Franz Vogt (9 October 1899 – 14 May 1940) was a German trade unionist, Social Democrat and member of the

German resistance German resistance can refer to: * Freikorps, German nationalist paramilitary groups resisting German communist uprisings and the Weimar Republic government * German resistance to Nazism * Landsturm, German resistance groups fighting against France d ...

against the Nazi regime.

Life

Vogt was chairman of the

Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold The (, ''"Black, Red, ndGold Banner of the Reich"'') was an organization in Germany during the Weimar Republic, formed by members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the German Centre Party, and the (liberal) German Democratic Par ...

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...

and secretary of the economic-political department of the ''Bergbauindustriearbeiterverbandes'' ("Mining Industry Workers' Union"). In 1932, he served in the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

n diet as a representative from the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SPD). As an active member of the SPD and the head of the Reichsbanner, Vogt was on the front lines of the frequent confrontations with the growing Nazi movement.Stadtarchiv Bochum
Short biography of Franz Vogt. Retrieved March 21, 2010 Following the Nazis' seizure of power in 1933 Vogt and his family moved to the

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

, which was not then in the German Reich. However, shortly afterwards, Saarland was reintegrated into the Reich, causing Vogt to flee again, this time to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, he was a member of the German exile group, the ''Freie Presse'' ("Free Press") and published the ''Bergarbeiter-Mitteilungen'' ("Mine Workers' Newsletter") and Bergarbeiter-Zeitung ("Mine Workers' Newspaper"). He became a member of the executive committee of the Miners' International Federation (MIF) in 1938.Short biography of Franz Vogt
International Institute of Social History official website. Retrieved March 21, 2010. He helped establish the ''Arbeitsausschuss freigewerkschaftlicher Bergarbeiter Deutschland'' ("Working Committee of the Mine Workers of Germany") in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and became the secretary of that organization. Vogt took his own life when Germany invaded and overran the Netherlands in early May 1940.

Legacy

In 1983 the city of Bochum decided to name a street in his honor. Franz-Vogt-Straße is located close to where Vogt and his family once lived.

References

External links

Franz Vogt Papers
(PDF) List of Vogt's personal documents. March 21, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Vogt, Franz 1899 births 1940 deaths 20th-century Freikorps personnel German anti-fascists German resistance members 1940 suicides Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the Netherlands Suicides in the Netherlands

Life

Legacy

References

Further reading

See also

External links