Martin Monath

Nathaniel Flakin

Description

A dramatisation of Martin Monath's short life (1913-1944) would need little artistic embellishment; his identity shrouded in mystery, and executed by the Gestapo - twice - the historical record reads like a detective novel.



Pieced together for the first time by Wladek Flakin, this biography tells the story of the Jewish socialist and editor of Arbeiter und Soldat ('Worker and Soldier'), and his efforts to turn German rank-and-file soldiers against their Nazi officers in occupied France. Born in Berlin in 1913, Martin Monath was a child of war and revolution. In the 1930s he became a leader of the socialist Zionist youth organisation Hashomer Hatzair in Germany. Fleeing from Berlin to Brussels in 1939, he joined the underground Trotskyist party led by Abraham Leon, and soon became a leading member of the Fourth International in Europe. His relocation to Paris in 1943 saw the birth of Arbeiter und Soldat and his work organising illegal cells of German soldiers for a revolutionary struggle against the Nazis.



Drawing on extensive archival research, Flakin uses letters, testimonies and unpublished documents to bring Monath's story to life - weaving a tale rich with conviction and betrayal, ideology and espionage.

List of Abbreviations

Preface

PART I - MARTIN MONATH

1. Introduction

2. A Jewish Boy from Berlin

3. Letters from Berlin and Brussels

4. Underground

5. The End

6. Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

PART II - WORKER AND SOLDIER

Worker and Soldier: Notes on Translation

No. 1, July 1943

No. 2, August 1943

No. 3, September 1943

[No. 4, April–May 1944]

[No. 5] Special Issue – June 1944

[No. 6] July 1944

Newspaper for Soldier and Worker in the West

No. 2 [Summer 1943]

Index

Sujets

• 1939-1945
• Political Ideologies
• Jewish Studies
• Political
• Historical
• HISTORY
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Lettres et linguistique
• Segunda Guerra Mundial
• Communism
• German-occupied Europe
• Biography
• Military
• World War II
• Politics
• Espionage
• Autobiography
• Communisme
• Seconde Guerre mondiale
• France

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 octobre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786805126
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Martin Monath
Revolutionary Lives
Series Editors: Sarah Irving, King s College, London;
Professor Paul Le Blanc, La Roche College, Pittsburgh
Revolutionary Lives is a series of short, critical biographies of radical figures from throughout history. The books are sympathetic but not sycophantic, and the intention is to present a balanced and, where necessary, critical evaluation of the individual s place in their political field, putting their actions and achievements in context and exploring issues raised by their lives, such as the use or rejection of violence, nationalism, or gender in political activism. While individuals are the subject of the books, their personal lives are dealt with lightly except insofar as they mesh with political concerns. The focus is on the contribution these revolutionaries made to history, an examination of how far they achieved their aims in improving the lives of the oppressed and exploited, and how they can continue to be an inspiration for many today.
Also available:
Salvador Allende:
Revolutionary Democrat
Victor Figueroa Clark
James Baldwin:
Living in Fire
Bill V. Mullen
Hugo Ch vez:
Socialist for the Twenty-first Century
Mike Gonzalez
W.E.B. Du Bois:
Revolutionary Across the Color Line
Bill V. Mullen
Frantz Fanon:
Philosopher of the Barricades
Peter Hudis
Mohandas Gandhi:
Experiments in Civil Disobedience
Talat Ahmed
William Godwin:
A Political Life
Richard Gough Thomas
Leila Khaled:
Icon of Palestinian Liberation
Sarah Irving
Jean Paul Marat:
Tribune of the French Revolution
Clifford D. Conner
John Maclean:
Hero of Red Clydeside
Henry Bell
Sylvia Pankhurst:
Suffragette, Socialist and Scourge of Empire
Katherine Connelly
Paul Robeson:
A Revolutionary Life
Gerald Horne
Percy Bysshe Shelley:
Poet and Revolutionary
Jacqueline Mulhallen
Toussaint Louverture:
A Black Jacobin in the Age of Revolutions
Charles Forsdick and Christian H gsbjerg
Ellen Wilkinson:
From Red Suffragist to Government Minister
Paula Bartley
Gerrard Winstanley:
The Digger s Life and Legacy
John Gurney
Martin Monath
A Jewish Resistance Fighter Among Nazi Soldiers
Nathaniel Flakin
First published in 2018 by Schmetterling Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart as Arbeiter und Soldat: Martin Monath - Ein Berliner Jude unter Wehrmachtssoldaten
English-language edition first published 2019 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright Schmetterling Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart 2018
English translation Nathaniel Flakin 2019
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material in this book. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions in this respect and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions.
The right of Nathaniel Flakin to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 3996 2 Hardback
ISBN 978 0 7453 3995 5 Paperback
ISBN 978 1 7868 0511 9 PDF eBook
ISBN 978 1 7868 0513 3 Kindle eBook
ISBN 978 1 7868 0512 6 EPUB eBook

This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin.
Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England
Simultaneously printed in the United Kingdom and United States of America
Contents
List of Abbreviations
Preface
PART I. MARTIN MONATH
1. Introduction
2. A Jewish Boy from Berlin
3. Letters from Berlin and Brussels
4. Underground
5. The End
6. Conclusion

Notes
Bibliography
PART II. WORKER AND SOLDIER
Worker and Soldier : Notes on Translation
No. 1, July 1943
No. 2, August 1943
No. 3, September 1943
[No. 4, April-May 1944]
[No. 5] Special Issue - June 1944
[No. 6] July 1944

Newspaper for Soldier and Worker in the West
No. 2 [Summer 1943]

Index
List of Abbreviations
AK - Auslandskomitee (Foreign Committee) of the IKD, Germany
BDO - Bund Deutscher Offiziere (League of German Officers)
Comintern - Communist International
Gestapo - Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police), Germany
GIM - Gruppe Internationale Marxisten (International Marxist Group), Germany
IKD - Internationale Kommunisten Deutschlands (International Communists of Germany)
KPD - Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (Communist Party of Germany)
KPO - Kommunistische Partei-Opposition (Communist Party, Opposition), Germany
LCR - Ligue Communiste R volutionnaire (Revolutionary Communist League), France
NKFD - Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland (National Committee for a Free Germany)
NSDAP - Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party)
PCF - Parti Communiste Fran ais (French Communist Party)
PCI - Parti Communiste Internationaliste (Internationalist Communist Party), France
PCR - Parti Communiste R volutionnaire (Revolutionary Communist Party), Belgium
POI - Parti Ouvri re Internationaliste (Internationalist Workers Party), France
PSR - Parti Socialiste R volutionnaire (Revolutionary Socialist Party), Belgium
SAP - Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei (Socialist Workers Party), Germany
SPD - Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Democratic Party of Germany)
SWP - Socialist Workers Party, US vi
Preface
I will never write a book again. This whole process was just exhausting. It was no fun.
Fortunately, with Martin Monath I found a subject who kept me enthusiastic for several years. More than that: I fell in love. There is no academic distance here - I m an avowed Monte fanboy. It is a bit embarrassing to admit how often I clapped with joy while typing on my laptop in a caf , or how often I started crying while scribbling in my notebook on the subway.
Why did I fall in love with Viktor, the man of many pseudonyms? Of course I was impressed when I first heard of him: A Jewish Berliner built communist cells in the Nazi army? I have shared his Trotskyist convictions since I was young. But I also find Viktor fascinating because he seems like the exact opposite of me. Viktor always put on a brave face to motivate those around him - I, in contrast, feel compelled to share my neurotic fears. I m doing it again right now!
This book started as an attempt to make an annotated reprint of the newspaper Arbeiter und Soldat . A French translation had appeared in 1978, an English one in 2008, and a partial Spanish one in 2016 - but the original text in German had not been available until I published it last year. For this project, I intended to write a very short introduction about the newspaper s editor. Quickly I discovered that all the available biographical texts offered different real names for Viktor - and none of these could be found in the Berlin archives.
I had to dig deeper and deeper. By the time I had finally confirmed the name Martin Monath, after months of searching, I had gathered so much material about the person that I had no choice but to write a book. You will see: This story had to be told. The Trotskyist historian Rodolphe Prager collected lots of materials about Viktor, but it seems he never wrote anything specifically about him. Without his research in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as investigations by Jakob Moneta, Rudolf Segall, and others, this work would not have been possible.
A half-year stay in Mexico City gave me the serenity I needed to write, partially freed from the endless hassles of revolutionary praxis. During my stay I read a book by Argentinean Trotskyist Adolfo Gilly on the Mexican Revolution. He wrote that book in Lecumberri Prison. In the preface he remarked: Without these years in prison, revolutionary activity would have left me without opportunities nor time nor means for this task. * I feel similarly.
I did most of the writing in the hundreds of Starbucks stores in this gargantuan city. The book would never have been finished without this inexpensive workplace including a regular supply of caffeine. To complete the last few lines, I sat down in the garden of a house in Coyoac n where Leon Trotsky spent his final years. I see the green strip of grass that Trotsky described in his testament. Thinking of Viktor s example, I have to agree that life can be beautiful. Since I will only write one book, I am glad it is this one.
A book is never the work of a single person. Many relatives, friends and comrades have also fallen in love with Monte. I would like to thank Naomi Baitner for the stories about an uncle she was never able to meet, and Heidi Sow for the commemorative stone in the sidewalk in Kreuzberg; Angela R. for deciphering the S tterlin script that was completely illegible to me, and Ursula Martin-Newe and Gertrud Jewan for translations from French; Anton Dannat and Peter Behrens for important tips from the archives of Trotskyism; Marcel Bois and Ralf Hoffrogge for lots of technical pointers for historians; Yossi Bartal and Dror Dayan for translations from Hebrew as well as insights about Zionism; Oskar Huber, Kathrin Kirschner, Stefan Schneider, Neal W., Jana Schr der, Sarah R., and Bethany C. for feedback on the manuscript; and many other people who made this book possible.

* Adolfo Gilly, La Revoluci n Interrumpida (M xico: Ediciones El Caballito 1971), 3 (our translation).
Life is not an easy matter You cannot live through it without falling into prostration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness.

Leon Trotsky, Trotsky s Diary in Exile: 1935 (London: Faber and Faber, 1958), 68.
Martin grew up around the Mariannenpla