The German Labour Delegation (GLD) was a social-democratic organisation of German emigrants in the United States during the time of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. The GLD was founded on 10 March 1939 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, with the support of the Jewish Labor Committee, the Social Democratic Federation (United States), and the

American Federation of Labour The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutual s ...

. Its goal was to build contact between the German social-democratic emigrants and the American labor movement. Amongst other things, it was to try to secure financial support in America for the work of

Sopade Sopade (Social Democratic Party of Germany in exile (''Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands im Exil''), also written SoPaDe or SOPADE, ) was the name of the board of directors (''Vorstand'') of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (Social De ...

, the exile organization of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

(the SPD). The former Prussian Minister of the Interior

Albert Grzesinski Albert Carl Grzesinski (28 July 1879 – 12 January 1948) was a German SPD politician and Minister of the Interior of Prussia from 1926 to 1930. Biography Grzesinski was born Albert Lehmann in Treptow an der Tollense, Germany, the illegitimate ...

was elected the first chairman, and

Rudolf Katz Rudolf Katz (23 November 1895 – 23 July 1961) was a German politician and judge. He was Vice President of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. Biography Katz was born in Falkenburg, Farther Pomerania (modern Złocieniec, Poland), to ...

became the secretary, who would later become a minister in the government of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

. Other founding members included the former mayor of Altona

Max Brauer Max Julius Friedrich Brauer (3 September 1887 – 2 February 1973) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the first elected First Mayor of Hamburg after World War II. Life In 1923, Brauer was mayor of the independe ...

, Hedwig Wachenheim, the Austrian Social Democrat Alfred Braunthal, Gerhart Seger (a former member of the Reichstag), and the economist Alfred Kähler. People who later became members of the committee included Friedrich Stampfer, the former editor of ''

Vorwärts ( ; "Forward") is a newspaper published by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Founded in 1876, it was the central organ of the SPD for many decades. Following the party's Halle Congress (1891), it was published daily as the success ...

'', the trade unionist Siegfried Aufhäuser,

Erich Rinner The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Nor ...

and

Wilhelm Sollmann Friedrich Wilhelm Sollmann (1 April 1881 – 6 January 1951), later William Frederick Sollmann, was a German journalist, politician, and interior minister of the Weimar Republic. In 1919, he was on the staff of the German delegation that was ...

. In 1943 Brauer and Aufhäuser took over the chairmanship. The German Labour Delegation published the ''Neue Volkszeitung'', which was at first a daily, then later a weekly newspaper. The organisation did not have a large membership. Its members were those who in the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

had generally belonged to the right wing of the SPD. The organisation was therefore strongly against any cooperation with the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...

, the KPD. However, its effectiveness was also constrained by internal conflicts. Amongst these were the dispute over Grzesinski's work in the Council for a Democratic Germany, which saw itself as a gathering point for all the German emigrants, including members of the KPD. There was also very little success in securing financial donations. The GLD was only able to maintain an office with the support of the Jewish Labor Committee. However, the GLD did manage to contribute to saving several hundred endangered Social Democrats from arrest by the German authorities and getting them out of France in 1940. The GLD also worked on developing plans for the reconstruction of the workers' movement and the introduction of democratic structures in post-Nazi Germany. Due to its small size and its activities in planning, the organization is sometimes seen by scholars as a research institution.

Founding members

* Gerhart Seger escaped from the

Oranienburg Oranienburg () is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel. Geography Oranienburg is on the banks of the River Havel, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin. Division of the town Oranienburg consists of ni ...

concentration camp in 1933 and wrote a book about his prison life.

References

{{reflist Exile organizations Social Democratic Party of Germany