Eduard Ludwig Alexander (14 March 1881 – 1 March 1945, also known as Eduard Louis Alexander and Eduard Ludwig) was a German politician of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

(KPD) and a representative in the Reichstag.

Career

Stolperstein Cimbernstr 13 (Nikol) Eduard Alexander

Eduard Ludwig Alexander was born in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

; his father was an office manager. He attended the Royal Gymnasium at Burgplatz zu Essen, where he received his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

in 1900. He then studied at the

Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

, at the

Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württem ...

, and at the Université de Lausanne Jura, working from 1911 as a Rechtsanwalt and Justiziar in Berlin. In 1917 Alexander was involved in the formation of the

Spartacus League The Spartacus League (German: ''Spartakusbund'') was a Marxism, Marxist revolutionary movement organized in Germany during World War I. It was founded in August 1914 as the "International Group" by Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, Clara Zetkin, ...

and joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) together with his wife upon the founding of the party in the Communist Party in 1918 and 1919. Between 1921 and 1925, he was a city councillor in Berlin while simultaneously serving, under the pseudonym Eduard Ludwig, as head of the press service of the KPD and financial editor of ''

Die Rote Fahne ''Die Rote Fahne'' (, ''The Red Flag'') was a German newspaper originally founded in 1876 by Socialist Worker's party leader Wilhelm Hasselmann, and which has been since published on and off, at times underground, by German Socialists and Communis ...

''. At Pentecost in 1923, he and his wife Gertrud participated in the Marxist Work Week (''Marxistische Arbeitswoche'') and founded the Frankfurt

Institute for Social Research The Institute for Social Research (german: Institut für Sozialforschung, IfS) is a research organization for sociology and continental philosophy, best known as the institutional home of the Frankfurt School and critical theory. Currently a part ...

. In 1927 he was a co-founder of the Marxist Workers' School, where he taught with Hermann Duncker,

Jürgen Kuczynski Jürgen Kuczynski (; 17 September 1904, Elberfeld – 6 August 1997, Berlin) was a German economist, journalist, and communist. He also provided intelligence to the Soviet Union during World War II. By 1936, Kuczynski had followed his father an ...

Georg Lukács Georg may refer to: * ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) * , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker See also * George (disambiguation) George may refer to: People * George (given name) * G ...

and

Karl August Wittfogel Karl August Wittfogel (6 September 1896 – 25 May 1988) was a German-American playwright, historian, and sinologist. He was originally a Marxist and an active member of the Communist Party of Germany, but after the Second World War, he was an e ...

among others. In the 1928 election, Alexander was elected to the Reichstag, but was not allowed to run in the 1930 election as a member of the so-called

Conciliator faction The Conciliator faction was an opposition group within the Communist Party of Germany during the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. In East Germany, after World War II, the German word for conciliator, ''Versöhnler'', became a term for anti- Mar ...

. In 1931, he was elected mayor of the city of

Boizenburg Boizenburg () is a municipality in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, 53 km west of Ludwigslust, 25 km northeast of Lüneburg and 50 km east of ...

with the support of both the KPD and SPD, but was not able to assume office due to a breakdown of the party alliance. Following the

Nazi rise to power Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...

in 1933, Alexander was

disbarred Disbarment, also known as striking off, is the removal of a lawyer from a bar association or the practice of law, thus revoking their law license or admission to practice law. Disbarment is usually a punishment for unethical or criminal conduct ...

on the grounds that he was allegedly half-Jewish. Later the same year, he was appointed as an arbitrator for trade affairs of the German-Russian trading association. On 22 August 1944, Eduard Ludwig Alexander was arrested as part of the "

Aktion Gitter Aktion Gitter was a "mass arrest action" by the Gestapo which took place in Germany between 22 and 23 August 1944. It came just over a month after the failed attempt to assassinate the country's leader, Adolf Hitler, on 20 July 1944. The program ...

" campaign and transferred to

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...

. He died in transit to

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concent ...

on 1 March 1945.

Personal life

In 1902, he met Gertrud Gaudin (1882–1967), who at that time was graduating from art studies in Berlin. They married in 1908; under her married name Gertrud Alexander was later known as a communist politician, author, publicist and cultural critic. They divorced in the 1920s and in 1925 she moved to Moscow with both of their children.Vgl
Angaben über Gertrud Alexander
auf ddr-biografien.de (retrieved 21 August 2009). In 1929 he married Maria Seyring, a physician, with whom he had three children.

Memorials

In Berlin since 1992, Alexander's name appears on one of the 96 plaques in the

Memorial to the Murdered Members of the Reichstag The Memorial to the Murdered Members of the Reichstag is a memorial in Berlin, Germany. The memorial is located in front of the Reichstag building and commemorates the 96 members of the parliament who died unnaturally between 1933 and 1945 (1948) ...

, on the corner of Scheidemannstraße / Republic Square in Berlin near the

Reichstag building The Reichstag (, ; officially: – ; en, Parliament) is a historic government building in Berlin which houses the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament. It was constructed to house the Imperial Diet (german: Reichstag) of the ...

. In March 2009, in front of Alexander's former residence at Cimbernstraße 13 in the Steglitz-Zehlendorf – Nikolassee district of Berlin, a

Stolperstein A (; plural ; literally 'stumbling stone', metaphorically a 'stumbling block') is a sett-size, concrete cube bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution. The project, initiat ...

was laid in his memory.

Works

*Eduard Ludwig: Changes in German Foreign Trade. In: The International - Journal of Practice and Theory of Marxism, Volume 1922. Volume 3. Verlag Neue Kritik, Frankfurt 1971. *Eduard Ludwig: Gold, money and paper. A reply to the money theory Vargas. In: The International - Journal of Practice and Theory of Marxism, Volume 1923. Volume 4. Verlag Neue Kritik, Frankfurt 1971.

Literature

* Erwin Dickhoff: ''Essener Köpfe – wer war was?'' Bracht, Essen 1985, . * H. Mayer: ''Eduard Alexander – ein bedeutender Wirtschaftstheoretiker der KPD.'' In: ''Beiträge zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung.'' Jg. 27, Nr. 1, 1985, S. 65ff. *

Hermann Weber Hermann Weber (23 August 1928 – 29 December 2014) was a German historian and political scientist. He has been described as "the man who knew everything about the German Democratic Republic". Life Early years Hermann Weber was born into a ...

, Andreas Herbst: ''Deutsche Kommunisten. Biographisches Handbuch 1918 bis 1945.'' Dietz, Berlin 2004, , S. 58–59
Online
* Uwe Wieben: Eduard Alexander. Biographische Skizze eines nahezu vergessenen Politikers der Weimarer Republik, 159 Seiten, verlag am park Berlin 2008, .

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Eduard Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic Communist Party of Germany politicians Sachsenhausen concentration camp prisoners 1881 births 1945 deaths Jurists from North Rhine-Westphalia German people who died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Politicians who died in Nazi concentration camps