Max Cohen (journalist)

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Max Cohen

Max Cohen (later also called Max Cohen-Reuss to distinguish it ; born January 30, 1876 in Oberbonsfeld , Mettmann district ; died March 12, 1963 in Paris ) was a German journalist and social democratic politician.

Live and act

Max Cohen was the son of a Jewish businessman and tableware maker and, after attending the Progymnasium in Langenberg, also trained as a businessman. He initially worked as a commercial clerk and later became an exporter. In 1900 he became a member of a trade union and in 1902 he joined the SPD . From 1904 he worked as a writer and journalist. Among other things, he worked for the Socialist monthly magazine and the Vossische Zeitung . In the years 1912 to 1918 he was a social democratic member of the Reichstag for the Principality of Reuss older line . He ran against the later Chancellor Gustav Stresemann and won. He was also a member of the city council of Frankfurt am Main from 1908 to 1914 .

During the First World War he did military service as a Landsturmmann and was a. a. active in the raw materials department of the Prussian War Ministry . Within the party, he belonged to the right wing and, as a war goal, called for Germany's hegemony in continental Europe as a counterweight to the strong economic powers of the USA and Great Britain. Overall, through his good contacts with the military, he supported the course of the party leadership around Friedrich Ebert and Philipp Scheidemann .

During the November Revolution of 1918 (until April 1919) he was the shop steward of the Berlin Soldiers ' Council as a member of the MSPD . Cohen was a member of the Berlin Executive Council and deputy chairman or chairman of the Central Council of the German Socialist Republic elected in December 1918 . During the Reichsräte Congress he played an important role in approving a parliamentary system. During the Weimar Republic he was a member of the Provisional Reich Economic Council . He served as a government advisor on economic issues until 1933. At the beginning of National Socialist rule he emigrated to Paris in 1934 and did not return to Germany permanently after the war. After 1945 he worked as a correspondent for various German newspapers in France and was the official representative of the SPD in France from 1947 to 1951. He campaigned for Franco-German reconciliation and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor in France. Cohen is buried with his wife Elisabeth († 1964) in Neuilly-sur-Seine .

Fonts (selection)

  • The Political Importance of Zionism. German Committee for the Promotion of Jewish Settlement in Palestine, Berlin 1918.
  • The people and the war . Hobbing, Berlin 1916.
  • The structure . Association of German Scholars and Artists, Berlin 1919.
  • The construction of Germany and the idea of ​​councils . General Secretariat z. Study d. Bolshevism, Berlin 1919.
  • German construction and the Chamber of Labor . Culture League, Berlin 1920.
  • Looking for Max Cohen. Article in the Velberter Zeitung from December 30, 2011.

literature

  • Helga Grebing : History of the German labor movement . Nymphenburger Verlags-Handlung, Munich 1966, p. 148f.
  • Wilhelm Heinz Schröder : Social Democratic Parliamentarians in the German Reich and Landtag 1867-1933. Biographies, chronicles, election documentation. A handbook (= handbooks on the history of parliamentarism and political parties. Volume 7). Droste, Düsseldorf 1995, ISBN 3-7700-5192-0 , p. 402.
  • Cohen-Reuss, Emanuel Max. In: Lexicon of German-Jewish authors . Volume 5: Carmo – Donat. Edited by the Bibliographia Judaica archive. Saur, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-598-22685-3 , pp. 187-191.
  • For the presentation and appreciation of Cohen's ideas of the council system see: Peter von Oertzen : Betriebsräte in der Novemberrevolution. Bonn 2nd edition 1976, p. 200 ff.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Cohen, Max
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cohen-Reuss, Max; Cohen, Emanuel (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist and politician (SPD), MdR
DATE OF BIRTH January 30, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Oberbonsfeld , Mettmann district
DATE OF DEATH March 12, 1963
Place of death Paris