Rosa Aschenbrenner

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Rosa Aschenbrenner
Born
Rosa Lierl

27 April 1885
Germany
Died9 February 1967 (1967-02-10) (aged 81)
Munich, Bavaria, West Germany
Occupation(s)Politician and activist
Political partySPD (1909-1917)
USPD (1917-1920)
VKPD (1920-1921)
KPD (1920-1929)
KPO (1929-1932)
SPD (1930-1966)
SpouseHans Aschenbrenner

Rosa Aschenbrenner (born Rosa Lierl: 27 April 1885 – 9 February 1967) was a German politician (

Second World War, she became increasingly marginalised from the political mainstream because of her opposition to rearmament.[2]

Life

Provenance and early years

Rosa Aschenbrenner was born into a

domestic service.[3] In 1908 she joined the "Women's and girls' Education League" ("Frauen- und Mädchenbildungs-Verein") in Munich.[2] She married Hans Aschenbrenner the next year and joined the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 1908[4] or 1909.[1][3]

She worked as a

First World War broke out in 1914, many in the SPD leadership came out in support for the government position, but in 1917 the party split, primarily over differences as to whether or not to continue supporting the war. Rosa Aschenbrenner chose the break-away party, which was launched that year as the Independent Social Democratic Party (Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands / USPD). She quickly became a USPD left-wing activist.[1]

Democratic politics

Aschenbrenner was briefly arrested in 1919.

German Revolution of 1918–19 she participated at the "unification party conference" in December 1920 at which the larger part of the USPD united with the newly emerging Communist Party ("Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands" / KPD).[1] Later, in 1921, attended the 6th Party Conference of the Communist Party at Jena.[1] After 22 December 1920 Aschenbrenner is listed as a Landtag member not for the USPD, but for the Communist Party
.

A member of the party's regional district leadership ("Bezirksleitung") for South Bavaria from 1921, she took responsibility for women's issues.

ADGB (Trades Union Confederation), but during 1923 it was dissolved, primarily because of the overlap between its residual activities and those of the Rote Hilfe Deutschland (RHD - Communist welfare organisation): from around 1925 Aschenbrenner, like others affected, switched her energies over to the RHD.[3]

In 1924 there was another election to the Bavarian regional parliament. Aschenbrenner stood successfully as a candidate.[2] This time she remained a member of the "Landtag" till 1932,[2] though by that time she was no longer a member of the Communist Party.[1][3]

In 1928 the

German Communist Party embarked on a period of internal feuding. Aschenbrenner belonged to the pragmatic non-ideological wing of the party whose leaders included August Thalheimer and Heinrich Brandler. Aschenbrenner and members of her faction were particularly critical of the policies advanced by the party leadership under Ernst Thälmann, which followed the so-called social fascism and revolutionary union opposition strategies being mandated from Moscow. In 1928 she received a formal "warning" against deviations from the party line.[1]

Party split

In June 1929 Rosa Aschenbrenner announced her resignation from the Communist Party, and went on to denounced as politically catastrophic the party line being pursued by the leadership.[1] The Communist Party leadership, which valued discipline and loyalty, expelled her husband from the party in July,[1] after he rejected their instruction to divorce his wife.[2] Aschenbrenner now, on 11 June 1929, joined the Communist Party of Germany (Opposition) (Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (Opposition) / KPO) which had been coalescing round Heinrich Brandler and August Thalheimer since the end of the previous year.[3] This led to her being pilloried by the Communist press as a "political corpse" ("politischer Leichnam").[1] She remained in the KPO for less than a year, however. In the northern part of Bavaria the KPO had been able to set up a regional power base in Nuremberg, centred around Karl Grönsfelder, but in the south of Bavaria, the region surrounding Munich, the KPO never really established itself, and in May 1930 Rosa Aschenbrenner rejoined the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD)) from which she had broken away in 1917.[3]

Nazi years

The

one-party dictatorship. Party political activity (unless in support of the Nazi party) became illegal. On 17 March 1933 Aschenbrenner was taken into "protective custody" ("Schutzhaft").[1] She was released after two or three months, but remained under police surveillance.[3] She was arrested again in 1936[1] or 1937[3] for "Violation of the Treachery Law ("Verstoßes gegen das Heimtückegesetz"). Her crime had involved listening to forbidden foreign radio stations.[3] On this occasion she was sentenced to a six-week[1] or four-month jail term:[3] sources differ on the duration of her second prison term, but there is agreement that she underwent two periods in jail between 1933 and 1945, covering several months.[2] During the twelve Nazi years till 1945 Aschenbrenner supported herself with cleaning jobs.[3]

After the war ended

The

military rearmament that was being promoted by the United States, she found herself increasingly seen as a left-wing extremist and marginalised within the SPD.[2] During the 1950s her political energies became concentrated on municipal politics, and she sat as an SPD city councillor in Munich till 1956. As a city councillor she sat on committees involved in reconstruction, social and civic matters, health and the Oktoberfest
.

Rosa Aschenbrenner died at Munich on 9 February 1967.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "Aschenbrenner, Rosa geb. Lierl * 27.4.1885, † 9.2.1966". Handbuch der Deutschen Kommunisten. Karl Dietz Verlag, Berlin. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Rosa Aschenbrenner Politikerin, Pazifistin" (PDF). Feministische Partei DIE FRAUEN, AK FriedenStricken des Landesmitfrauenverbands Bayern. Retrieved 8 May 2016.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "Aschenbrenner, geb. Lierl, Rosa .... Biogramm". Geschichte des Bayerischen Parlaments seit 1819. Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte, Augsburg. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  4. ^ "Rosa-Aschenbrenner-Bogen". Portal München Betriebs-GmbH & Co. KG, München. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
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