Karl Marx (journalist)

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Grave site in the old cemetery Saarlouis

Karl Marx (* 9. May 1897 in Saarlouis , † 15. December 1966 in Ebersteinburg ) was during the Weimar Republic, a journalist, was during the time of National Socialism in the emigration and belonged since 1945 to the re-founders of the Jewish press in the Federal Republic of Germany .

Early life

Like the world-famous philosopher of the same name, Marx came from a Jewish family that had lived in Trier and the Hunsrück for 900 years . He was the son of Sigmund and Pauline (Weil) Marx and the first cousin of the lawyer and journalist Bruno Weil (* 1883 in Saarwellingen; † 1961 in New York). He attended secondary school in Strasbourg . In 1914 he completed his school education with a secondary school diploma . Then he became a volunteer soldier in the German Army . Until 1918 he took part in the First World War and received a second class Iron Cross . He returned from the war as a staunch pacifist . After Alsace passed to France , he went to Baden-Baden with his family . From 1919 Marx worked there and in Berlin as a freelance journalist. He wrote for German and foreign newspapers as well as for news agencies. Marx was a member of the DDP and since 1920 chairman of the German Democratic Youth in Baden . He was also a member of the organization's national board. In Baden he was also one of the founders of the state's youth hostel .

emigration

After the beginning of National Socialist rule, Marx first emigrated to the Saar area and gave up his German citizenship . After the Saar area fell back to Germany, Marx fled to Italy via France . From 1935 to 1939 he worked as a journalist in Milan and Rome . When he was threatened with extradition to Germany, Marx fled to Tangier . There he worked as a casual worker until 1942. With English help, he fled to Great Britain . There he worked as a factory worker. Parts of his family were murdered in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during the Holocaust .

Building up Jewish life in post-war Germany

Nevertheless, as early as 1946, Marx returned to Germany as one of the first Jewish emigrants. In 1947 he married Lilli Behrendt , whom he had met in London in 1943. In 1946, Marx became a license holder for Jewish newspapers. The first was called the Jüdisches Gemeindeblatt for the North Rhine Province and Westphalia . From 1948 Marx was the publisher and editor-in-chief of the general weekly newspaper for Jews in Germany . An interview with Konrad Adenauer published there in 1949 marked a reorientation of West German policy with regard to responsibility for the Shoah . Since 1955 this paper was called Allgemeine Jewish Wochenzeitung . From 1951 he also published an illustrated newspaper on Jewish topics. Between 1946 and 1948 a monthly under the title Between Times was added. After the Second World War, Marx was one of the most important Jewish publicists in Germany. His numerous publications in the press dealt in particular with the German-Jewish relationship. Among other things, he turned against the thesis of German collective guilt .

He was also a co-founder of the Society for German-Jewish Cooperation in Düsseldorf . He was on the board of the local synagogue community. In 1954 he was co-founder and until 1966 chairman of the "Zionist Organization in Germany."

Reparation agreement

An interview by Marx with Konrad Adenauer in 1949 was one of the impetuses for the compensation negotiations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Israel . Marx took on a mediating role and was an advisor in the negotiations on the reparation agreement in 1952 . Marx also campaigned for a German-Jewish balance through numerous trips.

Marx later took part in the journalistic discussions about swastika smearings , the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Federal Republic and Israel and the election of Kurt Georg Kiesinger as Federal Chancellor.

In 1953, he received the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his services to German-Israeli understanding . His grave is in the old cemetery Saarlouis .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf, Stadtmuseum (ed.): From moment to moment. Jews in Düsseldorf after 1945 . Exhibition booklet. Düsseldorf 2015.
  2. ↑ DNB
personal data
SURNAME Marx, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist and editor
DATE OF BIRTH May 9, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Saarlouis
DATE OF DEATH December 15, 1966
Place of death Ebersteinburg