Bundesarchiv Bild 102-12373, Georg Ledebour

Georg Ledebour (7 March 1850,

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

– 31 March 1947) was a German

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

journalist and politician. He served as a stretcher bearer in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. He worked as a journalist on several newspapers after 1875. He joined the

German Progress Party The German Progress Party (german: Deutsche Fortschrittspartei, DFP) was the first modern political party in Germany, founded by liberal members of the Prussian House of Representatives () in 1861 in opposition to Minister President Otto von Bism ...

in 1882 and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in 1891. He had a romantic relationship with Lou Andreas-Salome between 1892 and 1894. During that period, Ledebour was sentenced and jailed for a year for a political offence. Ledebour was a member of the German Reichstag from 1900 until 1918. He took part in the international anti-war socialist conferences at Zimmerwald in 1915, and in Stockholm in 1917. He was one of the leaders of the German Independent Social Democratic Party ( USPD) after the split in the SPD in 1917. The

Majority Social Democratic Party of Germany The Majority Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Mehrheitssozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, MSPD) was the name officially used by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) during the period 1917-1922. This differentiated it from ...

(MSPD) broadly supported the German government's war aims, and the USPD was opposed to the government. In 1918-20, the leadership of the MSPD wanted to restrain the German revolution as much as possible, even to the extent of relying on the right-wing enemies of the democratic revolution and government, while the USPD wanted to carry through the revolution and weaken or remove anti-democratic forces. Ledebour was involved in the political leadership, along with

Karl Liebknecht Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht (; 13 August 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a German socialist and anti-militarist. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) beginning in 1900, he was one of its deputies in the Reichstag fro ...

, of the attempt in Berlin to overthrow the government headed by

Friedrich Ebert Friedrich Ebert (; 4 February 187128 February 1925) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the first president of Germany from 1919 until his death in office in 1925. Ebert was elected leader of the SPD on t ...

in January 1919. This was poorly organised and was quickly defeated by the units of the German army and the

Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, rega ...

, and notably led to the murder of both Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. Ledebour remained in the USPD after the splits in that party in 1920–22, when most of the membership merged with the Communist Party of Germany ( KPD) in 1920, and most of the rest merged with the SPD in 1922.David W. Morgan, ''The Socialist Left and the German Revolution: A History of the German Independent Social Democratic Party. '' Ithaca, NY, US: Cornell University Press, 1975; pgs. 382-389. In 1931 he joined the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany ( SAPD). He went into exile in Switzerland after

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, and died in Bern in 1947 after a long illness.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ledebour, Georg 1850 births 1947 deaths Politicians from Hanover People from the Kingdom of Hanover German Progress Party politicians Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Independent Social Democratic Party politicians Socialist Workers' Party of Germany politicians Members of the 10th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 11th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 12th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 13th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic German journalists German male journalists German military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War People of the German Revolution of 1918–1919 Emigrants from Nazi Germany to Switzerland