Rudolf Breitscheild
Rudolf Breitscheild, the son of a bookseller, was born in Cologne, Germany, on 2nd November, 1874. After studying political economy at the University of Munich and the University of Marburg he entered journalism and eventually became editor of a left-wing newspaper in Hamburg.
Breitscheild joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and was elected to the Berlin town council in 1904. Over the next few years he emerged as one of the leaders of the party.
Karl Liebknecht was the only member of the Reichstag who voted against Germany's participation in the First World War. He argued: "This war, which none of the peoples involved desired, was not started for the benefit of the German or of any other people. It is an Imperialist war, a war for capitalist domination of the world markets and for the political domination of the important countries in the interest of industrial and financial capitalism. Arising out of the armament race, it is a preventative war provoked by the German and Austrian war parties in the obscurity of semi-absolutism and of secret diplomacy."
Friedrich Ebert, the leader of the Social Democratic Party, initially opposed to the idea of the country going to war. However, once the First World War had started, he ordered the SDP members in the Reichstag to support the war effort. Ebert called for a defensive, rather than an offensive war. With the formation of the Third Supreme Command, in August, 1916, Ebert's political power was undermined.
Breitscheild began questioning the policies of Ebert and in April 1917, along with other left-wing figures in the party formed the Independent Socialist Party. Other members of the ISP included Kurt Eisner, Karl Kautsky, Eduard Bernstein, Julius Leber and Rudolf Hilferding. After the German Revolution in Prussia in 1918 he briefly became Minister of the Interior in the new government.
In 1922 Breitscheild returned to the Social Democratic Party and supported the government of Hermann Muller between 1928 and 1930. With the growth of the Nazi Party Breitscheild argued for a protective alliance between the SDP and the German Communist Party (KPD).
When Adolf Hitler gained power Breitscheild was forced to flee to France and in 1938 helped to form the Central Union of German Emigrants. When the German Army invaded France in 1940 Breitscheild fled to Marseilles. However, in 1941 he was arrested by the Vichy government and handed over to the Gestapo.
Rudolf Breitscheild was sent to Buchenwald Concentration Camp. According to the Völkischer Beobachter, Breitscheid, along with Ernst Thälmann, was killed during an Allied air raid on 28th August, 1944. However, it is believed that Breitscheild was executed with Thälmann on 24th of that month.
