Siegmund Glücksmann (30 May 1884 – 6 October 1942) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

politician. In the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most prominent figures of the German minority socialist movement in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, functioned as its 'party ideologue' and represented the more

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

oriented wing of the movement.

Biography

Student life and entry into political activism

Glücksmann studied secondary school in Wadowitz, where he joined a socialist students organization. In 1905 he shifted to

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

to study Law at the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

. He worked with socialist publications, and in 1910 he became a member of the Jewish Social Democratic Party (ŻPSD).Blachetta-Madajczyk, Petra.
Klassenkampf oder Nation?: deutsche Sozialdemokratie in Polen 1918–1939. Schriften des Bundesarchivs, 49
'.

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

: Droste, 1997. p. 273 In 1911 the Jewish Social Democracy in Galicia, the Jewish affiliate section of the

Polish Social Democratic Party of Galicia Polish Social Democratic Party of Galicia () was a political party in Galicia. The party was formed in 1890 as the Galician territorial organization of the Social Democratic Workers Party of Austria. In 1892 it took the name Social Democratic Par ...

, merged into the ŻPSD.Brenner, Michael/Penslar, Derek Jonathan. ''In search of Jewish community : Jewish identities in Germany and Austria, 1918-1933''. Bloomington: Indiana University press, c1998. p. 118 Glücksmann became a member of the Executive of the unified ŻPSD.Blachetta-Madajczyk, Petra.
Klassenkampf oder Nation?: deutsche Sozialdemokratie in Polen 1918–1939. Schriften des Bundesarchivs, 49
'.

: Droste, 1997. p. 274

War and Post-war

In 1913 Glücksmann began post-graduate studies in Law. Glücksmann's university studies were however interrupted by the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Glücksmann became an officer, commanding over a company of carabiners. Glücksmann was wounded in the war, and settled down in

Bielsko Bielsko (, ) was until 1950 an independent town situated in Cieszyn Silesia, Poland. In 1951 it was joined with Biała Krakowska to form the new town of Bielsko-Biała. Bielsko constitutes the western part of that town. Bielsko was founded by ...

(Bielitz). In Bielsko, he opened an attorney's office of his own. In Bielsko he became associated with the German intellectuals of the town. He was elected to the town council. In 1920 he was active in the Social Democratic electoral bloc 'Forward'. He was a leading figure of the Austrian

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 Form ...

in Bielsko, and worked with its press organ '' Volksstimme''. In 1922, he managed to merge the Bielitz branch of the Austrian Social Democratic Party with the German Social Democratic party organizations in

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( ; ; ; ; Silesian German: ; ) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located today mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic. The area is predominantly known for its heav ...

, forming the

German Social Democratic Party The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wit ...

(DSDP). The DSDP sought to organize German socialists throughout the Polish republic. The DSDP later evolved, after a series of mergers, into the

German Socialist Labour Party in Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ger ...

(DSAP).

Role as party ideologue

After

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (Poland), Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920). In the aftermath of World War I, he beca ...

's (a former socialist who would become a

Marshal of Poland Marshal of Poland () is the highest rank in the Polish Army. It has been granted to only six officers. At present, Marshal is equivalent to a field marshal or general of the army (OF-10) in other NATO armies. History Today there are no living ...

) coming to power (during the May Coup in 1926), Glücksmann argued for opposition against the new regime and claimed that Piłsudski had abandoned socialism. The first joint protests by DSAP and the

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party (, PPS) is a democratic socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most significant parties in Poland from its founding in 1892 until its forced merger with the communist Polish Workers' Party to form ...

(PPS) were organized on Glücksmann's initiative. In the 1930s he argued in favour of cooperation with the

Communist Party of Poland The interwar Communist Party of Poland (, KPP) was a communist party active in Poland during the Second Polish Republic. It resulted from a December 1918 merger of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL) and the ...

and in 1934 he urged the DSAP to struggle jointly with the communists against

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

.Blachetta-Madajczyk, Petra.
Klassenkampf oder Nation?: deutsche Sozialdemokratie in Polen 1918–1939. Schriften des Bundesarchivs, 49
'.

: Droste, 1997. p. 277

Rise of fascism

Glücksmann welcomed the Popular Front line adopted by the 7th congress of the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

in 1935. In Bielsko, local

National Socialists Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

began a campaign of harassment against Glücksmann. As a result, Glücksmann resigned from his position as the chairman of the DSAP organization in the Bielsko subdistrict. The attacks against the party did however not decline.Blachetta-Madajczyk, Petra.
Klassenkampf oder Nation?: deutsche Sozialdemokratie in Polen 1918–1939. Schriften des Bundesarchivs, 49
'.

: Droste, 1997. p. 278

Exile and death

In September 1939, Glücksmann and his family fled to

Volhynia Volhynia or Volynia ( ; see #Names and etymology, below) is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in ...

and from there to

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

(Lemberg or Lviv). In Lwów he began working as an

Arithmetics Arithmetic is an elementary branch of mathematics that deals with numerical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and Division (mathematics), division. In a wider sense, it also includes exponentiation, extraction of nth root, ...

teacher. In the fall of 1940, once the area was taken over by the

Soviets The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...

following the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military conflict by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Second Polish Republic, Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Polan ...

, he was deported to

Yoshkar-Ola Yoshkar-Ola (Mari language, Mari and ) is the capital city of Mari El, Russia. Yoshkar-Ola means “red city” in Meadow Mari language, Mari and was formerly known as Tsarevokokshaysk () before 1919, as Krasnokokshaysk () between 1919 and 1927 ...

, where he worked as a woodcutter. After the Sikorski-Mayski Agreement between the

Polish government in exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile (), was the government in exile A government-in-exile (GiE) is a political group that claims to be the legitimate government of a sovere ...

and the Soviets, Glücksmann was free to leave Yoshkar-Ola and in the fall of 1941 he moved to

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

. He died in

typhoid Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often ther ...

at a Bukhara hospital on 6 October 1942. His wife and children later returned to Poland, and would eventually migrate to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gluecksmann, Siegmund Members of Silesian Parliament Jewish Polish politicians Polish socialists Jewish socialists Social Democratic Party of Austria politicians German Socialist Labour Party of Poland politicians Jews from Austria-Hungary People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) People from Wadowice County Deaths from typhoid fever 1884 births 1942 deaths Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I