Siegfried Aufhäuser

In the Reichstag, the left-wing SPD MP made a name for himself primarily in social policy and played a key role in the Unemployment Insurance Act and the establishment of labor jurisdiction. After January 30, 1933, he tried in vain to convince his party and the trade unions to call a general strike against the Nazi takeover. Aufhäuser, who as a Jew and socialist had to expect arrest at any time, decided to flee Germany in May 1933.



After periods of exile in Paris, Prague and London, he arrived in New York in 1939, where he worked as a journalist and became involved in the German Labor Delegation and the Council for a Democratic Germany. in 1951, he returned to West Berlin, where he took over the chairmanship of the regional branch of the German Salaried Employees' Union at the age of 67.



Historian Christian Zech traces the various facets of Siegfried Aufhäuser's eventful political life and, with his biography, opens up new perspectives on the history of employee trade unions, social democracy and the remigration of Jewish victims of Nazi persecution after 1945. After the presentation of his book, the author will discuss it with publisher and historian Ernst Piper.



Admission free. Registration is requested via online. The event will be made available as a podcast for listening afterwards.


The event is part of our series Contemporary History in Dialogue in cooperation with the Institute of Contemporary History Munich-Berlin.



(IN GERMAN)