Friedrich Naumann - Life

Life

Naumann was born in Großpösna, near Leipzig.

His ideal was that of helping the working class, who lived in miserable circumstances (he worked at Johann Hinrich Wichern's Rauhes Haus in Hamburg). His goal was to raise interest in this issue among the middle class. However he was hindered by the German middle class fear of the proletariat, who were regarded as potential revolutionaries. In 1890 Friedrich joined to the conservative party, the Christian Social Party, but he left the party six years later in 1896, because of his liberal ideals.

Later in his life, Naumann faced major opposition from conservatives. Industrialists like Freiherr von Stumm called Naumann and his associates allies of the socialists. Naumann wanted to preserve Christian values, which he hoped would improve the fraught relations between workers and corporate businessmen. His party the National-Social Association, co-founded with Rudolph Sohm in 1896, failed in the elections of 1898 and 1903 and was then dissolved into the Freeminded Union.

Towards the end of the 19th century, Naumann, who was a monarchist and adherent of the German emperor Wilhelm II, espoused a liberal imperialism. He was influenced by his friend, the German sociologist Max Weber, one of the most pronounced critics of Wilhelm II. Naumann tried to involve Weber in politics, but this failed due to the bad health and temper of Weber.

Naumann became a member of the Reichstag in 1907.

Naumann is often considered a German nationalist with annexionist ideals, due to his book Mitteleuropa.

In 1919 Friedrich Naumann was a co-founder of the German Democratic Party (Deutsche Demokratische Partei, DDP) with Theodor Wolff and Hugo Preuss, the "father of the constitution of the Weimar Republic", and, shortly before his death, was elected as the first president of the party.

He is the author of Mitteleuropa, a book on the geopolitics of the Central Europe. The Friedrich Naumann Foundation associated with the Freie Demokratische Partei is named after him.