Fritz Altwein
Fritz Karl Albert Altwein (born June 5, 1889 in Jena , † February 11, 1967 in Oberursel ) was a German politician of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and resistance fighter against National Socialism . From 1925 to 1929 he was the central secretary of the Reich leadership of Red Aid in Germany (RHD).
Life
Fritz Altwein, son of a room foreman , learned the profession of lithographer after attending primary school and worked at Zeiss in Jena from 1908 to 1924 . Altwein was already politically active as an apprentice. With Willi Münzenberg and Georg Schumann , he was one of the co-founders of the Workers' Youth in Thuringia in 1908 . In the same year Altwein joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and became an active trade unionist .
In 1917/18 Altwein fought in World War I and became a member of the Spartakusbund and the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD). In 1920 he became a member of the KPD, was local group chairman in Jena and KPD member of the Jena city council. Altwein was also a member of the KPD district leadership for Greater Thuringia and from 1924 secretary of the district leadership of Thuringia for Red Aid Germany . In 1925 he became the full-time central secretary of the Reich leadership of Red Aid Germany in Berlin .
As a supporter of Heinrich Brandler, Altwein increasingly criticized the KPD's ultra-left course, was expelled from the KPD in 1929 and lost his post with the German Red Aid. He worked as a welfare worker in Berlin until 1933 . In 1931/32 he attended the School of Politics in Berlin. Via the Communist Party Opposition (KPO), Altwein finally came to the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (SAPD) in April 1932 and, after the transfer of power to the National Socialists , was an instructor in illegal party work from 1933 to June 1934. Because of the threat of arrest , Altwein emigrated to Czechoslovakia via Holland in 1934 and continued his political work in exile .
In the summer of 1938 Altwein went to Norway and worked there as a retoucher . In 1940 he went to Sweden and was temporarily interned there. From 1943 Altwein lived in Stockholm and worked as a lithographer. He supported the national group of German trade unionists. The Federal Republic of Germany banned old wine from entering the country for years, so that old wine could not return to Germany until 1958.
Altwein moved to Oberursel, became a member of the SPD again, but no longer appeared politically.
literature
- Hermann Weber , Andreas Herbst : German communists. Biographical Handbook 1918 to 1945 . 2nd, revised and greatly expanded edition. Dietz, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-320-02130-6 ( online ).
- Roland Altwein: Odyssey of a Socialist: Fritz Altwein (1889-1967) . In: Mario Hesselbarth, Eberhart Schulz, Manfred Weißbecker (eds.): Lived ideas. Socialists in Thuringia. Biographical sketches . Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Jena 2006, ISBN 3-935850-37-9 , p. 19 ff.
- Siegfried Mielke (Ed.) With the collaboration of Marion Goers, Stefan Heinz , Matthias Oden, Sebastian Bödecker: Unique - Lecturers, students and representatives of the German University of Politics (1920-1933) in the resistance against National Socialism. Lukas-Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86732-032-0 , p. 237 f. (Short biography).
Web links
- Literature by and about Fritz Altwein in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nikolaus Brauns: The red children's home
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Altwein, Fritz |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Altwein, Fritz Karl Albert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German KPD functionary and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 5, 1889 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Jena |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 11, 1967 |
| Place of death | Oberursel |