Fritz Henßler (12 April 1886 – 4 December 1953) was a German Social Democratic politician. Henßler was born in

Altensteig Altensteig (; Swabian: ''Aldaschdaeg'') is a town in the district of Calw, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History Altensteig was most likely given town rights by the Counts of Hohenberg around the middle of the 14th century. In 1398, the to ...

. He joined the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 1905. He became managing editor of the ''Westfälische Allgemeine Volkszeitung'', the Social Democratic party organ in the

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

region. From 1920 to 1933 Henßler was leader of the SPD branch Dortmund and from 1922 to 1933 chairman of the SPD in the district "Western Westphalia". In 1930 he was elected into the Reichstag. After the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

came to power, Henßler had to give up his public offices. He was arrested by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

in 1936 and was sentenced to one year in the prison Steinwache. However, instead of being released after one year, Henßler was sent to

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoner ...

in 1937, where he was interned until 1945. He survived the

Death march A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinguished in this way from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Conven ...

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

in April and May 1945. Henßler continued his political activities after the war. From 1946 to 1953 he was chairman of the SPD group in the state parliament of

Northrhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhab ...

and at the same time

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Dortmund. He was elected into the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...

in 1949. In 1953 Henßler rejected to again run for the Bundestag and he rejected the position as second federal chairman of the SPD. He collapsed at a conference in November 1953 and died in

Witten Witten () is a city with almost 100,000 inhabitants in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis (district) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Witten is situated in the Ruhr valley, in the southern Ruhr area. Bordering municipalities * Bochum * Dortmun ...

on 4 December 1953.

References

Biography at Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

Fritz Henßler at Landtag-NRW
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henssler, Fritz Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians 1886 births 1953 deaths Sachsenhausen concentration camp survivors Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic Mayors of Dortmund