Alexander Parvus - Biography - Death and Legacy

Death and Legacy

Parvus died in Berlin on December 12, 1924. His body was cremated and interred in a Berlin cemetery. After his death Konrad Haenisch wrote in his memoir "This man possessed the ablest brains of the Second International"

During his lifetime Alexander Parvus' reputation among his revolutionary peers suffered as a result of the Maxim Gorky affair and the fact that he was in effect a German government agent. At the same time both his business skills and revolutionary ideas were appreciated and relied upon by Russian and German revolutionaries and Ottoman's Young Turks. After the October Revolution in Russia for obvious political reasons his role was denied and he himself vilified. This continued during Joseph Stalin's era and sometimes had anti-semitic overtones to it. In Germany however he was considered favorably. His name is often used in modern political debates in Russia

Surprisingly, Parvus has left no documents after his death and all of his savings disappeared. Both of his surviving sons became Soviet diplomats although one died in the gulag and the other disappeared.

Read more about this topic:  Alexander Parvus, Biography

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