Karl Otto Paetel

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Karl Otto Paetel (23 November 1906, Berlin – 4 May 1975, New York) was a German political journalist. During the 1920s he was a prominent exponent of National Bolshevism. During the 1930s he became a member of anti-Nazi German resistance.

Biography[]

Paetel was born on 23 November 1906 in Berlin.[1] He attended the Siemens-Oberrealschule where he got involved in the Köngener Bund youth group.[1] He later studied at the Friedrich-Wilhelm University of Berlin.[1]

Paetel was involved in the German Youth Movement and became a prominent leader in the Deutsche Freischar that formed part of it.[1] He belonged to its "national revolutionary" tendency, which sought to marry elements of both the radical left and the radical right in order to form a "third way" between the Nazi Party and the Communist Party of Germany. To this end he established his own Arbeitsring Junge Front and subsequently the to promulgate his syncretic views.[2] The latter group was established in 1930 due to his disillusionment with the Nazi Party, a group he had hitherto been well disposed towards, as he felt that their revolutionary rhetoric was insincere and that their essential nature was conservative.[3] Nonetheless he felt that the Nazi Party still contained "useful" revolutionary elements and was particularly active in attempting to win over members of the Hitler Youth to his side.[4] In 1930 he became co-editor of Die Kommenden with prominent nationalist Ernst Jünger.[1]

Selected bibliography[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Karl M. Otto Paetel Papers, 1907-1984 , accessed 17 December 2011
  2. ^ Timothy S. Brown, Weimar Radicals: Nazis and Communists Between Authenticity and Performance, Berghahn Books, 2009, pp. 31-32
  3. ^ Brown, Weimar Radicals, p. 78
  4. ^ Brown, Weimar Radicals, p. 134


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