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Walter Rathenau.
Walter Rathenau.

Walther Rathenau (September 29, 1867 – June 24, 1922) was a German industrialist, politician, writer, and statesman who served as Foreign Minister of Germany during the Weimar Republic. Events 522 BC - Darius I of Persia kills the Magian usurper Gaumâta securing his hold as king of the Persian Empire. Year 1867 ( MDCCCLXVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Events 972 - Battle of Cedynia, the first documented victory of Polish forces takes place Year 1922 ( MCMXXII) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. This page lists State Secretaries for Foreign Affairs under the German Empire (1871-1919 Reich Ministers of Foreign Affairs (1919-1945 and Federal Ministers of Foreign The term Weimar Republic ( ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk is used by historians to signify the democratic and Republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933

Contents

Family

Rathenau was born in Berlin, the son of Emil Rathenau, a prominent Jewish businessman and founder of the Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG), an electrical-engineering company. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Emil Moritz Rathenau ( December 11 1838 &ndash June 20 1915) was a German entrepreneur and industrialist a leading figure in the PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ AEG ( Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft, General Electricity Company) was a German producer of Electronics and electrical equipment He studied physics, chemistry, and philosophy in Berlin and Strasbourg. Strasbourg (Strasbourg stʁazbuʁ Alsatian: Strossburi,; Straßburg) is the capital and principal City of the Alsace région His religious heritage, wealth, and association with Freemasonry[1] were all factors in establishing his deeply divisive reputation in German politics; rumors that he was a homosexual may also have been a factor. [2] He worked as an engineer before joining the AEG board in 1899, becoming a leading industrialist in the late German Empire and early Weimar Republic periods. Year 1899 ( MDCCCXCIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The German Empire is the name commonly used in English to describe Germany from 1871 to 1918 when it was a semi- Constitutional monarchy: beginning with the Unification The term Weimar Republic ( ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk is used by historians to signify the democratic and Republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933 [3] Rathenau is thought to be the basis for the German industrialist character "Arnheim" in Robert Musil's novel The Man Without Qualities. Robert Musil born Robert Edler von Musil ( November 6, 1880, Klagenfurt, Austria &ndash The Man without Qualities ( German original title Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften) is a novel in three books by the Austrian novelist and essayist Robert

Political career

Rathenau was a leading proponent of a policy of assimilation for German Jews: he argued that Jews should oppose both Zionism and socialism and fully integrate themselves into mainstream German society. A region or society where several different groups are spontaneously assimilated is sometimes referred to as a Melting pot. Jews have lived in Germany, or " Ashkenaz " at least since the early 4th century, through both periods of tolerance and spasms of History of Zionism|Timeline of Zionism|World Zionist Organization|Zionist political violence Zionism is an international political movement that originally supported the Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution This, he said, would lead to the eventual disappearance of anti-Semitism. Antisemitism (alternatively spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism; also rarely known as judeophobia) is the Prejudice against or hostility As a powerful, affluent and highly visible Jewish politician, Rathenau was disdained by Germany's extreme right, culminating in his 1922 assassination.

During World War I Rathenau held senior posts in the Raw Materials Department of the War Ministry, while becoming chairman of AEG upon his father's death in 1915. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All He played a leading role in putting Germany's economy on a war footing, enabling wartime Germany to continue its war effort for years despite shortages of labor and raw materials.

Rathenau was a moderate liberal in politics, and after WWI he was one of the founders of the German Democratic Party (DDP). The German Democratic Party, or Deutsche Demokratische Partei (DDP was founded by leaders of the former Progressive People's Party (Fortschrittliche He rejected the tide of socialist thought which swept Germany after the shock of defeat and revolution, opposing state ownership of industry and advocating greater worker participation in the management of companies. Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution His ideas were influential in post-war governments.

In 1921, Rathenau was appointed Minister of Reconstruction, and in 1922 he became Foreign Minister. His insistence that Germany should fulfill its obligations under the Treaty of Versailles, while working for a revision of its terms, infuriated German nationalists. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. He also angered nationalists by negotiating the Treaty of Rapallo with the Soviet Union. See also Treaty of Rapallo 1920 The Treaty of Rapallo was an agreement made in the Italian town of Rapallo on April 16 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 The leaders of the (still obscure) Nazi Party and other right-wing groups claimed he was part of a "Jewish-Communist conspiracy. The, officially National Socialist German Workers' Party, ( abbreviated NSDAP) was a Political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945 Jewish Bolshevism, Judeo-Bolshevism, Judeo-Communism, or in Polish Żydokomuna, is a Pejorative Antisemitic expression "

The British politician Robert Boothby wrote of him: "He was something that only a German Jew could simultaneously be: a prophet, a philosopher, a mystic, a writer, a statesman, an industrial magnate of the highest and greatest order, and the pioneer of what has become known as 'industrial rationalization'. Robert John Graham Boothby Baron Boothby, KBE (also known as Bob Boothby) ( 12 February 1900 &ndash 16 July 1986) was "

In fact, despite his desire for economic and political co-operation between Germany and the Soviet Union, Rathenau remained skeptical of the methods of the Soviets. In his Kritik der dreifachen Revolution (Critique of the triple revolution) he noted that:

"We cannot use Russia's methods, as they only and at best prove that the economy of an agrarian nation can be leveled to the ground; Russia's thoughts are not our thoughts. They are, as it is in the spirit of the Russian city intelligentsia, unphilosophical, and highly dialectic; they are passionate logic based on unverified suppositions. They assume that a single good, the destruction of the capitalist class, weighs more than all other goods, and that poverty, dictatorship, terror and the fall of civilization must be accepted to secure this one good. "
"If ten million people must die to free ten million people from the bourgeoisie, then this is a harsh but necessary consequence. The Russian idea is compulsory happiness, in the same sense and with the same logic as the compulsory introduction of Christianity and the Inquisition. "

Assassination

On 1922 June 24, two months after the signing of the Treaty of Rapallo, Rathenau was assassinated in a plot led by two right-wing army officers (aided and abetted by others) linked to Organisation Consul: Erwin Kern and Hermann Fischer. Year 1922 ( MCMXXII) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 972 - Battle of Cedynia, the first documented victory of Polish forces takes place See also Treaty of Rapallo 1920 The Treaty of Rapallo was an agreement made in the Italian town of Rapallo on April 16 Organisation Consul was an ultra-nationalist Death squad operating in Germany in 1921 and 1922 [4] On that morning, he was driving from his house to Wilhelmstraße, as he did daily (and predictably). The Wilhelmstrasse ( German Wilhelmstraße, see ß) is a street in the center of Berlin, the capital of Germany. During the trip his car was passed by another in which three armed men were sitting. They simultaneously shot at the minister with machine guns and then quickly drove away. A memorial stone in the Koenigsallee in Berlin-Grunewald marks the scene of the crime, which was officially (with flags legally at half mast) but not necessarily fervently mourned in Germany. Grunewald (Greenwood is both a Forest in Berlin on the east side of the Havel and a locality of the Berlin borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf After the Nazis came to power in 1933, they declared Rathenau's assassins as national heroes and designated June 24 as a holiday of celebration. Events 972 - Battle of Cedynia, the first documented victory of Polish forces takes place One of the assassins was the future writer Ernst von Salomon——he had provided the car but was not present at the shooting. Ernst von Salomon ( September 25, 1902 - August 9, 1972) was a German writer and Freikorps member Curiously, he managed to stay out of the Nazi party and had a Jewish wife, whom he managed to protect throughout the Nazi years largely because of his credibility with the Nazis in having facilitated Rathenau's assassination. The, officially National Socialist German Workers' Party, ( abbreviated NSDAP) was a Political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945 PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ His anti-American book after the war, Der Fragebogen ("The Questionaire"), about the history of Germany between 1918 to 1946, was one of the bestsellers in West Germany while simultaneously being banned in U.K. schools for being anti-British. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. West Germany ( Inf German: Westdeutschland or West-Deutschland) was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany ( Censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable harmful or sensitive as determined by a censor The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located [4]

Some believe that Rathenau's assassination may have significantly influenced the long-term political, economic, and social development of Europe (or was the result of such development, particularly the development of leftward-trending parties, class consciousness, nationalistic feelings, and antisemitism). It was certainly an early sign of the instability and violence which were eventually to permeate and destroy the Weimar Republic. The British writer Morgan Philips Price wrote:

"In June 1922 Walter Rathenau, a big Jewish industrialist and progressive economist, was assassinated by gangsters of the extreme Right who were the heart and soul of the Freikorps. The designation of Freikorps ( German for "Free Corps " was originally applied to voluntary armies formed in German lands from the middle of 18th century I was present at the memorial service in the Reichstag and noted an extraordinary outburst of enthusiasm among the workers of Berlin, as expressed in their trade union leaders and socialist parties, for the Republic and for President Ebert. The Reichstag building in Berlin was constructed to house the Reichstag, the first Parliament of the German Empire. Friedrich Ebert ( February 4, 1871 February 28, 1925) was a German Politician ( SPD) who served as The rank and file of the Majority Social Democrats were now thoroughly aroused. . . first Communists, then Socialists, and now a big industrialist were murdered for having Liberal views and, in the last case, for being a Jew. The situation in Germany was becoming more and more sinister. "

Others, such as historian Erich Eyck, argue that the murder of Rathenau may have been the singular event that set into motion the period of extreme hyperinflation in Germany during 1922-23:

"But as great as was the impact of Rathenau’s death upon German domestic politics, it left an even greater mark upon the economic scene. Certain figures in this article use Scientific notation for readability Now the tumble of the mark could not be stopped. The dollar, still under 350 on the day of the murder, climbed to 670 by the end of July, to 2000 in August, and to 4500 by the end of October. "

Albert Einstein later commented that he was "greatly disturbed" by Rathenau's assassination, since he saw it as early proof of an immense anti-pacifist and anti-semitic presence in Germany. Albert Einstein ( German: ˈalbɐt ˈaɪ̯nʃtaɪ̯n; English: ˈælbɝt ˈaɪnstaɪn (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955 was a German -born theoretical Antisemitism (alternatively spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism; also rarely known as judeophobia) is the Prejudice against or hostility [5]

References

  1. ^ findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0411/is_n3_v44/ai_17422958/pg_3.
  2. ^ mosseprogram.wisc.edu/lgbt.html.
  3. ^ Walther Rathenau Family History [1]
  4. ^ The Life of Ernst Von Solomon[2]. The book took its title from a 131-probe questionnaire which von Salomon had to complete in the U.S. occupation zone after the war, together with his narrative of other unpleasant experiences in 1945 and 1946. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the
  5. ^ The Murder of Walther Rathenau[3]

Works

See also

External links

Preceded by
Joseph Wirth		 Foreign Minister of Germany
1922		 Succeeded by
Joseph Wirth
Utopia is a name for an ideal community taken from the title of a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional Island in the This is a partial list of individual contributions to liberal political theory on a worldwide scale The Golden Twenties in Berlin was a vibrant period in the History of Berlin, German history, and European history in general Liberalism is a broad array of related ideas and theories of Government that consider individual Liberty to be the most important political goal The term Jewish left describes Jews who identify with or support Left wing, occasionally liberal causes consciously as Jews either as individuals Karl Joseph Wirth, known as Joseph Wirth, ( 6 September 1879 &ndash 3 January 1956) was a German Politician This page lists State Secretaries for Foreign Affairs under the German Empire (1871-1919 Reich Ministers of Foreign Affairs (1919-1945 and Federal Ministers of Foreign Karl Joseph Wirth, known as Joseph Wirth, ( 6 September 1879 &ndash 3 January 1956) was a German Politician
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