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Otto Wels

Image by 51581 on Pixabay · Pixabay License

EntityQ61719· pop 39· linked from 73 articles

German politician (1873-1939)

Person · Open Library

Born
1873
Died
1939
Works
1

Top works

  • Rede zur Begründung der Ablehnung des "Ermächitgungsgesetzes" durch die Sozialdemokratische Fraktion in der Reichstagssitzung vom 23. März 1933 in der Berliner Krolloper

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
6
Total plays
10

<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Otto+Wels">Read more on Last.fm</a>

via Last.fm · Otto Wels

Academic profile · OpenAlex

0h-index
Works
1
Cited by
0

Research areas

Philosophy

Most cited works

  • Die Sozialdemokratie gegen Poincaré und Helfferich : Rede zum Reichshaushalt gehalten im Reichstag am 25. Januar 19231923 · 0 cit

via OpenAlex · CC0

Quotes

  • Freiheit und Leben kann man uns nehmen, die Ehre nicht.Freedom and life can be taken from us, but not our honor.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Serving with
Hermann Müller (1919–1931) , Arthur Crispien (1922–1933) , Hans Vogel (1931–1939)
Preceded by
Friedrich Ebert , Philipp Scheidemann
Succeeded by
Hans Vogel
Constituency
Frankfurt an der Oder
Born
15 September 1873, Berlin , Prussia, Germany
Died
16 September 1939 (1939-09-16) (aged 66), Paris , France
Resting place
Cimetière Nouveau de Châtenay-Malabry, France
Party
SPD (1891–1939)
Spouse
Bertha Antonie Reske ​ ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1893 ) ​
Children
Walter Hugo
Occupation
Politician Labor Leader Paper Hanger
Allegiance
German Empire
Branch service
Imperial German Army
Years of service
1895–1897

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Image
Ottowelsportait.jpg
Show 4 more facts
Commons category
Otto Wels
date of death
1939-09-16
date of birth
1873-09-15
name in native language
Otto Wels
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~13 min read

Article

Otto Wels (15 September 1873 – 16 September 1939) was a German politician who served as a member of the Reichstag from 1912 to 1933 and as the chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1919 until his death in 1939. He was the military commander of Berlin in the turbulent early days of the German Revolution of 1918–1919, and during the 1920 Kapp Putsch he was instrumental in organizing the general strike that helped defeat the anti-republican putschists. Near the end of the Weimar Republic's life, however, he saw the futility of calling a general strike against the 1932 Prussian coup d'état because of the mass unemployment of the Great Depression.

His 1933 speech in the Reichstag in opposition to Adolf Hitler and the Enabling Act marked the end of the Weimar Republic prior to the Act becoming law. After the passage of the Act effectively gave Hitler dictatorial power, Wels fled the country and established the SPD exile organization Sopade. He died in Paris in 1939, two weeks after the start of World War II.

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