Karl Höltermann

Karl Höltermann (20 March 1894 - 3 March 1955) was a German Social Democratic activist and politician. For just over a year, during 1932/33 he served as a member of the Reichstag (German parliament). By trade he started out as a typesetter, but after his wartime experiences he re-emerged as a successful party-political journalist.[1][2][3][4]

Karl Höltermann
Born	(1894-03-24)24 March 1894 Pirmasens, Germany
Died	3 March 1955(1955-03-03) (aged 60) Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England
Occupation	Political activist Journalist-editor Politician
Political party	SPD
Spouse(s)	Helene Marold (1897 - 1977)
Children	Ursula Dora Erna Rosa

Life

Provenance and early years

Karl Höltermann was born in Pirmasens, a town near the German border with France and Luxembourg known, then as now a centre of Germany's shoe manufacturing industry. Sources describe his father as "a shoe maker and trade union functionary".[5] He was still an infant when the family relocated to Nuremberg, which is where he grew up, and where he was apprenticed as a typesetter. Early on he joined the Young Socialists, a trades union and, a little later, the Social Democratic Party.[4] After completing his apprenticeship he took a period abroad as an itinerant "journeyman" skilled labourer.[3] The world changed in July/August 1914 with the outbreak of war, and in 1915 Höltermann was conscripted for military service. He served as a soldier on the western front between 1915 and 1919, having reached the rank of junior officer by the time he was demobilised.[4] He was badly injured through gas poisoning in 1918, but remained on the frontline.[1]

Journalism and SPD politics

By 1919 Höltermann was working as a journalist, initially as a trainee with the Fränkische Tagespost, a party newspaper published in Nuremberg.[2] That was followed by a stint as a contributing editor with the Berlin-based Social Democratic Press Service.[2] Later in 1920 he moved to Magdeburg, taking a post as political editor with Volksstimme, a regional daily newspaper at that time usually favourable in its coverage involving the SPD. Shortly after Höltermann arrived at Volksstimme the editor-in-chief, Paul Bader, left the paper and Höltermann took his place.[4]

In 1922/23 he was a co-founder of "Republikanischen Notwehr" (loosely, "Republic Self-defence") in Magdeburg, SPD grouping set up in response to the emergence of para-military "Freikorps" units set up in the wake of the war, generally made up of disillusioned unemployed former soldiers, and frequently headed up and organised by former army officers committed to a nostalgic nationalism that left them out of sympathy with the German Republic. "Republikanischen Notwehr" was committed to defending the new republican order.[4] The "Republikanischen Notwehr" had its first public outing in April 1923, by which point it was able to muster a parade of approximately 1,500 men.[1] It very quickly became effective across the entire Prussian province of Saxony[1] Two years Höltermann teamed up with Otto Hörsing and together, in February 1924, they launched Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold, an organisation described by Otto Hörsing as a "non-party organisation for the protection of the [German] republic and democracy in the fight against the Swastika and the [Soviet] Red star."[6] The "Republikanischen Notwehr" was subsumed into the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold: Karl Höltermann became deputy chairman of the national organisation. He also took charge of setting up and running (on an unpaid basis[2]) "Das Reichsbanner", a national newspaper for the organisation, which was produced in Magdeburg.[4] "Illustrierten Republikanischen Zeitung", also produced from Magdeburg by Höltermann, later joined "Das Reichsbanner" on the news-stands.[1] Otto Hörsing had for many years been known for an eccentric approach to his regional leadership role in the party and during the later 1920s he seems to have become increasingly scandal-prone and irascible. During 1931 matters came to a head, and there was a falling out with party colleagues which led to Hörsing's resignation from Reichsbanner. Karl Höltermann, hitherto Hörsing's deputy, took over the Reichsbanner leadership duties[1] in December 1931 in an "acting" capacity, and was confirmed in post as chairman through election by the membership in April 1932.[7] He continued to serve till the banning of the organisation, which came in the broader context of the cancellation of democracy in March 1933.[4]

Street politics

The return of economic crisis during the later 1920s triggered massive unemployment and intensifying political polarisation across Germany, which increasingly spilled onto the city streets and squares. Both the communists and populists were increasingly open about cultivating paramilitary wings. Those still backing parties of the centre-right and centre-left - notably the SPD - were less attracted by this style of politics, but there was nevertheless a powerful yearning for protection from the hooligan extremists. During 1931 Karl Höltermann was instrumental in setting up the "Iron Front" republic protection organisation. Support came from the SPD, from the mainstream (i.e. non-communist) trades union confederation and from the increasingly politicised associations and groupings of sports clubs.[4][8]

Parliament and the end of democracy

In the Berlin district of Gropiusstadt a pathway named after Karl Höltermann provides pedestrian and cycle access to the maternity unit.

• "Governments come and go .... After Hitler it will be our turn! It will be the German republicans who will again have to clear up the wreckage. We prepare for that day!"
• "Regierungen kommen und gehen. [...] Nach Hitler kommen wir! Es werden wieder die deutschen Republikaner sein, die einen Scherbenhaufen aufräumen müssen. Auf diesen Tag richten wir uns ein!"[9][10]

Karl Höltermann, concluding his address to the final general assembly of the Reichsbanner organisation, 18 February 1933

Between July 1932 and (notionally) June 1933 Karl Höltermann also sat in the Reichstag (national parliament), as an SPD member, representing Electoral District 10 (Magdeburg).[3] Sources are silent on his parliamentary contributions. By 1932 the Reichstag had become for most purposes ineffective: it was deadlocked, with the moderate parties unwilling to enter into any sort of a coalition with the National Socialists and the Communist Party bitterly hostile to the SPD (whom they termed social fascists). Had the National Socialists and the Communist Party entered into a coalition after the November 1932 election they would, together, have commanded a Reichstag majority, but such a coalition would have been devlish and unthinkable for them both. The National Socialist leader in any case had other plans, and used the parliamentary deadlock to maneovre his party into a semi-constitutional power grab, which took effect in January 1933. The Hitler government now lost no time in transforming Germany into a one-party dictatorship. At the end of February the newly reconfigured security services used the Reichstag fire as a pretext for a wave of arrests during and directly following 28 February 1933. Their lists of their political opponents were, at this stage, still up to date. Their first detainees were almost all Communist Party members, but many leading members of other parties were then taken into custody during the weeks that followed. Karl Höltermann, as a known Nazi opponent, and because of his position as leader of Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold (to which he was re-elected by the membership in February 1933) was in particular danger. For several months he lived "underground" (i.e. unregistered and therefore illegally), hidden in Berlin. In May 1933 he managed to flee the country, escaping to Amsterdam. By this time Helena, his wife, had been taken into custody by the security services, along with their family.[4]

Exile

For the next couple of years he lived in Belgium and then in the Saarland. The Saarland had been under French military occupation since 1919, so was for most purposes beyond the reach of the German security services. Early in 1935 the region was returned to German rule, however. Many opponents of Nazism who had taken refuge in it were imprisoned. A German arrest warrant had been issued against Höltermann in 1934, but he nevertheless evaded capture, instead ending up in London. He lived with his family in England throughout the rest of the Hitler years and, indeed, beyond.[1] On 11 June 1935 the Höltermann family were formally relieved of their German citizenship, which left them stateless.[4]

Relatively little is known about Höltermann's final two decades, lived in England. He was able to network with fellow political exiles from Germany. One source mentions an attempt to set up an "alternative" London-based SPD leadership team, which came to nothing, as did his efforts to reconstitute Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold from exile, and use it to coordinate or at least encourage resistance back in Germany.[2][1] Shortly before the outbreak of war in September 1939 Karl Höltermann was one of three London based German anti-Nazis proposed by Group Captain Christie to Foreign Ministry Mandarin Vansittart for membership of a putative "German advisory committee", but the British authorities did not pursue the idea.[11] Several sources concentrating on other German political refugees in London during this period refer to a group of [German former] parliamentarians around Höltermann, without spelling out the nature or extent of the group's activism.[12][13] After 1942 Höltermann withdrew completely from any ongoing political engagement by the British-based exile community.[1]

According to one source the arrest warrant issued against Höltermann in 1934 remained in force throughout his entire period of emigration.[4] After war ended in May 1945, along with the end of the Hitler nightmare, any outstanding warrant from 1934 would have been of little relevance. Between 1945 and 1955 Höltermann made a number of visits to the three occupation zones that in May 1949 became West Germany,[2] but England remained his home till he died, a couple of weeks short of what would have been his sixty-first birthday, in 1955.[14] A British "Naturalisation Certificate" was issued for his daughter on 5 August 1947, at which point the family were living in Kings Langley, a prosperous commuter village short distance outside London, and close to St Albans.[15]

Brother

Karl Höltermann's younger brother was the Bavarian politician Arthur Höltermann.[16]

References

1. "Karl Höltermann * 20. März 1894 Primasens † 3. März 1955 Kings Langley/Großbritannien". Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold. Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand, Berlin. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
2. "Karl Höltermann March 20, 1894 - March 03, 1955". Ort der Erinnerung. Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand, Berlin. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
3. "Höltermann, Karl; Burchdrucker in Magdeburg". Reichstags-Handbuch: 8. Wahlperiode, Berlin,. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, München. 1933. p. 161. Retrieved 26 June 2020.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
4. "Karl Höltermann 20.03.1894 – 03.03.1955 .... SPD Deutscher Rreichstag" (PDF). Verfolgt: Abgeordnete aus der Region des heutigen Sachsen-Anhalt, die Opfer der nationalsozialistischen Diktatur von 1933 bis 1945 in Deutschland wurden. Die Präsidentin des Landtages von Sachsen-Anhalt. January 2020. p. 32-33. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
5. A. T. Lane (1995). Höltermann, Karl. Biographical Dictionary of European Labor Leaders. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 425–426. ISBN 978-0-313-29899-8.
6. Osterroth, Franz; Schuster, Dieter (1980). "Chronik der deutschen Sozialdemokratie" (in German). Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
7. Konrad Heiden (1934). "The Boxheim Document". A History of Nationla Socialism (translated from "Geschichte des Nationalsozialismus. Die Karriere einer Idee" - 1932. Routledge, Abingdon Oxon. pp. 175–176. ISBN 978-0-415-58077-9. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
8. Bernd Langer (June 2012). "Die Eiserne Front" (PDF). 80 Jahre antifaschistiche Aktion .... Heran an die Massen. Verein zur Förderung antifaschistischer Kultur e.V., Göttingen. pp. 22–23. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
9. "Debatte um den Generalstreik 1933". Geschichte der Gewerkschaften: Protestzüge und Streikaktionen. Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
10. "Inhalt der gehaltenen Reden". Reichsbannerkundegebung 19. 2. 33, Lustgarten. 20 February 1933. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
11. Klemens von Klemperer (13 October 1994). Resistance and exile. German Resistance against Hitler: The Search for Allies Abroad 1938-1945. Clarendon Press. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-19-160679-3.
12. Swen Steinberg (author); Richard Dove (compiler-editor); Ian Wallace (compiler-editor) (1 March 2014). Reorganisation, inhaltliche Arbeit und alte Konflikte. Zur langfristigen Prägung gewerkschaftlicher Exilnetzwerke kleiner und mittlerer Funktionäre in Grossbritannien nach 1938. Vision and Reality: Central Europe after Hitler. Editions Rodopi. p. 109. ISBN 978-94-012-1062-1.
13. Werner Röder; Herbert A. Strauss; Dieter Marc Schneider; Louise Forsyth (10 November 2011). Voetter, Ferdinand. Politik, Wirtschaft, Öffentliches Leben. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 783–784. ISBN 978-3-11-097028-9.
14. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
15. "Naturalisation Certificate: Dora Helma Höltermann. From Germany. Resident in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire". Certificate AZ29954. The National Archives, Kew. 5 August 1947. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
16. Willy Albrecht (Hrsg.): Die SPD unter Kurt Schumacher und Erich Ollenhauer 1946 bis 1963. Sitzungsprotokolle der Spitzengremien. vol. 1: 1946–1948. Dietz, Bonn 1999, ISBN 978-3-801-24101-8, p. 118.