Willi Eichler (7 January 1896 – 17 October 1971) was a German journalist and politician with theSocial Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).^[1]

Eichler was born inBerlin, the son of a postal worker. He attendedVolksschule and then became a clerk.^[2][3] Between 1915 and 1918, he served as a soldier in theFirst World War.^[4][5]

In 1922, he went to work as the secretary of thesocialist philosopher,Leonard Nelson,^[6] who founded theInternationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund (ISK). He became a close confidant of Nelson.^[2] In 1923, he joined the SPD, but remained a follower of Nelson and became a member of the ISK. After Nelson's death in 1927, Eichler became chairman of the ISK.^[6][7]

From 1932 to 1933, he was theeditor-in-chief of the ISK's anti-Nazi newspaper,Der Funke, which published an "Urgent Call for Unity" in June 1932 calling for support of the SPD and theKPD in theJuly 1932 German federal election. It was signed by 33 well-known scientists, authors and artists, includingAlbert Einstein,Emil Julius Gumbel,Kurt Hiller,Erich Kästner,Käthe Kollwitz /Arthur Kronfeld,Heinrich Mann,Pietro Nenni,Paul Oestreich,Franz Oppenheimer,Theodor Plivier,Minna Specht,Helene Stöcker,Ernst Toller,Erich Zeigner andArnold Zweig.^[8]

Eichler emigrated toFrance in 1933 after theNational Socialistsseized power.^[2][5] InParis, he got involved with theLutetia Circle, the 1935-1936 attempt of exiles to establish and support aVolksfront against theThird Reich.^[2] He also became publisher of theReinhart Briefe, which were secretly disseminated in Germany, and theSocialistische Warte,^[5] which published articles byHilde Meisel.

Eichler's political activities caused him to be expelled from France in 1938.^[2] Shortly before the outbreak of war, Eichler found asylum inEngland,^[2][5] where he returned to the SPD. In London, Eichler worked at theBBC making broadcasts aimed at German workers and publishedEurope Speaks. In 1941, he was a founding member and board member of theUnion deutscher sozialistischer Organisationen in Großbritannien, which, after the war, merged with the SPD.^[5] Toward the end of his exile inLondon, he worked closely with historianSusanne Miller, a German Jewish refugee, who later became his wife.

Eichler returned to Germany in 1946 and got involved rebuilding the SPD. He founded the magazineGeist und Tat, which he edited till his death in 1971.^[5] Until 1951, he also worked aseditor-in-chief of the SPD newspaper, theRheinische Zeitung.

Eichler was a member of the SPD executive committee from 1946–1968, chairman of theMiddle Rhine district of the SPD from 1947–1953,a member of theNorth Rhine-WestphalianLandtag from 1947–1948 and a member of theBundestag from 1949 to 1953.^[4][5] He also served as a member of theZonenbeirat, the advisory committee to theBritish occupied zone.

In 1948 and 1949, Eichler was a member of theWirtschaftsrat des Vereinigten Wirtschaftsgebietes, an economic advisory council of theBizone. While serving in the Bundestag in the early 1950s, Eichler was the vice chairman of the Committee on the Press, Radio and Film. During the period after the war, Eichler was one of the leading theoreticians in his party and was the chairman of the decision-making commission to prepare for theGodesberg Program.^[7]

Later, Eichler served as a member of the executive board of theFriedrich Ebert Foundation.^[3] Eichler died inBonn in 1971.^[2]

Between 1934 and 1948, Eichler wrote numerous articles under various pen names, including Martin Hart, H. M., Walter Buchholz, Walter Holz and Ernst Friesius. He had two articles inDas Andere Deutschland and over 360 articles in theSozialistische Warte. Eichler wroteDas Parlament als Repräsentant der Öffentlichkeit im Rundfunk, which appeared inDie Freiheit des Rundfunks, published in Munich in 1956.

• Sabine Lemke-Müller:Ethischer Sozialismus und soziale Demokratie. Der politische Weg Willi Eichlers vom ISK zur SPD. Bonn 1988ISBN 3-87831-459-0

• Willi Eichler in theGerman National Library catalogue
• Deutsche Exilzeitschriften 1933-1945(in German)

• Exiles from Nazi Germany
• Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia
• Members of the Bundestag 1949–1953
• Members of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia
• German male journalists
• German journalists
• German editors
• 1896 births
• 1971 deaths
• German male writers
• Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany
• Expelled members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany

• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• Articles with German-language sources (de)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata