Walter Arthur Reek (26 January 1878 – 12/19 May 1933), was a

social democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

politician in Germany and the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (; ) was a city-state under the protection and oversight of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and nearly 200 other small localities in the surrou ...

. He was a member of the

Weimar National Assembly The Weimar National Assembly (German: ), officially the German National Constitutional Assembly (), was the popularly elected constitutional convention and de facto parliament of Germany from 6 February 1919 to 21 May 1920. As part of it ...

, the Danzig Volkstag parliament and mayor of Neuteich (Nowy Staw). Reek was born in Danzig,

West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (; ; ) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and from 1878 to 1919. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1773, formed from Royal Prussia of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonweal ...

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

(Gdańsk, Poland), and attended the St. Katharinen school in Danzig. He was trained as a carpenter and spent his journeyman years from 1895 to 1900 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. From 1900 to 1902 he served in the Prussian Army and became the chairman of the Central Federation of carpenters in Danzig in 1902. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Reek initially served in the

German army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

but started to work in several positions in the Kriegsernährungsamt in Danzig in 1916. In 1917 he headed the press commission of the socialdemocratic Volkswacht newspaper in Danzig. In 1918 he was elected to the town council of Danzig and on 19 January 1919 as a member of the

, he lost his seat after Danzig became a Free City according to the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

. Since 1919 Reek worked as Secretary of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund in Danzig. In 1925 he was elected the mayor of Neuteich and in 1925/1926 he was an honorary Senator in Heinrich Sahm's Danzig Senate. From 1928 on he served as Senator in the Senate of Danzig again. The circumstances of Reek's death are reported in divergent versions. He either died from a stroke or was killed in SA "Schutzhaft" on 12 or 19 May 1933. His name is remembered at the Memorial to the Murdered Members of the Reichstag in Berlin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reek, Walter 1878 births 1933 deaths Members of the Volkstag of the Free City of Danzig People from West Prussia Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Members of the Weimar National Assembly Free City of Danzig politicians