Memorial plaque to Pfemfert, Nassauische Straße 17, Berlin-Wilmersdorf
Front page of Die Aktion from October 1914 with a portrait of Charles Péguy by Egon Schiele

Franz Pfemfert (20 November 1879, Lötzen, East Prussia (now Giżycko, Poland) – 26 May 1954, Mexico City) was a German journalist, editor of Die Aktion, literary critic, politician and portrait photographer. Pfemfert occasionally wrote under the pseudonym U. Gaday (derived from Russian "ugadaj", dt: "guess").

In 1911 he married Alexandra Ramm, who had moved to Berlin from Russia and who was involved in Russian translations.

Pfemfert was involved in founding the Antinationale Sozialisten-Partei (Antinational Socialist Party), originally a clandestine organisation founded in 1915.[1] Die Aktion became its official organ following the German Revolution in November 1918.[2]

He subsequently became close friends with Leon Trotsky, even though he maintained quite distinct political views.[3]

After the Nazi seizure of power, Pfemfert fled to Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia. Here the Czech stalinists called for his deportation.[4]

Publishing

Alongside publishing Die Aktion, Pfemfert published a variety of authors:

References

  1. ↑ Taylor, Seth (1990). Left-Wing Nietzscheans: The Politics of German Expressionism 1910-1920. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 220.
  2. ↑ Pervulescu, Constantin (2006). After the Revolution: The Individualist Anarchist Journal "Der Einzige" and the Making of the Radical Left in the Early Post-World War I Germany (PhD thesis). University of Minnesota. p. 28.
  3. ↑ Bois, Marcel. "A Transnational Friendship in the Age of Extremes: Leon Trotsky and the Pfemferts" (PDF). Twentieth Century Communism. 10. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  4. ↑ Shachtman, Max. "Behind the Moscow Trial". Marxist Internet Archive. Pioneer Publishers—New York 1936. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
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