Johannes Kleinspehn

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Johannes Kleinspehn (born April 24, 1880 in Frankenthal ; † February 1, 1944 in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp ) was a German social democratic journalist and politician. During the time of National Socialism he took part in the resistance .

Life

Johannes Kleinspehn was an iron turner and mechanic by profession. In 1903 he joined the SPD and the free trade unions . Between 1903 and 1907 he was a member of the board of the trade union cartel in Erfurt . He was also on the board of the local German Metalworkers' Association . Between 1910 and 1933 Kleinspehn was full-time editor of the people's newspaper in Nordhausen . There he was also chairman of the SPD education committee between 1911 and 1914. In 1917 Kleinspehn joined the USPD . In December 1918 he was a delegate of the first Reich Councilor Congress . In 1922 he returned to the SPD. In the 1920s he was a member of the sub-district executive committee for Nordhausen and the district executive committee for Thuringia.

Between 1919 and 1921 Kleinspehn belonged to the constituent Prussian state assembly and then until 1933 to the Prussian state parliament .

After the start of the Nazi era Kleinspehn was arrested in September 1933 and to three years in prison convicted. In 1936 he joined a resistance group in Berlin that advocated a popular front made up of members of the KPD and the SPD. Together with Hermann Brill , Franz Petrich and others, he was involved in developing the founding platform of the German Popular Front . In 1939 Kleinspehn was arrested again as part of the special war campaign and in 1940 was sentenced to three years in prison by the People's Court for “preparing for high treason”. After serving his sentence, he was transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1942, where he died in unexplained circumstances in 1944.

Several streets were named after Kleinspehn after the Second World War.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lexicon of the German Resistance. Frankfurt am Main 1994, p. 195

literature

  • Social Democratic Party of Germany (ed.): Committed to freedom. Memorial book of the German social democracy in the 20th century. Marburg 2000, ISBN 3-89472-173-1 , p. 176.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kleinspehn, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German editor and politician (SPD)
DATE OF BIRTH April 24, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankenthal
DATE OF DEATH February 1, 1944
Place of death Sachsenhausen concentration camp