Ernst Rudolph Johannes Reuter

Ernst Reuter was no shrinking violet.

In 1947, he was elected Lord Mayor of West Berlin, after he was injured in Russia's Bolshevik Revolution and taken prisoner, sent to a concentration camp by German Nazis, and exiled to Turkey for two years.

It's probably safe to say our guy didn't take any guff.

He was a loyal communist supporter, but he also was the leader of West Berlin during the Berlin blockade of 1948-49. His appeals to the city's Western allies during the blockade saved it from starvation, which was much appreciated by the population of the city.