2/22 | Birthday of August Bebel
Today in Yiddishkayt… February 22 Birthday of August Bebel, Political Leader Ferdinand August Bebel, known to all by his middle name, was born on February 22, 1840, in Deutz, Germany. As a young man, Bebel apprenticed as a carpenter and joiner and spent several years traveling around Europe looking for work. In 1860, he settled in Leipzig where he made horn buttons and participated in various labor organizations. Bebel began reading the pamphlets of Ferdinand Lassalle, which popularized the ideas of Karl Marx. In 1865, under the mentorship of Wilhelm Liebknecht, Bebel decided to...
Read More2/9 | Yortsayt of Paul Levi
Today in Yiddishkayt… February 9 Yortsayt of Paul Levi, Political Leader Paul Levi was born March 11, 1883 in Hechingen, Germany to a Jewish middle-class family. He joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in 1906 and served as Rosa Luxemburg‘s lawyer when she was tried for inciting soldiers to disobedience in 1914. In 1916, Levi settled in Switzerland where he became active with the Zimmerwald Left and the Spartacus League, which became the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). After the failure of the German Revolution of 1918–1919, and the killing of the KPD’s...
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