Franz Jung

This article deals with the writer, economist and German politician Franz Jung. For the homonymous articles , to see Jung. ----

Franz Jung (November 26th, 1888, Neisse, Silesia - January 21st, 1963, Stuttgart) is a writer, economist and German politician.

Franz Jung also published under the pseudonyms of Franz Larsz and Frank Ryberg.

Green years (1888-1918)

Born with Neisse, in 1888 - the year when Guillaume II becomes emperor of Germany -, Franz Jung passes her baccalaureat in her birthplace before undertaking studies of economy, right, art and religion, successively in Leipzig, Iéna and Breslau. As from 1909, he works as journalist and finishes, two years later in Munich, a thesis of economy on the industry of the matches. They is there that it binds to the radical group “Tat” and, in particular, with the anarchist Erich Mühsam, the psychoanalyst Otto Gross and the writers Leonhard Frank, Oskar Maria Graf and Johannes Becher. In 1912, Jung publishes its first literary work in the reviews of avant-garde Der Sturm and Die Aktion . In 1914, it is mobilized on the face of the East. Wounded to the combat, it deserted in December and goes to Vienna. Returned to Germany, imprisoned, then interned in an asylum, it is released thanks to an psychiatric evaluation of Otto Gross. It takes part then in the creation of the review Die Freie Strasse (Otto Gross, Richard Öhring and Raoul Hausmann), while collaborating actively in the movement internationalist opposed to the war.

Red years (1918-1922)

In November 1918, Franz Jung takes part in the councils of workmen and soldiers of Berlin. Become member of KPD, it is challenged, in January 1919, during the bloody week, but succeeds in fleeing in Breslau. In April of the following year, it is among the founders of KAPD. Named delegated of its party near the Comintern, it diverts, with Jan Appel and Hermann Knüfken, a trawler at sea Baltique to go to the USSR. Condemned to its return in Germany for “piracy in open sea”, it is released against guarantee into 1921 before entering clandestinity to take part in an insurrection in the area of Mansfield. But this rising, which one names “Action of March”, will fail in its attempt at generalization the remainder of Germany. In May, Jung leaves Germany with his/her partner. Challenged in the Netherlands, the couple is expelled in the USSR where Franz will work for the press service of the Comintern, before directing a factory of matches in the area of Novgorod, then a metallurgy factory in Petrograd.

Gray years (1923-1945)

Of return in Germany, in December 1923, Jung a time as economic journalist under the pseudonym of Franz Larsz works. As from 1927, the director of theater, Erwin Piscator, undertakes the adaptation of several of his parts, while Jung collaborates with him for the setting in scene of the theater of Bertolt Brecht ( Rise and fall of the town of Mahagony and the Mother ). In 1930, Jung founds the newspaper Der Gegner , to which in particular Ernst Fuhrmann, Raoul Hausmann and Karl Korsch will contribute, within the framework of the publisher Deko. The following year, an accounting scandal involves the dissolution of Deko-Verlag and obliges Jung to take refuge, once again, in clandestinity. Between 1933 and 1936, it belongs to the clandestine organization anti-Nazi of Rote Kämpfer. Stopped by Gestapo in November 1936, it succeeds in fleeing in Prague at its coming out of prison, the following year. It will gain then Switzerland, then Hungary where it is stopped in November 1944. Managed to flee again, it gains Austria, then Italy where it is interned with the concentration camp of Bolzano, then with the camp of civil internees of Modena, from which it is released in June 1945.

The last years (1945-1963)

In 1948, Franz Jung emigrates in the United States. In New York, it becomes corresponding economic international for various American newspapers and Europeans before moving in San Francisco (1953) and obtaining the American citizenship (1955). This year, reached of a cancer, it turns over to Germany for the first time since its exile and starts, two years later, the drafting of its autobiography, the Way to the bottom (1961). In 1960, it returns definitively to Europe where it lives between France and Germany until its death in 1963.

French bibliography

It beetle-torpedo: considerations over a great time , Ludd, 1993, republication: the Way downwards. Considerations of a German revolutionist over a great time (1900-1950) , Agonic line, 2007. ISBN 978-2-7489-0046-0 (page devoted to the book on the site of the editor)
the Book of the cretin , Ludd, 1997

External bonds

The complete work of Franz Jung (14 volumes) is published in Germany by Nautilus (Hamburg)

A page in French devoted to Franz Jung, her life and its work

A text of Franz Jung of 1960 when he tells the creation and the life of periodicals to which it took part

A recension of the book of Jung '' the Book of the cretin '' on the site of the '' Libertarian Monde ''

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