SMS Kaiser Barbarossa with of armor plating, and the secondary casemates received of armor protection. Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Emperor of Germany, believed that a strong navy was necessary for the country to expand its influence outside continental Europe. As a result, he initiated a program of naval expansion in the late 1880s; the first battleships built under this program were the four "Brandenburg"-class ships. These were immediately followed by the five "Kaiser Friedrich III"-class battleships, of which "Kaiser Barbarossa" was a member. "Kaiser Barbarossa"s keel was laid down on 3 August 1898, at the Schichau-Werke in Danzig, under construction number 640. She
Bruno Kaiser officially designated "Erich Weinert Quarter" (""Erich-Weinert-Siedlung""), known within East Germany as the home of the literary scholars, artists and other intelligentsia favoured by the authorities. Around this time he also received his doctorate. In May 1948 Kaiser became a member of the country's ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED / "Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands") which had been formed two years earlier in the Soviet administered zone of Germany through a controversial merger of the Communist Party with the more moderately left-wing SPD (party). Also in 1948 Kaiser visited Moscow in order to undertake research work at the city's . He