Heinrich Grein

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Heinrich Leopold Grein (born September 6, 1882 in Hamburg ; died April 4, 1952 in Saarbrücken ) was a German socialist and reform pedagogue .

Life

Born and raised in Hamburg, Grein passed his Abitur in 1900 and then studied philosophy and modern languages, first in Berlin, then at the University of Kiel . He received his doctorate on October 31, 1903 with a doctorate in philosophy with a work on rhyme with Théodore de Banville . He then entered the school service, married, and taught first for a year at a German secondary school in Bucharest , then from 1905 at the secondary school (later the grammar school at Krebsberg ) in Neunkirchen (Saar) . There he taught from 1909 as a senior teacher and from 1915 as a professor and was politically active. At the end of 1929 the family moved to Saarbrücken. During the Nazi era , he was forced to withdraw from politics and lived underground in his old hometown of Hamburg, where he was hidden by relatives and friends. During the Second World War he was bombed out and lived in hiding in the country as well as in Leipzig, Danzig and Lübeck-Travemünde.

After the liberation from National Socialism , he returned to his family in Saarland after a severe stroke . Despite a one-sided paralysis, he was able to stay afloat for a while with an electronics store in St. Ingbert . In 1950 he went to a nursing home in Saarbrücken, where he died on April 4, 1952.

Political activity

Heinrich Grein first joined the Progressive People's Party in Neunkirchen and became its chairman. He also founded a popular education association in 1914. In 1918 he was called up for the Landsturm . After the end of the First World War, he joined the Kreuznach Workers 'and Soldiers' Council and became its chairman, spokesman and strategic head. On December 8, 1918, he was elected as a delegate to the Reich Council Congress. However, he was not allowed to leave the occupied area on the left bank of the Rhine.

After the failure of the November Revolution, he returned to Neunkirchen and joined the SPD there . From 1920 to 1929 he was a city councilor in Neunkirchen and one of the busiest speakers of the SPD in the Saar area. He also wrote reports and poetry for the party organ “Volksstimme”.

In 1930 he left the SPD because it did not share his revolutionary point of view. In 1931 he was one of the founders of the left-wing split-off Socialist Workers' Party (SAP) and editor of the party organ "The Torch". In the referendum campaign for the Saar area , he campaigned against joining the German Reich . He appeared in the entire Saar area as a speaker and wrote poems and texts for workers' newspapers.

After the Saar referendum, he applied for dismissal from school service and retirement. On March 1, 1935, the day of the reintegration, he was given early retirement. As an opponent of the regime and a so-called “ full Jew ”, he was exposed to double exclusion and therefore lived the rest of the Nazi era underground in order to escape persecution by the National Socialists. On a small scale, he continued his underground resistance .

Works

  • Studies of rhyme with Théodore de Banville. Hamburg 1903 (dissertation).
  • The “Idylles Prussiennes” by Théodore de Banville. Hamburg 1906.

literature

  • Franz Josef Schäfer: Heinrich Grein, a forgotten socialist and reform pedagogue . In: Neunkirchen district (ed.): Paths of life of Jewish fellow citizens . Ottweiler printing and publishing house, Ottweiler 2009, ISBN 978-3-938381-21-2 , p. 175-194 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The history: The difficult start of the SPD Neunkirchen 90 years ago. SPD local association Neunkirchen-Zoo, accessed on September 6, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Grein, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grein, Heinrich Leopold (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German socialist and reform pedagogue
DATE OF BIRTH September 6, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH April 4th 1952
Place of death Saarbrücken