Blos, Wilhelm

AUTHOR, JOURNALIST, HISTORIAN, POLITICIAN (GERMANY)
BORN 5 Oct 1849, Wertheim, Baden-Württemberg - DIED 6 Jul 1927, Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg: Bad Cannstatt
BIRTH NAME Blos, Wilhelm Josef
GRAVE LOCATION Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg: Pragfriedhof, Friedhofstrasse 44

Wilhelm Blos was seven years old when his father, the physician Aloys Blos, died. He was abused by his stepfather and from 1863 he lived with his grandparents. He studied history and philology in Freiburg. Lack of money forced him to abandon his studies and become a journalist. He worked for social democratic magazines and joined the SDAP in 1872. In Eisenach he met August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht. For his work as an editor of "Volksstaat" he was imprisoned for three months. In 1875 he founded the satirical magazine "Mainzer Eulenspiegel" but this led to another arrest.

In the autumn of 1875 he joined the newly fouded "Hamburg-Altonaer Volksblatt". In 1877 he was elected into the Reichstag. His work in Hamburg ended when he was banisehd from Hamburg in 1880. In 1883 he moved to Stuttgart, were social democrats had less problem with the authorities. Between 1884 and 1912 he was elected into the Reichstag several more times.

In 1905 he married the author and socialist Anna Blos. After the November Revolution of 1918 he became prime minister of the new government in Württemberg. He was elected unexpectedly during a SPD meeting in which he had only wanted to accompony his wife. After king Wilhelm II abdicated on 30 november 1918 and in 1919 he became president of Württemberg. In 1920 the SPD lost the elections and he was succeeded by Johannes von Hieber. He retired in private life. Because he received only a small pension he and his wife lived in modest circumstances. He died in 1927.

Family
• Wife: Blos, Anna (1905-1927)

Related persons
• knew Bebel, August

Images

The grave of Wilhelm Blos at the Pragfriedhof, Stuttgart.
Picture by Androom (07 Mar 2015)

 

Sources
Wilhelm Blos – Wikipedia


Blosse-Lynch, Alice Harriet

Published: 29 Dec 2018
Last update: 05 Apr 2022