Hellmut Georg von Gerlach (February 2, 1866 – August 1, 1935) was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 and politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

.

Life

Hellmut von Gerlach, the son of landowner Max von Gerlach, was born in Mönchmotschelnitz

Moczydlnica Klasztorna

Moczydlnica Klasztorna is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Wińsko, within Wołów County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany. It lies approximately south-west of Wińsko, north-west of Wołów, and north-west of the regional capital...

 in Silesia

Province of Silesia

The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th...

. He studied law at the universities of Gent, Strasbourg, Leipzig, and Berlin, and was a member of the Verein Deutscher Studenten. Afterwards, he obtained a position in the Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

n civil service.

In 1892, Gerlach retired from the civil service, to work full-time on politics and journalism. At first, he was close to the Christian Social, but also anti-Semitic, politics of Adolf Stoecker and his Christian Social Party

Christian Social Party (Germany)

The Christian Social Party was a right-wing political party in the German Empire, founded in 1878 by Adolf Stoecker as the Christlichsoziale Arbeiterpartei . The party combined a strong Christian and conservative programme with progressive ideas on labour, and tried to provide an alternative for...

. He would later leave this party though, and join Friedrich Naumann's National-Social Association

National-Social Association

The National-Social Association was a political party in the German Empire, founded in 1896 by Friedrich Naumann.In the second half of the 19th century Germany underwent a rapid industrialization, which was connected with rising social problems...

, becoming more entrenched with political liberal ideas. From 1892-1896, he worked as an editor of the Christian-social daily newspaper Das Volk.

From 1898 to 1901, and from 1906 onwards, Gerlach was editor of the Berlin weekly Die Welt am Montag. He was a member of the Reichstag for the National-Social Association from 1903 to 1907, and would join the Freeminded Union after the National-Social Association was dissolved. In 1908, he became co-founder of the Democratic Union

Democratic Union

The Democratic Union can be:*Croatian Democratic Union*Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina*Mongolian Democratic Union*Democratic Union *Democratic Union *Democratic Union *Democratic Union...

.

During the First World War, Gerlach took on a pacifist stanch. Together with Friedrich Naumann he was one of the founders of the new liberal party, the German Democratic Party (DDP) in the first years of the Weimar Republic

Weimar Republic

The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...

. He became a deputy secretary of state in the Prussian province, working on German-Polish relations.

In 1919, Gerlach entered the board of the International Peace Bureau

International Peace Bureau

International Peace Bureau is the world's oldest international peace federation. It was founded in 1891, and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910....

. As a journalist, he worked against those who still had lingering feelings for the German Monarchy. He would also write for a better understanding between Germany and France in the Welt am Montag. In 1922, he left the DPP, to become chairman in 1926 of the German Human Rights League.

When Carl von Ossietzky

Carl von Ossietzky

Carl von Ossietzky was a German pacifist and the recipient of the 1935 Nobel Peace Prize. He was convicted of high treason and espionage in 1931 after publishing details of Germany's alleged violation of the Treaty of Versailles by rebuilding an air force, the predecessor of the Luftwaffe, and...

 was arrested in 1932, Gerlach took over the editorial duties of the magazine Die Weltbühne. After the Nazis took control over Germany in 1933, Gerlach fled to Austria first, then to French on the invitation of the Ligue des droits de l'homme, where he could work on peace matters and against the Nazi regime.

Gerlach died in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

.