Theodor Metzner

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Friedrich Karl Theodor Metzner (born March 30, 1830 in Berlin ; † August 20, 1902 there ) was a German shoemaker , politician and co-founder of the General German Workers 'Association and the Social Democratic Workers' Party .

Life

Theodor Metzner was the son of a worker who had to work in a factory as a child. He trained as a shoemaker and spent six years wandering. Then he lived in Berlin as a shoemaker. In 1862 he was one of the founders of the Berlin community of the General German Workers' Association. In 1863 he was elected to the board of directors of the ADAV and was temporarily authorized representative of the association for Berlin. On November 1, 1864, Theodor Metzner and Theodor Yorck rejected Julius Vahlteich's expulsion from the board of directors of the ADAV.

A contact with Karl Marx in London developed from his friendship with Wilhelm Liebknecht . First he wrote a letter to Marx on December 4, 1864.

On January 12, 1862, Theodor Metzner married Henriette Friederike Marie Büchler (* July 23, 1832) in Berlin. Their son Alfred Friedrich Metzner was born on March 3, 1865, but died on July 16, 1866.

His friend Sigfried Meyer commented on Wilhelm Liebknecht: “I borrowed the manifest from V (ogt) and copied, I also got to read the 18 brumaire ; I especially long for the ' holy family ' as, I believe, the philosophical criticism of the Hegelians is entitled. " Metzner and his friends Sigfried Meyer and August Vogt wrote to Marx on November 13, 1865, admitting his “awareness of the intellectual dependence on your and Engels ' writings, of course, only partially known to us” and calling on him to become “Honorary President” of the ADAV.

Marx declined the offer, but advised the establishment of a Berlin section of the International . From January 1866 they began to win supporters for the goals of the international. Metzner copied the manifesto and friend Sigfried Meyer gave the money to reissue the Communist Party's manifesto in 1866 with the fictitious printing location “London”. Metzner belonged to the opposition in the ADAV. In February 1873 he was elected to the control commission of the "Shoemaker's Association".

“Truly! the workers of all other branches can take this sublime work as a model. (...) May this association form the cornerstone for the final union of the workers. "

- Theodor Metzner 1872

He was one of the conveners of the Eisenach Congress in 1869 . From 1870 to 1872 he took part in the party congresses of the Social Democratic Labor Party and was elected to the control commission in 1871. Between 1890 and 1891 he was a delegate at all party conventions of the SPD. From 1892 to 1994 he was a social democratic city councilor in Berlin. In 1896 he was u. a. with Ignaz Auer charged with "offense and violation punishable according to §§ 8 and 16 of the Prussian ordinance on the prevention of an abuse of the right of assembly and association of March 11th, 1850, § 47 Reichsstrafgesetzbuch".

Theodor Metzner was elected to the party executive committee at the party congresses of the SPD in 1894 in Frankfurt am Main, 1895 in Breslau, 1896 in Gotha, 1897 in Hamburg, 1899 in Stuttgart, 1900 in Mainz and 1901 in Lübeck.

tomb

Theodor Metzner died on August 20, 1902. His coffin was followed by thousands of Berlin workers on August 24, 1902. He was buried in the cemetery of the free religious community in the Pappelallee (today a cemetery park in the Prenzlauer Berg district).

Archival material

  • Wilhelm Liebknecht estate, two letters from Theodor Metzner (1871-1875) IISG , signature 47
  • Johann Philipp Becker estate a letter from Theodor Metzner 1875 IISG signature D II 392
  • Wilhelm Liebknecht estate a letter from Theodor Metzner 1867 IISG signature 43
  • Julius Motteler estate collection Theodor Metzner (Berlin Workers' Association) IISG call number 2684-2694

literature

  • Theodor Metzner . In: The True Jacob . No. 421 of September 9, 1902, p. 3840 digitized
  • A letter from Berlin workers to Marx. (A contribution to Berlin party history) . In: Forward . Berlin No. 323, December 8, 1913, supplement.
  • Heinrich Gemkow : On the activity of the Berlin section of the I. International . In: Contributions to the history of the German labor movement . Berlin 1959, issue 3, pp. 515-531
  • The First International in Germany (1864-1872) . Dietz Verlag, 1964
  • Gustav Seeber : Metzner, Theodor . In: History of the German labor movement. Biographical lexicon . Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1970, pp. 327-328
  • Wilhelm Liebknecht. Correspondence with German Social Democrats. 1862-1878 . Vol. 1. Ed. And edit by Georg Eckert . Van Gorcum & Comp., Assen 1973 ISBN 90-232-0858-7
  • Dieter Fricke: The German labor movement 1869-1914. A manual about their organization and activity in the class struggle . Dietz Verlag 1976, pp. 111, 38, 42, 44, 56, 277, 296, 576 f.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ RGASPI Fund 1 opis 5 delo 1621.
  2. ^ Familysearch and Julius Vahlteich to August Vogt March 19, 1865.
  3. ↑ Sigried Meyer 25 to Wilhelm Liebknecht October 1865.
  4. ^ The First International in Germany. P. 89 f.
  5. ^ The People's State February 1, 5 and 19, 1873.
  6. ↑ Christo Mutafoffrt after p. 349 Werner Ettelt / Hans-Dieter Krause: The struggle and a Marxist trade union policy in the German labor movement from 1860 to 1878. Verlag Tribüne, Berlin 1975, 349.
  7. ^ The First International in Germany. P. 389.
  8. ^ IISG Julius Motteler Estate 2587.
  9. ^ Mourning postcard, IISG (SPD) Signature: BG A9 / 722.
  10. ↑ Levinia Krüger-Hellwig: I got hunnert! Biography of a carpenter, journeyman and businessman, 1875-1975 . Norderstedt 2010, p. 36.
  11. ^ Information from the Förderkreis Friedrichsfelde February 17, 2012.
personal data
SURNAME Metzner, Theodor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Metzner, Friedrich Karl Theodor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German saddler and social democrat
DATE OF BIRTH March 30, 1830
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH August 20, 1902
Place of death Berlin