Carl von Ossietzky(1889-1938)
- Writer
Carl von Ossietzky attended middle school in Hamburg. In 1904 he stopped his school education before reaching secondary school. From 1907 to 1914 he worked as an assistant clerk at the Hamburg district court. In 1908 he became a member of the Democratic Association and the German Peace Society. From 1911 he worked as a freelancer for the magazine "The Free People". Two years later he married the Englishwoman Maud Lichfield-Wood. A daughter was born from this union. As early as 1914, Carl von Ossietzky had to pay for his journalistic love of truth. A contribution from that year brought him a lawsuit for insulting military justice, which was accompanied by a fine of 200 Reichsmarks.
Ossietzky did his military service between 1916 and 1918. He was an infantryman on the Western Front. His experiences at the Battle of Verdun were so powerful that he subsequently wrote against the romanticized arrogance and progression of the First World War. During the November Revolution in 1918 he worked for the Hamburg Workers' and Soldiers' Council. In the same year, Carl von Ossietzky left Hamburg and moved to Berlin. There he became general secretary of the German Peace Society. During this time his work entitled "The Approach of the New Reformation" was also published. It represents Ossietzky's only independent work. In it he advocated for a civil and democratic state consciousness in order to strengthen the Weimar Republic.
From 1920 onwards, Carl von Ossietzky worked for the social democratic "Volks-Zeitung". In the same year he founded the peace movement "No More War!" He also met the writer Kurt Tucholsky. From 1922 to 1924, Ossietzky was the editor in charge of the "Volks-Zeitung". After he founded the Republican Party with others, he became an editorial staff member of the left-liberal newspaper "Das Diary" and "Montag-Morgen". In 1927, von Ossietzky became editor-in-chief of the magazine "Die Weltbühne" and thus a colleague of Kurt Tucholsky. Through this medium he became one of the most important journalists in the Weimar Republic. His articles against rearmament resulted in several accusations.
His contributions were critical of party political events and the weakening of the constitution. In 1931, an article in the "Weltbühne" in which he reported on the secret rearmament of the Reichswehr earned him a spectacular court sentence of 18 months in prison for high treason. He owed his early release in December 1932 to a Christmas amnesty. When the National Socialists took power in Germany in 1933, Ossietzky decided to stay. He was arrested by the Gestapo at the Reichstag fire on February 28th of the same year. In March 1933 the "Weltbühne" was banned. Ossietzky went to the Sonnenburg concentration camp near Küstrin in April 1933. The following year he was transferred to the Papenburg concentration camp in Emsland.
In 1935 Carl von Ossietzky was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. Hitler forbade him to accept the Nobel Prize; This was associated with a ban on leaving the country. The award was presented to him in absentia. The award, however, brought the Nazi regime under pressure in the world public. The following year he became seriously ill with tuberculosis. The publicist was transferred to the police state hospital in Berlin.
Carl von Ossietzky died on May 4, 1938 in the Nordend Hospital in Berlin as a result of tuberculosis and torture by the Gestapo.
Ossietzky did his military service between 1916 and 1918. He was an infantryman on the Western Front. His experiences at the Battle of Verdun were so powerful that he subsequently wrote against the romanticized arrogance and progression of the First World War. During the November Revolution in 1918 he worked for the Hamburg Workers' and Soldiers' Council. In the same year, Carl von Ossietzky left Hamburg and moved to Berlin. There he became general secretary of the German Peace Society. During this time his work entitled "The Approach of the New Reformation" was also published. It represents Ossietzky's only independent work. In it he advocated for a civil and democratic state consciousness in order to strengthen the Weimar Republic.
From 1920 onwards, Carl von Ossietzky worked for the social democratic "Volks-Zeitung". In the same year he founded the peace movement "No More War!" He also met the writer Kurt Tucholsky. From 1922 to 1924, Ossietzky was the editor in charge of the "Volks-Zeitung". After he founded the Republican Party with others, he became an editorial staff member of the left-liberal newspaper "Das Diary" and "Montag-Morgen". In 1927, von Ossietzky became editor-in-chief of the magazine "Die Weltbühne" and thus a colleague of Kurt Tucholsky. Through this medium he became one of the most important journalists in the Weimar Republic. His articles against rearmament resulted in several accusations.
His contributions were critical of party political events and the weakening of the constitution. In 1931, an article in the "Weltbühne" in which he reported on the secret rearmament of the Reichswehr earned him a spectacular court sentence of 18 months in prison for high treason. He owed his early release in December 1932 to a Christmas amnesty. When the National Socialists took power in Germany in 1933, Ossietzky decided to stay. He was arrested by the Gestapo at the Reichstag fire on February 28th of the same year. In March 1933 the "Weltbühne" was banned. Ossietzky went to the Sonnenburg concentration camp near Küstrin in April 1933. The following year he was transferred to the Papenburg concentration camp in Emsland.
In 1935 Carl von Ossietzky was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. Hitler forbade him to accept the Nobel Prize; This was associated with a ban on leaving the country. The award was presented to him in absentia. The award, however, brought the Nazi regime under pressure in the world public. The following year he became seriously ill with tuberculosis. The publicist was transferred to the police state hospital in Berlin.
Carl von Ossietzky died on May 4, 1938 in the Nordend Hospital in Berlin as a result of tuberculosis and torture by the Gestapo.