Jakob Altmaier

**Jakob Altmaier** is a Jewish socialist dissident politician living within the German Union. Being able to avoid deportation in the early 1920s, he soon became an advocate for moderate socialism and the expansion of Jewish rights in Germany until the late 20s when he was targeted and deported to Poland, before eventually leaving for Israel.

### *Political Party*

Syndicalist wing of the TUC (officially)Moderate Socialist Marktparty (unofficially)

## The Great War and its aftermath

During the Great War, Altmaier volunteered for the Germany army and was severely wounded. In 1918, he participated in the German revolution that resulted in the establishment of the German Republic with support from the Entente.

From 1917 to 1918, he was the editor of the Frankfurt paper the *Volksstimme*, and throughout the 1920s he continued to work as a journalist for various papers, including the Manchester Guardian, and for the Social Democratic Press Agency. The German Civil War would stop his job and he soon fled underground.

## The German Civil War

Jakob was one of many progressive politicians who did not support the syndicalist cause even as the Republican government lost popular support just 1 year after its existence began. He believed that the SDP could help bring prosperity, arguing for the need of a more progressive government to help calm the political situation, but his thoughts went almost nowhere and this did little to stop the civil war from beginning.

When Munich was taken and the Bavarian Union was declared, Jakob was in Frankfurt when he heard the news, and remarked “My god, is this what our nation has spiraled into?”.

A few months into the war, Jakob became silent on the syndicalist issue as he saw the writing on the wall of the German Republic and thought that the country was doomed to fall. Meanwhile the city was vulnerable to an attack, and life as everyone knew it came to a stop. Everyone was preparing for the battle of the city which came on the 19th of April. It was a short fight with limited casualties and damage, and Jakob suffered minimal losses. Overnight he found he was now under the control of the Bavarian Union.

Similarly to his feelings early on in the civil war, Altmaier opted not to join in any anti-syndicalist resistance, being pessimistic about the survival of the republic. For the next few weeks relief was given to Frankfurt as society stopped operating in the days before and after the battle of the city. Police and a small military presence was involved in order to prevent Frankfurt from descending into chaos. Once the bulk of the army left the city to fight in Weimar territory further, life slowly returned to normal especially in the last few months of the war.

Despite his fears, the Union explicitly stated that no one who supports the opposition will be targeted with violence. For the time being Altmaier was spared and to avoid any suspicions later on, he denounced the SPD and officially joined the Frankfurt Union Society, a major group encompassing many revolutionary unions in the city. In reality he never switched his beliefs and still believed that social democracy was not only the right form, but the needed form of governance for the country. He stayed on the down low even as the civil war came to an end and red flags were flown across a ruined Berlin.

## The Red Purge, life as a politician and Jewish activist

In May of 1921, the German government after intense paranoia of a counter revolution ordered the expulsion of anyone deemed “openly hostile and counter-revolutionary to the socialist cause”. This terrified Altmaier who although denouncing the now banned SPD Party still felt that he may be forced to leave, but as luck would have it he was spared. This was mostly because of his public switch and open endorsement of revolutionary syndicalism. During this time although he wasn’t forced into deportation he was intimidated by others. Many radicals in the midst of these deportations used violence to force thousands out of the country and even some were killed if they refused to leave. Altmaier wasn’t the victim of any of these attacks but he was seen as suspicious and secretly spied on for 6 months later on.

When the purge finally ended, Jakob retreated from the political landscape for about 7 months and it was only due to the liberalization of the German TUC that Jakob went back onto the political scene. The TUC after the purge expressed discomfort over how the event turned out with many lives taken and denounced the people that openly participated in the violent behavior. Later on the TUC opened its doors to more and more people and sub divisions were created as a result. With the syndicalists the most moderate and liberalist syndicalists called themselves “Moderate Socialists”. Being slightly radicalized by the rhetoric spouted by various newspapers, leaflets and pamphlets, Jakob decided to join the TUC and the Moderate Socialists on the side of the Social Democrats.

For the next several years Altmaier would slowly make a name for himself as he became outspoken for the preservation of German Judaism and Jewish rights. He is often regarded as the most famous German Jewish politician and is widely popular among the wider Jewish communities even after his deportation.

He was also a supporter of Zionism and the creation of Israel. Although Israel was established in the outcome of the Arab Civil War, Israeli-German relations were rocky purely due to ideology. In secret, David Ben Gurion admired Jakob and his presence in the German government but refused to open Israel up to Germany even as it opened its doors to Poland and France both of which including German had and still have a sizable Jewish population.