Fritz Küster

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Fritz Küster (born December 12, 1889 in Ober-Einzingen , † April 13, 1966 in Hanover ) was a German pacifist and political publicist.

Life

After attending the Buxtehude Building Trade School (1908–1912), Küster became a surveying technician at the Reichseisenbahn . He gained his first political experience as a member of the German-Hanoverian Party , to which he belonged until 1920. Then he joined the SPD . In 1931 he joined the SAPD in protest against their policy of compromise , from which he resigned in the spring of 1933. He only became a member of the SPD again after the Second World War . In 1951 Küster was excluded from the party because of his radical left position.

In 1919 Küster became a member of the German Peace Society (DFG) and published the pamphlet Der Pazifist , which in 1925 was named The Other Germany .

As a result of the First World War, the DFG had split in different directions, which was evident through personnel changes in this organization until the 1920s. Ludwig Quidde ( Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in 1927) was the sole chairman from 1914 to February 10, 1929 and was then replaced by Baron Paul von Schoenaich . Küster was also elected to the board in 1927, initially holding the office of managing chairman. He centralized the peace organization and tried to counteract the incipient reactionary development with pacifist, anti-militarist and anti-fascist actions. Well-functioning regional associations emerged and The Other Germany became a supra-regional central body. Under Küster, the DFG played a decisive role in state politics, including actions and appearances against the construction of a German armored cruiser ; In the end the construction was decided. In the " Ponton Trial ", Küster and the journalist Berthold Jacob were sentenced to nine months' imprisonment each for "public treason " in March 1928 .

In 1933, The Other Germany was banned by the National Socialists and Küster was imprisoned in various concentration camps until 1938 . After his release he was prohibited from publishing and worked as an engineer in his profession.

After the end of the Second World War , Küster took over the chairmanship of the German Peace Society from 1945 to 1947 and founded Das Andere Deutschland again in 1947 . He published the magazine in Hanover. An important employee was Heinz Kraschutzki , known from the collaboration in the early 1930s. Küster remained the editor until 1962. After his exclusion from the SPD (1951) because of his contacts with the neutralist Nauheimer Kreis and his resignation from the DFG (1954) and because of his health after a stroke (1958), his wife Ingeborg Andreas continued to publish the newspaper and took care of it until 1969 .

In 1948 Fritz Küster founded the historical research association 'Das Andere Deutschland' , to which politicians and officers from various backgrounds, such as the admiral and later defense commissioner of the Bundestag Hellmuth Heye , belonged. The former Wehrmacht officers, who were close to the military resistance of July 20, 1944 , defended the resistance against accusations of treason and opportunism. When Küsters Verlag collapsed in the course of the currency reform , the research community also broke up.

At the end of the 1940s, Küster was the owner of the Hanover publishing house “Die Jugend”, which published the magazine “Jugend”. The journal "Frau und Frieden - Westdeutsche Friedensbewegung" was published by Fritz Küster Verlag in the 1950s and in the 16th year in the 1960s. Fritz Küster also published books in his publishing house Das Andere Deutschland. In 1947, Hans Günter Krack appeared in court martial. Unwritten law versus written injustice. An episode from the last days of the war , Hanover 1947. In 1948 Zenon Rozanski took off his hats. A report from the Auschwitz concentration camp penal company .

Works

  • The backers of the Nazis: From Papen to Deterding. The Other Germany, Hanover 1946, DNB 452633583 .
  • Chained reason. The Other Germany, Hanover 1946, DNB 978562429 .
  • Peace must be fought for: essays by a German pacifist. Edited and with a foreword by Stefan Appelius (= series of the Fritz Küster Archives ). BIS - Library and Information System of the University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg 1989, ISBN 3-8142-0335-6 .

Honor

The Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg named its archive for the history and literature of the peace movement, which was opened in 1988, after Fritz Küster. One of the main holdings at the time it was founded was his estate. The archive is used to research pacifism in German history in the 20th century.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Günter Wirth : The Hauser Chronicle, story of a family , book publisher Der Morgen , Berlin 1982, p. 92; 2nd edition 1988, ISBN 3-371-00174-1 .
  2. ↑ Presentation on the Appelius.de website , accessed on March 1, 2019
  3. ^ Database of the German Historical Museum , accessed on March 1, 2019
  4. ^ Database of the German Historical Museum , accessed on March 1, 2019
  5. ^ Database of the German Historical Museum , accessed on March 1, 2019
  6. ^ Publication by the University of Oldenburg from 1989 with the speeches at the opening of the archive, accessed on March 1, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Küster, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pacifist and political publicist
DATE OF BIRTH December 12, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Ober-Einzingen
DATE OF DEATH April 13, 1966
Place of death Hanover