Max Seydewitz

Max Seydewitz (December 19, 1892 – February 8, 1987) was a German politician (SPD, SAPD and SED). Between 1947 and 1952 he was the Minister-President of Saxony in the German Democratic Republic. Life Max Seydewitz was born in a small town some 25 km (15 miles) east of Cottbus and 150 km (90 miles) south-east of Berlin. His father was a tanner. He attended school locally and undertook an apprenticeship as a book printer. He joined a socialist youth movement in 1907 and in 1910 became a member of the SPD. He served as a soldier in the war between 1914 and 1915 when he was released from the army on grounds of "unsuitability" for war. From 1918 till 1920 he worked as contributing editor on the "Volksblatt" ("People's Voice"), a socialist newspaper in Halle before moving to Zwickau where from 1920 till 1931 he served as Editor in Chief with "Saxony Volksblatt", a daily newspaper of the political left. In 1931 the left-wing of the SPD was expelled and Seydewitz alongside members such as Kurt Rosenfeld established Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, which he became the co-chair. After the Nazi seizure of power, Seydewitz fled Germany and eventually settled in Stockholm and worked as a journalist. During his exile he established contact with the Communist Party of Germany. For a period he was a resident in the Soviet Union and during the Great Purge he was suppressed although he was later relieved of all charges. His two sons however were sent to gulags and weren't released until after the Second World War.