Hans Vogel (16 February 1881, in Oberartelshofen,

Middle Franconia Middle Franconia (german: Mittelfranken, ) is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the west of Bavaria and borders the state of Baden-Württemberg. The administrative seat is Ansbach; however ...

– 6 October 1945) was a German politician and chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) along with

Arthur Crispien Arthur Crispien (4 November 1875 – 29 November 1946) was a German Social Democratic politician. Biography Crispien was born in Königsberg (modern Kaliningrad, Russia) to August and Franziska Crispien. He worked as a house and stage p ...

and

Otto Wels Otto Wels (15 September 1873 – 16 September 1939) was a German politician who served as a member of parliament from 1912 to 1933 and as the chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1919 until his death in 1939. His 1933 sp ...

from 1931 to 1933. After the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

came to power in 1933, he became one of the leaders of the social democratic exile organization

Sopade Sopade (also written SoPaDe) was the name of the exile organization of the Social Democratic Party of Germany ( SPD). It operated in Prague from 1933 to 1938, from 1938 to 1940 in Paris and until 1945 in London. History After the occupation o ...

. After attending the ''

Volkshochschule Folk high schools (also ''Adult Education Center'', Danish: ''Folkehøjskole;'' Dutch: ''Volkshogeschool;'' Finnish: ''kansanopisto'' and ''työväenopisto'' or ''kansalaisopisto;'' German: ''Volkshochschule'' and (a few) ''Heimvolkshochschule; ...

'' in

Fürth Fürth (; East Franconian: ; yi, פיורדא, Fiurda) is a city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division ('' Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the ...

, Vogel, the son of a merchant and shoemaker, completed an apprenticeship as a wood sculptor assistant in 1897. He joined the trade union for wood sculptors as early as 1897 and worked in various parts of Germany. He was board member of a Social Democratic electoral association in

from 1907 to 1911. From 1908, Vogel worked as secretary of the party in the region of

Franconia Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian languages, Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch''). The three Regierungsbezirk, administrative ...

. From 1912 to 1918 he was a member of the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n ''

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non ...

''. He supported the ''Burgfrieden'' politics of his party, i.e. support for the German war effort and giving up the anti-militarist stance at the beginning of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, because he viewed this as his patriotic duty. He served in

as a radio operator in the 105th Division. After the war and the German Revolution, Vogel was a member of the German National Assembly, which composed the Weimar Constitution. He remained a member of the '' Reichstag'' until June 1933. After becoming a member of the caucus of the SPD in 1920, he was elected secretary of the party in 1927. In 1931, he became chairman along with

and

. After the '' Machtergreifung'' in January 1933, Vogel first went to Saarbrücken, because it was administrated by the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

at that time, and then on 2 June he moved on to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

. In 1938 he moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and there he helped build up the

, of which he was the sole chairman after Wels's death in 1939. His death in October 1945 meant that he was not able to help with re-building the SPD. Hans-Vogel-Straße, a street in

, is named after him.Map link to Hans-Vogel-Straße, 90765 Fürth, Germany
Google Maps. Retrieved July 20, 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vogel, Hans 1881 births 1945 deaths People from Nürnberger Land People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians German Army personnel of World War I Members of the Weimar National Assembly Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic Members of the Bavarian Chamber of Deputies Members of the Executive of the Labour and Socialist International

See also

References