Communism

"The general is a heavy, gigantic man. His eyes lie deep in his massive face. His nature is jovial. He appears phlegmatic. But I suspect that the joviality can fall like a mask, and the somewhat flabby features grow taut. His lips are thin. I will not be surprised if I hear him make hard decisions." So wrote a German Communist of "General Gomez," commander of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War, and a professional soldier in the cause of Communism.

Born in 1893 in Germany's turbulent Ruhr, Gomez was actually Wilhelm Zais-ser. He had got...