Johann Friedrich "Fritz" Westmeyer (14 January 1873 – 14 November 1917) was a German trade unionist and socialist politician. He stands out as one of the more radical members of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

(SPD) in imperial Germany.

Biography

The second youngest of five children, Westmeyer was born in Osnabrück in 1873. Westmeyer's father, a

bricklayer A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsman and tradesman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry. ...

, died during his childhood. Educated at Osnabrück schools, Westmeyer worked as a chimney sweep and became a trade unionist and member of the

(SPD) in the 1890s. Westmeyer began working for the SPD press in Nuremberg in 1896. He relocated to Hannover to work for the ''Volkswill'' in 1902, and attended the International Socialist Congress in Amsterdam in 1904. He was arrested for his work on the ''Volkswill'' and received a three-month prison sentence for

blasphemy Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...

in 1905. Westmeyer spent the subsequent years as an activist and organizer in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, where he became a close ally of Clara Zetkin, an influential

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

who would become a leading member of the

Spartacist League The Spartacus League (German: ''Spartakusbund'') was a 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 other ...

, the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD), and the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...

(KPD) after the collapse of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

in the First World War. He ran as a candidate for the '' Reichstag'' in 1907, was elected to lead the Social Democratic Association in

in 1908-1914, and edited the ''Schwäbische Tagwacht''. He was elected to serve as a member of the Württemberg '' Landtag'' in 1912-1917. Westmeyer joined Zetkin, August Thalheimer, and others of the so-called "left-wing" of the SPD in taking an anti-war line during World War I and opposed the SPD leadership's support of the

Kaiser ''Kaiser'' is the German word for "emperor" (female Kaiserin). In general, the German title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (''König''). In English, the (untranslated) word ''Kaiser'' is mainly ap ...

's war. Westmeyer's radicalism during the war led to his expulsion from the Social Democratic faction of Württemberg's ''Landtag'' in 1915, and he joined

Franz Engelhardt Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) * Franz (surname) Places * Franz (crater), a lunar crater * Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada * Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see Fran ...

and

Ferdinand Hoschka Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

in establishing the ''Sozialistische Vereinigung'', a rival legislative faction. Westmeyer participated on March 19, 1916 at the Reich Conference of the Gruppe Internationale, later the Spartakusbund called, which he participated in Berlin. Arrested by the authorities along with other significant Württemberg SPD radicals, Westmeyer was forcibly mobilized into imperial Germany's wartime army and sent to carry out his service on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

despite his age and opposition to the war. He died at a military hospital near the front in Rethel, France, in 1917.Broué, Pierre (2005). ''The German Revolution, 1917-1923''. Trans. John Archer. Leiden: BRILL. p. 63. , .

References

External links

Friedrich Westmeyer Dies; German Anti-War Socialist Was Sent to the Front as Punishment".
A wartime

obituary An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...

from the '' New York Times'' (25 December 1917). {{DEFAULTSORT:Westmeyer, Friedrich 1873 births 1917 deaths German anti-war activists German journalists German male journalists German Marxists German military personnel killed in World War I German newspaper editors German prisoners and detainees German socialists German trade unionists Marxist journalists People convicted of blasphemy Politicians from Osnabrück Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians People from the Province of Hanover German male writers German Army personnel of World War I