1. Alfred Henke was a German politician, serving as a member of a number of national and regional parliaments during the early 20th century who played a major role in the establishment of the Bremen Soviet Republic.
12 Facts About Alfred Henke
1. 2.
Alfred Henke served as a delegate during several trade union congresses.
3.
Alfred Henke, who married twice and had six children, was a member of the SPD's radical left-wing, and took part in many SPD congresses and international conference.
4.
When internal fragmentation on the issue of the ongoing First World War split the SPD, Alfred Henke became one of the first members of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany, and would go on to represent the party politically.
5.
The next day, speaking from a balcony of the Bremen Town Hall, Alfred Henke publicly announced this revolutionary situation.
6.
Alfred Henke became its Chairman, together with Frasunkiewicz and the Communists Johann Knief and Karl Jannack, having only reluctantly agreed to support the proclamation of the Soviet Republic after being offered the position.
7.
Alfred Henke opposed a merger of the party with the KPD.
8.
The USPD proposal for democratically elected judges, the introduction of which Alfred Henke justified with it being the only way to ensure class justice, was rejected by the other groups.
9.
Alfred Henke was a full-time councillor and mayor of Reinickendorf until 1933.
10.
Alfred Henke spent the duration of Nazi Germany's existence in Berlin, where the payment of his pension benefits was denied for political reasons.
11.
Alfred Henke died on 24 February 1946, not long after the end of the Second World War.
12.
Alfred Henke's estate is maintained by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, and includes correspondence with Karl Radek, Franz Mehring, Anton Pannekoek, Philipp Scheidemann, Karl Kautsky, Clara Zetkin, and Paul Frolich, in addition to manuscripts, records, and collections of letters relating to the SPD during the First World War and the German Revolution.