Franz Vogt (9 October 1899 – 14 May 1940) was a German trade unionist,

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 ...

and member of the German resistance against the

Nazi regime 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 ...

Life

Vogt was chairman of the

Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold The (, , simply in short) was an organization in Weimar Republic, Germany during the Weimar Republic with the goal to defend German parliamentary democracy against internal subversion and extremism from the left and right and to compel the ...

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

and secretary of the economic-political department of the ''Bergbauindustriearbeiterverbandes'' ("Mining Industry Workers' Union"). In 1932, he served in the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n diet as a representative from the

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). As an active member of the SPD and the head of the Reichsbanner, Vogt was on the front lines of the frequent confrontations with the growing Nazi movement.Stadtarchiv Bochum
Short biography of Franz Vogt. Retrieved March 21, 2010 Following the Nazis' seizure of power in 1933 Vogt and his family moved to the

Saarland Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany in the southwest of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and the smallest in ...

, which was not then in the German

Reich ( ; ) is a German word whose meaning is analogous to the English word " realm". The terms and are respectively used in German in reference to empires and kingdoms. In English usage, the term " Reich" often refers to Nazi Germany, also ca ...

. However, shortly afterwards, Saarland was reintegrated into the Reich, causing Vogt to flee again, this time to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. In

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, he was a member of the German exile group, the ''Freie Presse'' ("Free Press") and published the ''Bergarbeiter-Mitteilungen'' ("Mine Workers' Newsletter") and Bergarbeiter-Zeitung ("Mine Workers' Newspaper"). He became a member of the executive committee of the Miners' International Federation (MIF) in 1938.Short biography of Franz Vogt
International Institute of Social History official website. Retrieved March 21, 2010. He helped establish the ''Arbeitsausschuss freigewerkschaftlicher Bergarbeiter Deutschland'' ("Working Committee of the Mine Workers of Germany") in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and became the secretary of that organization. Vogt took his own life when Germany invaded and overran the Netherlands in early May 1940.

Legacy

In 1983 the city of Bochum decided to name a street in his honor. Franz-Vogt-Straße is located close to where Vogt and his family once lived.

References

External links

Franz Vogt Papers
(PDF) List of Vogt's personal documents. March 21, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Vogt, Franz 1899 births 1940 deaths 20th-century Freikorps personnel German anti-fascists German resistance members 1940 suicides Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the Netherlands Suicides in the Netherlands

Life

Legacy

References

Further reading

See also

External links