Early Life
Leber was born in Biesheim, Alsace, out of wedlock, to Katharina Schubetzer and later adopted by her Freemason husband Jean Leber. Leber ended his school days in Breisach in 1908 with a Mittlere Reife qualification from a vocational high school, having completed training in salesmanship in a wallpaper factory in Breisach. From 1910, he attended an Oberrealschule (a higher vocational school) and also wrote newspaper reports. To finance his training, he worked as a tutor.
After his Abitur in 1913, Leber studied national economics and history in Strasbourg (then Straßburg, Germany) and at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau. He also joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany in this year (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands; SPD). In 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War, Leber volunteered for military service.
Read more about this topic: Julius Leber
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