Friedrich Naumann
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| Friedrich Naumann | |
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| In office 1907 – 1918 |
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| Born | March 25, 1860 |
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| Died | August 24, 1919 (aged 59) |
| Political party | Christian Social Party National-Social Association Freeminded Union Freeminded People's Party Democratic Party |
| Spouse | Maria Magdalena Zimmermann |
| Occupation | Theologist, Politician |
| Religion | Protestantism |
Friedrich Naumann (March 25, 1860 – August 24, 1919) was a German politician and Protestant parish priest. In 1895 he founded the weekly magazine Die Hilfe ("The Help") to address the social question from a non-marxist middle class point of view. In 1896 he also founded the National-Social Association, in an attempt to provide a social liberal alternative to the Social Democrats, although with a heavy nationalist programme.
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[edit] Life
Naumann wanted to help the working class, who lived in miserable circumstances (he worked at Johann Hinrich Wichern's Rauhes Haus in Hamburg). His goal was to raise interest in this issue among the middle class. However he was hindered by the German middle class fear of the proletariat, who were regarded as potential revolutionaries. In 1890 Friedrich joined to the conservative party, the Christian Social Party, but he left the party six years later in 1896, because of his liberal ideals.
Later in his life, Naumann faced major opposition from conservatives. Industrialists like Freiherr von Stumm called Naumann and his associates allies of the socialists. Naumann wanted to preserve Christian values, which he hoped would improve the fraught relations between workers and corporate businessmen. His party the National-Social Associationfailed in the elections of 1898 and 1903 and was then dissolved into the Freeminded Union.
Towards the end of the 19th century, Naumann, who was a monarchist and adherent of the German emperor Wilhelm II espoused a liberal imperialism. He was influenced by his friend, the German sociologist Max Weber, one of the most pronounced critics of Wilhelm II. Naumann tried to involve Weber in politics, but this failed due to the bad health and temper of Weber.
Naumann became a member of the Reichstag in 1907.
As a German nationalist who had annexionist ideals during the First World War, Naumann believed that the Netherlands and Flanders should become a part of Germany. Together with Weber, he worked for an institute which supported a mooted German annexation of Poland in 1915 and 1916.
In 1919 Friedrich Naumann was a cofounder of the German Democratic Party (Deutsche Demokratische Partei, DDP) with Theodor Wolff and Hugo Preuss, the "father of the constitution of the Weimar Republic".
He is the author of Mitteleuropa, a book on the geopolitics of the Central Europe. The Friedrich Naumann Foundation associated with the Freie Demokratische Partei is named after him.
[edit] Further reading
- Wolfhart Pentz (2002). "The Meaning of Religion in the Politics of Friedrich Naumann". Journal for the History of Modern Theology 9 (1): 70–97.
- Theodor Heuss (1949). Friedrich Naumann: der Mann, das Werk, die Zeit. Stuttgart & Tübingen: Wunderlich.
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