Heinrich Mertens (6 February 1906 – 16 June 1968) was a German publicist, editor of the magazineThe Red Book of Catholic Socialists, and mayor ofHalle andJena.
Born in 1906 inDüsseldorf, Mertens came from Catholic working-class roots in theRhineland. His father was a steel worker and his mother came from a family of Jewish craftsmen. He was denied access to the Gymnasium for financial reasons. After commercial studies (1919–1922) and about six months in the missionary school of theFranciscan Order inMoresnet in 1923, he headed toVienna to join the "Herrgottsknechten". These were young Catholics who did social work free of charge while renouncing official titles and organizational structure and leading a consciously modest life. In 1925, Mertens published the book "Ruf zur Wende – Blätter zur katholischen Erneuerung" (Call for a Change - Guide to Catholic Renewal). In Vienna he also joined a group affiliated with Catholic social reformerAnton Orel (1881–1959) publisher of the weekly "Das neue Volk" (The New People). Mertens however came to regard Orel's social-romantic anticapitalism as out-of-date and unsuitable for everyday living and, while preferring socialism to capitalism, nevertheless rejected the materialistic and atheistic elements of Marxist doctrine. Mertens was also repelled by Orel's anti-Semitism.
In 1926, through the intervention of thePeople's Association for Catholic Germany, Mertens found a position in the mission department of the Düsseldorf office for the Union of Catholic Youth (Katholischen Jungmännervereine). Because of his public support for socialism, he was soon dismissed at the instigation of General-President Ludwig Wolker (1887-1955). He then joined the editorial board of the Social Democratic "Rheinische Zeitung" on the recommendation ofWilhelm Sollmann (1881-1951) and became the editor of the supplement "The Tribune", an ongoing dialogue between Christians and socialists. He likely joined theSocial Democratic Party at this time, though he remained a critic.
In 1928 he founded the "Association of Catholic Socialists of Germany" and gave it a voice with the monthly publication "Red Book of Catholic Socialists" (Roten Blatt der katholischen Sozialisten). The association's headquarters was located in Cologne and members came mainly from the ranks of the Social Democrats. Some young chaplains also contributed under pseudonyms. The Red Book, which was published from January 1929 until November / December 1930, had about 1800 subscribers, predominantly Catholic corporations, intellectuals, and Catholic and Protestant theologians. In January 1931, the "Red Book" was merged with the "Newspaper for Religion and Socialism", a voice for Protestant socialists, published by Georg Wünsch in 1929. The publisher was Wünsch, and Heinrich Mertens took the lead.
A prominent member of the association wasErnst Michel, head of the "Academy of Labour" founded by the unions in Frankfurt in 1921. Their goal of combining Catholic faith with socialist thought was, however, achieved only to a limited extent. The Social Democratic Party showed little interest in the organization because it could not demonstrate significant growth in party membership, and on the Catholic side, the 1931 papalencyclical "Quadragesimo anno" emphasized the fundamental incompatibility of Christianity and socialism.
As a scholar supported by theAbraham Lincoln Stiftung (endowed by theRockefeller Foundation), Mertens studied philosophy, economics, pedagogy and psychology during the summer semester of 1932 inFrankfurt. On the basis of his high examination scores, he was admitted to university in the spring of 1932 without a certificate of matriculation. In the Mainmetropole, he worked especially at theInstitute for Social Research, where he also made contacts withTheodor W. Adorno andMax Horkheimer. However, after theNazi seizure of power in 1933 and the subsequent cancellation of the Lincoln scholarship funds for political reasons, he was forced to leave early.
Later Mertens got a job at theFrankfurter Sender newspaper. While in this position he even joined theSturmabteilung and hoped vainly for a "second revolution" withinNational Socialism, of socialists against nationalists.
In February 1936, Mertens was arrested by theGestapo as part of the trial of the Catholic priestJoseph Rossaint (1902–1991) on the charge ofhigh treason. Mertens was accused of having illegal Marxist ambitions, but he was released again after a month and a half. During theSecond World War, Mertens found a job at the office of the Berliner publishing house. He made contact here with various resistance groups and provided assistance to Jews living undercover.
With the end of the war, Heinrich Mertens was appointed mayor ofEisleben by the US armed forces on April 14, 1945, a position which he held until 31 October. He participated in the founding of theLiberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDP). As the LDP candidate he succeeded Theodor Lieser as mayor ofHaale, and after the local electoral victory by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, became on 26 September 1946 the mayor of by Jena. In 1947, he fled with his wife Maria and two daughters to the West. Among other roles, he was a correspondent forDie Welt, head of the press department for theGerman Trade Union Confederation, employee atWestdeutscher Rundfunk Cologne; publisher of the newspaper "Ost-West-Handel" (East-West Trade). At this time, he was once again active in the SPD. He was close to the futureminister president ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia,Heinz Kühn (SPD). He died in 1968 in Austria in a traffic accident.
| Preceded by | Mayor ofJena 1946–1947 | Succeeded by |
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