August Winnig | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Oberpräsident ofEast Prussia | |
| In office 1919–1920 | |
| Generalbevollmächtigter to theBaltic Provinces | |
| In office 1917–1918 | |
| Reichskommissar for East andWest Prussia | |
| In office 1917–1918 | |
| Member of theLandtag of Hamburg (SPD) | |
| In office 1913–1921 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1878-03-31)31 March 1878 |
| Died | 3 November 1956(1956-11-03) (aged 78) |
| Nationality | German |
| Political party |
|
| Occupation | bricklayer, trade unionist, essayist. |
August Winnig (31 March 1878 – 3 November 1956) was a German politician, essayist andtrade unionist.
Early involved in trade unionism and editorship, Winnig held elected and public offices from 1913 to 1921 as aSocial Democratic Party (SPD) member. AsGeneralbevollmächtigter ("Minister Plenipotentiary") for the Baltic Provinces in 1918, he signed the official recognition of theLatvian Provisional Government by theGerman Empire (1871–1918) that ended German claim over the region, despite being an opponent of that renouncement. He was nominatedOberpräsident ofEast Prussia in 1919, and pressured theWeimar Republic (1918–1933) to create an autonomous State in the easternBaltic Sea region.
After his participation in theKapp putsch of 1920 against the Weimar Republic, Winnig was removed from his position by the regime and expelled from the SPD, in which he belonged to the "social-imperialistic" wing. He then became more involved into far-right thinking and, along withErnst Niekisch, joined theOld Social Democratic Party of Germany (ASPD), a splinter group of the SPD with nationalistic tendencies. The ASPD failure in the1928 German federal election led Winnig to abandon his revolutionary programme and join theConservative People's Party in 1930.
Initially welcoming theNazis in 1933 as providing the "salvation of the State" fromMarxism, hisLutheran convictions led Winnig to oppose theThird Reich (1933–1945) for itsneo-pagan tendencies. In 1937, he published a best-selling essay namedEuropa. Gedanken eines Deutschen ("Europe. Thoughts of a German"). Translating a cultural rather than racial view of European peoples, the work diverges from the officialNazi doctrines on race, although it is tainted byantisemitism. Winnig wrote in his autobiographies that he went from being a Nazi sympathiser to a Christian conservative during Hitler's rule. Winnig died inBad Nauheim on 3 November 1956, at the age of 78.
August Winnig was born on 31 March 1878 inBlankenburg, the youngest son in a large and poor family.[1] He attended elementary class, then learntbricklaying. Winnig joined theSocial Democratic Party (SPD) at eighteen years old in 1896 and was a member of the Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 46 from 1900 to 1902.[2]
In 1905, he became the editor ofGrundstein inHamburg, the newspaper of theMaurergewerkschaft ("Bricklayers Union") and, in 1913, the leader of the nationalBauarbeiterverband ("Construction Workers Association").[3]
After acquiring the citizenship of the state ofHamburg in 1913,[2] Winnig was elected as a SPD member of theHamburg Parliament and kept his siege until 1921.[3] ScholarRobert S. Wistrich describes him as belonging to the "social-imperialistic" wing of the party.[1]
From 1917 to 1918, Winnig was appointedReichskommissar forEast andWest Prussia andGeneralbevollmächtigter ("Minister Plenipotentiary") to theBaltic Provinces.[2] As holder of the later position, he signed on 26 November 1918 the official recognition of theLatvian Provisional Government by theGerman Empire that ended German claim over the region, what is known by the Latvians as theVinniga nota ("Winnig's note"). In order to comply with the demands of theBaltic Germans for a broader representation in the new institutions, Winnig delayed the withdrawal of German troops from Latvia and supported the formation ofFreikorps in the region, with promises of land and settlement.[4]
In January 1919, after being appointedOberpräsident ofEast Prussia by theWeimar Republic,[1] Winnig devised a plan for the creation of an autonomous State in the easternBaltic Sea region that would have includedLivonia,Kurland,Lithuania andEast andWest Prussia, with the false assumption that the victorious powers ofWWI would concentrate their demands on Germany itself and let alone a separatist eastern State. He wrote that "the East Prussian separatism was a special form of expression of national indignation", with the intention of entering into war against Poland to achieve statehood.[5]
Although Winnig and the Baltic German landowners had in mind the integrity of the Reich, they talked about a "break away from Berlin" as a mean of exerting pressure on the rest of Germany to achieve their project. For instance, Winnig mentioned at the regional conference of the East Prussian SPD the threat of an ineluctable separation if the Reich did not take necessary measures regarding East Prussia.[5] On 4 March 1920, Winnig published amemorandum on the East Prussian question. He raised an abundant catalogue of demands at the East Prussia Conference on 9 March 1920, in order to obtain concessions from the Prussian and German governments for his autonomy demands.[5]
The failure of his separatist project led Winnig to participate in the failedKapp putsch of 13 March 1920 against theWeimar Republic. He was then removed from public office and expelled from the SPD.[1]
After his expulsion from public office by the Weimar Republic, Winnig became more involved in national revolutionary writings. He is considered byArmin Mohler to be one of the most influential thinkers of theConservative Revolution.[6]
Winnig was, along withErnst Niekisch, co-editor ofWiderstand, a magazine launched in 1926 to advocateNational Bolshevism.[7][8] Winnig wrote in defence of the German workers, plunged into poverty by the post-WWI German economic situation, and denounced what he called the "Versailles Diktat". According to him, German nationalism had to embrace the workers as they were fulfilling the "German task", having replaced the role of the aristocracy.[7]
Gregor Strasser unsuccessfully tried to bring Winnig into theNazi Party (NSDAP) during the mid-1920s.[9] In 1927, Winnig joined instead theOld Social Democratic Party of Germany (ASP). With the recruitments of Winnig and Nieskisch, the party intended to attract more nationalist voters outside the state ofSaxony. Winnig claimed that the ASP would provide the foundation for a "new Socialism", with the workers at the front of a movement for national liberation. He theorised an idea of 'national' socialism based on trade unions, criticising the anti-German influence of bourgeois intellectuals on the workers' movements, and writing about the "infiltration by foreign elements" (Ueberfremdung) in the SPD leadership.[10]
Winnig was an ASP candidate for theReichstag during the1928 German federal election.[3] The party suffered a crushing defeat with only 0.2% of the votes. After the ASP published a revised party programme on 12 October 1928, from which the national-revolutionary elements were removed, Niekisch and Winnig both resigned their membership.[10] Winnig then abandoned its revolutionary programme,[10] joining theConservative People's Party in 1930.[3]
Initially welcoming the Nazis as providing the "salvation of the State" fromMarxism, hisLutheran convictions led him to oppose theThird Reich for hisneo-pagan tendencies. Winnig then withdrew from politics to go into "inner emigration".[1] He later wrote in his autobiographies that he went from being a Nazi to a Christian conservative during Hitler's rule over Germany.[11]
In his essayEuropa. Gedanken eines Deutschen ("Europe. Thoughts of a German"), published in 1937, Winnig gives a definition of Europe that diverges from the officialNazi doctrine on race, although it also strongly tainted byantisemitism. Writing about "spatial ties" (Raumverbundenheit) and "cultural community" (Kulturgemeinschaft),[12] he claims that the greater nations of Europe, along with the other less powerful peoples of the continent, all stem from the same superior civilisation, a legacy ofRome, theAncient Germans, andChristianity. However, he excluded from that definitionBolshevik Russia, which he believed to be the world of the Jews and theUntermenschen ("sub-humans") that only fascism could protect Europe from.[13] Printed at 80,000 copies, the book became a best-seller in Evangelical circles.[14]
Winnig died inBad Nauheim on 3 November 1956 at the age of 78.[1]
