Paul Löbe

Paul Löbe (December 14 1875 – August 3 1967) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

Life and career

Löbe was born in Liegnitz in the Prussian Province of Silesia. He was trained as a typesetter and in 1898 he founded the local branch of the SPD in Ilmenau, Thuringia, where he also worked in a printing works. From 1900-20 he was the editor-in-chief of the Breslau "Volkswacht". His journalistic work often landed him in prison, for instance, when he called on readers to come to a demonstration to protest against the Prussian three-class franchise. In 1901 he married Clara Schaller. Löbe did not serve in World War I on account of an illness in his lungs.

Löbe was imprisoned by the Nazi Party after the "Machtergreifung" in 1933, and again in 1944 after the July 20 Plot because of his connections with Carl Friedrich Goerdeler's resistance circle.

In 1945 Löbe joined the staff of the daily newspaper "Das Volk", and later became co-publisher of the "Telegraf". He died in West Germany's capital, Bonn.

Politics

Löbe joined the SPD in 1895 and was briefly its leader in 1933. After World War II, he was instrumental in the reconstruction of the party.

Elected positions

Löbe was elected to Breslau's city government in 1904 and he served as a member of the provincial Landtag of Silesia (1915-20). In 1919 he became the vice president of the Weimar National Assembly and from 1920 to 1933 he was a member of the German Reichstag, serving as its president (1920-24 and 1925-32) and vice-president (1932-33). In 1921 he became a member of the Prussian state council.

Löbe was a member of the "Parlamentarischer Rat" between 1948 and 1949 and the deputy chairman of the SPD faction. From 1949-53, he was a member of the Bundestag. Löbe was the oldest member of the Bundestag in its first legislative period, though he was not an elected member, but rather appointed by the senate of West Berlin as their non-voting delegate to Bonn. He was the earliest-born member of the Bundestag; the second earliest was Konrad Adenauer, whom Löbe survived by three and a half months.

Honorary positions

From 1949 to 1954 Löbe was President of the German Council of the European Movement and in 1954 he became President of the Kuratorium Unteilbares Deutschland. In 1951 Löbe was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1955 he became an honorary citizen of Berlin. One of the new parliamentary buildings which serves Bundestag members in Berlin is named after Löbe.

Publications

*Löbe, Paul, "Gegenwartsfragen des Parlamentarismus", in: "Für und Wider. Lebensfragen deutscher Politik", Offenbach am Main, 1952, pp. 39 to 48.
*Löbe, Paul, "Aus dem Parlamentarischen Leben", in: "Hessische Hochschulwochen für Staatswissenschaftliche Fortbildung", Volume 3, 1953, pp. 312 to 318.
*Löbe, Paul, "Der Weg war lang. Lebenserinnerungen", Berlin, 1954 (third edition)