German Freethinkers League

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The German Freethinkers League ('Deutsche Freidenkerbund') was an organisation founded in 1881 by the philosopher, physiologist and physician Ludwig Büchner. Its aim was to provide a public meeting-ground and forum for materialist and atheist thinkers in Germany.

The first of such organisations to be founded in that country, the German Freethinkers League had by 1930 a membership numbering around 500,000. The League was closed down, however, in the Spring of 1933 when Hitler outlawed all atheistic and freethinking groups in Germany. 'Freethinkers Hall', the national headquarters of the League, was then converted to a bureau advising to the public in church matters.

Among its Chairmen was Max Sievers, who was beheaded at the guillotine by the Nazis in 1944.