Oswald Franz Alexander Zimmermann (5 February 1859, Neumarkt – 5 October 1910,

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

) was a German anti-Semitic politician and journalist. One of the leading representatives of political anti-Semitism in the German Empire, he was elected a member of the Reichstag three times. Zimmermann, a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

, was educated at the gymnasium in Ohlau before studying at Breslau University and

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

.Zimmermann, Oswald, geb. am 05 . 02 . 1859 in Neumarkt in Schlesien
/ref> Working in Dresden, he was editor-in-chief of the journal ''Deutsche Reform'' before later establishing his own journal ''Deutsche Wacht''. He also published ''Sind die Juden noch das auserwählte Volk? Ein Beitrag zur Aufklärung über die Judenfrage''. Zimmermann was active in the original

German Reform Party The German Reform Party (German: ''Deutsche Reformpartei'' or DRP) was a far-right political party active in the German Empire. It had antisemitism as its ideological basis. The initial German Reform Party was established in 1880 by Alexander P ...

, a strong anti-Semitic group active in

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

between 1880 and 1891.Richard S. Levy, ''Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution'', ABC-CLIO, 2005, p. 22 When this party disappeared he developed his own group of followers and with them worked closely with

Otto Böckel Otto Böckel (2 July 1859, Frankfurt am Main – 17 September 1923, Michendorf) was a German populist politician who became one of the first to successfully exploit anti-Semitism as a political issue in the country. Path to politics A native of t ...

, with both men combining their followings as a new German Reform Party in 1893. He was elected to the Reichstag as one of a number of independent anti-Semites in 1890 and held the seat for the German Reform Party in

1893 Events January–March * January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America. * Mark Twain started writing Puddn'head Wilson. * January 6 – Th ...

.Datenbank der deutschen Parlamentsabgeordneten
/ref> Zimmermann pressed for closer links with another anti-Semitic party, the German Social Party, and, despite the reservations of Böckel, they merged in 1894 as the German Social Reform Party. Robert Melson, ''Revolution and Genocide: On the Origins of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust'', University of Chicago Press, 1996, p. 118 Despite the initiative being largely his idea Zimmermann found working with the German Social Party, who represented the more moderate end of the independent anti-Semitic movement, difficult and in particular clashed with their leader

Max Liebermann von Sonnenberg Max Liebermann von Sonnenberg (21 August 1848 – 17 November 1911) was a German officer who became noted as an anti-Semitic politician and publisher. He was part of a wider campaign against German Jews that became a central feature of national ...

, whom he personally disliked. Both men came to command their own factions within the party and, with Böckel having already left, the joint party proved highly unstable. The two groups split again in 1900 with Zimmermann reactivating the German Reform Party for a third time.

Walther Killy Walther Killy (26 August 191728 December 1995) was a German literary scholar who specialised in poetry, especially that of Friedrich Hölderlin and Georg Trakl. He taught at the Free University of Berlin, the Georg-August-Universität Göttinge ...

(ed.), ''Dictionary of German Biography: Thibaut - Zycha, Volume 10'', Walter de Gruyter, 2006, p. 705 He returned to the Reichstag representing this party in the 1907 election, holding the seat until his death in 1910.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmermann, Oscar 1859 births 1910 deaths People from Środa Śląska Politicians from the Province of Silesia German Roman Catholics German Reform Party politicians Members of the 8th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 9th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 12th Reichstag of the German Empire University of Breslau alumni Leipzig University alumni