August Winnig (31 March 1878 – 3 November 1956) was a German politician, essayist and

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ist. Early involved in trade unionism and editorship, Winnig held elected and public offices from 1913 to 1921 as a

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SPD) member. As ''Generalbevollmächtigter'' ("Minister Plenipotentiary") for the Baltic Provinces in 1918, he signed the official recognition of the Latvian Provisional Government by the

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 ...

(1871–1918) that ended German claim over the region, despite being an opponent of that renouncement. He was nominated Oberpräsident of

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

in 1919, and pressured 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 ...

(1918–1933) to create an autonomous State in the eastern

Baltic Sea region The Baltic Sea Region, alternatively the Baltic Rim countries (or simply the Baltic Rim), and the Baltic Sea countries/states, refers to the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea, including parts of Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. Un ...

. After his participation in the

Kapp putsch The Kapp Putsch (), also known as the Kapp–Lüttwitz Putsch (), was an abortive coup d'état against the German national government in Berlin on 13 March 1920. Named after its leaders Wolfgang Kapp and Walther von Lüttwitz, its goal was to ...

of 1920 against the Weimar Republic, Winnig was removed from his position by the regime and expelled from the SPD, in which he belonged to the "social-imperialistic" wing. He then became more involved into far-right thinking and, along with Ernst Niekisch, joined the Old Social Democratic Party of Germany (ASPD), a splinter group of the SPD with nationalistic tendencies. The ASPD failure in the

1928 German federal election A federal election was held in Germany on 20 May 1928 to elect the fourth Reichstag of the Weimar Republic.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p762 It resulted in a significant shift to the left, w ...

led Winnig to abandon his revolutionary programme and join the Conservative People's Party in 1930. Initially welcoming the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

in 1933 as providing the "salvation of the State" from

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

, his

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

convictions led Winnig to oppose the

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

(1933–1945) for its

neo-pagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, spans a range of new religious movements variously influenced by the beliefs of pre-modern peoples across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. Despite some common simila ...

tendencies. In 1937, he published a best-selling essay named ''Europa. Gedanken eines Deutschen'' ("Europe. Thoughts of a German"). Translating a cultural rather than racial view of European peoples, the work diverges from the official Nazi doctrines on race, although it is tainted by

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. Winnig wrote in his autobiographies that he went from being a Nazi sympathiser to a Christian conservative during Hitler's rule. Winnig died in

Bad Nauheim Bad Nauheim () is a town in the Wetteraukreis district of Hesse state of Germany. As of 2020, Bad Nauheim has a population of 32,493. The town is approximately north of Frankfurt am Main, on the east edge of the Taunus mountain range. It is a w ...

on 3 November 1956, at the age of 78.

Early life and trade unionism

August Winnig was born on 31 March 1878 in Blankenburg, the youngest son in a large and poor family. He attended elementary class, then learnt bricklaying. Winnig joined the

(SPD) at eighteen years old in 1896 and was a member of the Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 46 from 1900 to 1902. In 1905, he became the editor of ''Grundstein'' in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, the newspaper of the ''Maurergewerkschaft'' ("Bricklayers Union") and, in 1913, the leader of the national ''Bauarbeiterverband'' ("Construction Workers Association").

Elected and official positions

After acquiring the citizenship of the state of

in 1913, Winnig was elected as a SPD member of the

Hamburg Parliament The Hamburg Parliament (; literally “Hamburgish Citizenry” or, more poetically, “Hamburgish Burgess (title), Burgessry”) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the German state of Hamburg according to the constitution of Hamburg. ...

and kept his siege until 1921. Scholar

Robert S. Wistrich Robert Solomon Wistrich (April 7, 1945 – May 19, 2015) was a scholar of antisemitism, considered one of the world's foremost authorities on antisemitism. The Erich Neuberger Professor of European and Jewish history at the Hebrew Universi ...

describes him as belonging to the "social-imperialistic" wing of the party. Anerkennung Lettland 26-11-1918

From 1917 to 1918, Winnig was appointed ''

Reichskommissar (, rendered as "Commissioner of the Empire", "Reich Commissioner" or "Imperial Commissioner"), in German history, was an official governatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and Nazi Germany. Ger ...

'' for

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

and

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 ...

and ''Generalbevollmächtigter'' ("Minister Plenipotentiary") to the Baltic Provinces. As holder of the later position, he signed on 26 November 1918 the official recognition of the Latvian Provisional Government by the

that ended German claim over the region, what is known by the Latvians as the ''Vinniga nota'' ("Winnig's note"). In order to comply with the demands of the

Baltic Germans Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their resettlement in 1945 after the end of World War II, Baltic Germans have drastically decli ...

for a broader representation in the new institutions, Winnig delayed the withdrawal of German troops from Latvia and supported the formation of ''

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

'' in the region, with promises of land and settlement''.'' In January 1919, after being appointed '' Oberpräsident'' of

by the

, Winnig devised a plan for the creation of an autonomous State in the eastern

that would have included

Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

, Kurland,

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

and

, with the false assumption that the victorious powers of WWI would concentrate their demands on Germany itself and let alone a separatist eastern State. He wrote that "the East Prussian separatism was a special form of expression of national indignation", with the intention of entering into war against Poland to achieve statehood. Although Winnig and the Baltic German landowners had in mind the integrity of the Reich, they talked about a "break away from Berlin" as a mean of exerting pressure on the rest of Germany to achieve their project. For instance, Winnig mentioned at the regional conference of the East Prussian SDP the threat of an ineluctable separation if the Reich did not take necessary measures regarding East Prussia. On 4 March 1920, Winnig published a

memorandum A memorandum (: memorandums or memoranda; from the Latin ''memorandum'', "(that) which is to be remembered"), also known as a briefing note, is a Writing, written message that is typically used in a professional setting. Commonly abbreviation, ...

on the East Prussian question. He raised an abundant catalogue of demands at the East Prussia Conference on 9 March 1920, in order to obtain concessions from the Prussian and German governments for his autonomy demands''.'' The failure of his separatist project led Winnig to participate in the failed

of 13 March 1920 against the

. He was then removed from public office and expelled from the SPD.

Revolutionary period under the Weimar Republic

After his expulsion from public office by the Weimar Republic, Winnig became more involved in national revolutionary writings. He is considered by Armin Mohler to be one of the most influential thinkers of the

Conservative Revolution The Conservative Revolution (), also known as the German neoconservative movement (), or new nationalism (),; . was a German national-conservative and ultraconservative movement prominent in Weimar Republic, Germany and First Austrian Republic, ...

. Winnig was, along with Ernst Niekisch, co-editor of '' Widerstand'', a magazine launched in 1926 to advocate

National Bolshevism National Bolshevism, whose supporters are known as National Bolsheviks and colloquially as Nazbols, is a syncretic political movement committed to combining ultranationalism and Bolshevik communism. History and origins In Germany Natio ...

. Winnig wrote in defence of the German workers, plunged into poverty by the post- WWI German economic situation, and denounced what he called the " Versailles Diktat". According to him, German nationalism had to embrace the workers as they were fulfilling the "German task", having replaced the role of the aristocracy. Gregor Strasser unsuccessfully tried to bring Winnig into the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

(NSDAP) during the mid-1920s. In 1927, Winnig joined instead the Old Social Democratic Party of Germany (ASP). With the recruitments of Winnig and Nieskisch, the party intended to attract more nationalist voters outside the state of

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

. Winnig claimed that the ASP would provide the foundation for a "new Socialism", with the workers at the front of a movement for national liberation. He theorised an idea of 'national' socialism based on trade unions, criticising the anti-German influence of bourgeois intellectuals on the workers' movements, and writing about the "infiltration by foreign elements" ('' Ueberfremdung'') in the SPD leadership. Winnig was an ASP candidate for the Reichstag during the

. The party suffered a crushing defeat with only 0.2% of the votes. After the ASP published a revised party programme on 12 October 1928, from which the national-revolutionary elements were removed, Niekisch and Winnig both resigned their membership. Winnig then abandoned its revolutionary programme, joining the Conservative People's Party in 1930.

Nazi rule and later life

Initially welcoming the Nazis as providing the "salvation of the State" from

, his

convictions led him to oppose the

for his

tendencies. Winnig then withdrew from politics to go into "inner emigration". He later wrote in his autobiographies that he went from being a Nazi to a Christian conservative during Hitler's rule over Germany. In his essay ''Europa. Gedanken eines Deutschen'' ("Europe. Thoughts of a German"), published in 1937, Winnig gives a definition of Europe that diverges from the official Nazi doctrine on race, although it also strongly tainted by

. Writing about "spatial ties" (''Raumverbundenheit'') and "cultural community" (''Kulturgemeinschaft''), he claims that the greater nations of Europe, along with the other less powerful peoples of the continent, all stem from the same superior civilisation, a legacy of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, the

Ancient Germans The Germanic peoples were tribal groups who lived in Northern Europe in Classical antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. In modern scholarship, they typically include not only the Roman-era ''Germani'' who lived in both ''Germania'' and parts of ...

, and

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. However, he excluded from that definition Bolshevik Russia, which he believed to be the world of the Jews and the ''

Untermensch ''Untermensch'' (; plural: ''Untermenschen'') is a German language word literally meaning 'underman', 'sub-man', or ' subhuman', which was extensively used by Germany's Nazi Party to refer to their opponents and non- Aryan people they deemed ...

en'' ("sub-humans") that only fascism could protect Europe from. Printed at 80,000 copies, the book became a best-seller in Evangelical circles. Winnig died in

on 3 November 1956 at the age of 78.

Works

Essays

* ''Der große Kampf im deutschen Baugewerbe,'' 1910. * ''Der Burgfriede und die Arbeiterschaft'' (= ''Kriegsprobleme der Arbeiterklasse,'' Heft 19), 1915. * ''Der Krieg und die Arbeiterinternationale.'' In: F. Thimme, C. Legien (Hrsg.): ''Die Arbeiterschaft im neuen Deutschland,'' 1915. * ''Marx als Erlebnis.'' In: ''Glocke'' 4, 1 v. 4. Mai 1917, S. 138–143. * ''Der Glaube an das Proletariat,'' 1924, new version in 1926. * ''Die geschichtliche Sendung des deutschen Arbeiters. Die deutsche Außenpolitik,'' Lecture in Halle, 1926. * ''Das Reich als Republik,'' 1928 (collected essays and speeches). * ''Vom Proletariat zum Arbeitertum.'' 1930. (special issue in 1933 with an epilogue named "After three years"; several new editions until 1945). * ''Der Nationalsozialismus – der Träger unserer Hoffnung.'' In: ''Neustädter Anzeigeblatt.'' 29 October 1932. * ''Der Arbeiter im Dritten Reich,'' 1934. * ''Arbeiter und Reich'' (= ''Erbe und Verpflichtung.'' ''1. Auf falscher Bahn, 2. Die große Prüfung''), 1937. * ''Europa. Gedanken eines Deutschen,'' 1937. * ''Der deutsche Ritterorden und seine Burgen,'' 1939.

Literature

* ''Preußischer Kommiß''. Soldatengeschichten Berlin, Vorwärts-Verlag, 1910 (anti-militaristic stories; not published since they were forbidden at the time; based on Winnig's own experiences). * ''Die ewig grünende Tanne,'' 1927 (stories illustrated by A. Paul Weber; contains the well-known story ''Gerdauen ist schöner'', "Gerdauen is more beautiful"). *''Wunderbare Welt,'' 1938. *''In der Höhle,'' 1941. *''Morgenröte,'' 1958 (collected narratives from various publications)

Autobiographies

* ''Frührot. Ein Buch von Heimat und Jugend,'' 1924 (first issue in 1919; dedicated to Oswald Spengler.) * ''Das Buch Wanderschaft,'' 1941 (extension of the last part of Frührot, contains Winnig's experiences as a journeyman bricklayer). * ''Der weite Weg,'' 1932 (reports on his career as a trade unionist until the First World War). * ''Heimkehr,'' 1935 (reports from his activities in the Baltic States in 1918 until the Kapp Putsch; there are also earlier publications on this subject in ''Am Ausgang der deutschen Ostpolitik'', 1921). * ''Die Hand Gottes,'' 1938 (autobiographical experiences from a Lutheran perspective). * ''Das Unbekannte,'' 1940 (experiences of the realm of the supernatural). * ''Aus zwanzig Jahren. 1925 bis 1945,'' 1948 (first published in 1945 under the title ''Rund um Hitler'').

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

Portrait of August Winnig as a SPD member of parliament in 1919.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winnig, August 1878 births 1956 deaths 20th-century German politicians National Bolsheviks Antisemitism in Germany Conservative Revolutionary movement German revolutionaries German nationalists German anti-communists German fascists German resistance to Nazism Members of the Weimar National Assembly Expelled members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany