30 Facts About Rudolf Breitscheid

Rudolf Breitscheid defected to the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1917 due to his opposition to the First World War, and rejoined the SPD in 1922.

Rudolf Breitscheid was arrested and handed to the Gestapo in 1941, and died in Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944.

Rudolf Breitscheid began studying law at Cologne's Friedrich-Wilhelm Gymnasium in 1894, but moved within the year to Marburg to study politics.

Rudolf Breitscheid joined the left-liberal National-Social Association and campaigned for the Free-minded Union in the 1903 federal election, subsequently joining the Progressive People's Party.

Rudolf Breitscheid moved to Berlin and in 1904 was elected to the city council and the assembly of the Province of Brandenburg.

Rudolf Breitscheid opposed the entrenched power of the nobility, and campaigned for the abolition of the Prussian three-class franchise.

Rudolf Breitscheid sought election to the Reichstag in the 1907 election, but was defeated by a Junker candidate.

Rudolf Breitscheid quickly gained prominence among the SPD press, but his record as a bourgeois liberal made him unpopular with many of the party's leaders.

Rudolf Breitscheid helped negotiate the provisional government between the SPD and USPD, and was even recommended as foreign minister, but ultimately became interior minister for the new Prussian government.

Rudolf Breitscheid returned to journalism as editor of the USPD journal Der Sozialist.

Rudolf Breitscheid's ideas were criticised by many and earned him few allies in either the USPD or SPD.

Rudolf Breitscheid became increasingly disillusioned with radical rhetoric of the USPD, which he viewed as empty and reflecting a lack of commitment to real action.

Rudolf Breitscheid supported reunification with the SPD in 1922, believing that only a united socialist party would have the strength to fight off right-wing attacks.

Rudolf Breitscheid supported the foreign policy of Gustav Stresemann, including the Dawes Plan in 1924, and maintained good relations with the French left, which he utilised to pave the way for the Locarno Treaties in 1925.

Rudolf Breitscheid reluctantly supported the "grand coalition" government formed after the 1928 federal election, believing that the SPD could influence its policy in a progressive direction and continue Stresemann's foreign policy.

Rudolf Breitscheid characterised fascism as a form of anti-democratic organisation distinguished by its exploitation of democratic systems and usage of pseudo-legal means to achieve its goals, and understood the Nazis not as dedicated ideologues, but power-hungry opportunists, citing their lack of principles as the main factor that allowed them to attain broad support.

Rudolf Breitscheid acknowledged that the nationalism, antisemitism, and violence of Nazism were factors in its appeal.

Rudolf Breitscheid did not consider the incoherency of the Nazi platform and coalition to be a threat to its stability.

Rudolf Breitscheid argued that the SPD could use its position to push solutions the economic crisis while dedicating energy to educating the masses; a two-pronged strategy to deprive the Nazis of their support base.

Rudolf Breitscheid argued that the SPD could not be held responsible for Bruning's policies, and that they were acting out of obligation to the constitution in a parliament where the two other largest parties, the Nazis and KPD, were anti-constitutional.

Rudolf Breitscheid supported the SPD's endorsement of President Paul von Hindenburg in his 1932 re-election bid, believing that he would defend the constitution and continue to deny the Nazis power as he had since 1930.

Rudolf Breitscheid, who had spoken at times of extraparliamentary action by the Iron Front if the constitution was violated, refused to endorse this course of action as the Nazis took control of the state.

Rudolf Breitscheid hoped that the SPD would be allowed to exist for a time, and that they might build their strength, though he made no attempt to imagine what that might entail.

Re-elected to the Reichstag in the March 1933 election despite harsh repression, Rudolf Breitscheid attended the session which saw the passage of the Enabling Act of 1933.

Rudolf Breitscheid moved to Paris with his wife Tony in May 1933, where they spent the next seven years.

Rudolf Breitscheid remained politically active, but was not part of the Sopade, the SPD's exile organisation.

Rudolf Breitscheid was imprisoned for ten months in Berlin, then transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, then to Buchenwald in September 1943.

Rudolf Breitscheid died there on 24 August 1944, listed as being killed in an Allied air raid on the camp.

However, Varian Fry believed that Rudolf Breitscheid was executed by the Gestapo and his cause of death falsified.

Rudolf Breitscheid is commemorated at the Memorial to the Socialists in the Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery, Berlin.