Neu Beginnen (English: "
obegin anew") was an
anti-fascist
Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...
opposition group
In politics, the opposition comprises one or more political parties or other organized groups that are opposed, primarily ideologically, to the government (or, in American English, the administration), party or group in political control of ...
formed in 1929 by
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
members of 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
Fo ...
. After the
Nazis seized power in 1933, the members of the small group discussed what the future of
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
should be after the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
. The conclusion was a left-wing coalition government consisting of Social Democrats, Socialists and
Communists
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...
. The leaders of the group saw disunity among the left as one of the key reasons the
NSDAP
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
had been able to seize power. They produced illegal pamphlets to advocate their ideas but failed to unite enough anti-fascists to take a significant hold. As a consequence, its loosely organised followers had all either been killed, left the party or been arrested by 1936.
See also
*
Union of German Socialist Organisations in Great Britain The Union of German Socialist Organisations in Great Britain (German: ''Union deutscher sozialistischer Organisation in Großbritannien'') was the amalgamation of German socialist and social democratic oriented organisations of exiled Germans durin ...
*
Ira Rischowski
Ira (Irene) Rischowski (1 August 1899 – 1989) was one of Germany's first female engineers and active in the German anti-Nazi resistance group Neu Beginnen before fleeing to Britain. In the UK she became a member of the Women's Engineering Socie ...
Social Democratic Party of Germany
German resistance to Nazism
1930s in Germany
Political party factions in Germany
Anti-fascism in Germany
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