Alexander Schwab

Alexander Schwab (5 July 1887 – 12 November 1943) was a German political activist. He withdrew from active participation in politics after resigning from the fractious and short-lived Communist Workers' Party ("Kommunistische Arbeiter-Partei Deutschlands" / KAPD) in 1922, but continued his contribution as an independent left of centre commentator-journalist. During the twelve Nazi years he was arrested at least twice, spending the final years of his life, between 1936 and 1943, in a succession of jails. Sources may also identify him by the pseudonym under which some of his contributions were published, as Albert Sigrist Sachs.

Life Provenance and early years Alexander Schwab was born into a Protestant family in Stuttgart. He grew up in Danzig where his father Karl Julius Schwab, a musician and composer, was in charge of the music ("als Opernkappelmeister") at the city opera house. )

Between 1928/29 and 1933 Alexander Schwab was employed as chief press spokesman for the National Institution for Unemployment Insurance ("Reichsanstalt für Arbeitslosenversicherung").

Schwab had been seriously considering emigration to Mexico. However, shortly after his release his wife Hildegard died, which some sources implicitly connect with his new determination to stay in Germany and engage in (illegal) political activity in opposition to the government.

After about a year of "investigative detention", six members of the Rote Kämpfer leadership, identified in the record as "Schwab and comrades" ("Schwab und Genossen"), Of the six men facing the court it was Alexander Schwab who received the longest sentence, which seems to have reflected his continuing determination to absorb, as far as possible, the culpability that might otherwise attach to comrades. The court sentenced him to an eight-year jail term, being particularly concerned that "he had been writing for German newspapers while simultaneously working against the German state". Alexander Schwab was the only one of the six who would not survive his prison term.

Prison and death During the ensuing years Schwab was held in prisons at Brandenburg, Zwickau and Sinnenburg. He also spend time in the Concentration Camp at Börgermoor. At times he was subjected to severe physical abuses. It was at Zwickau that he died. The circumstances and cause of his death were never entirely clear. The prison authorities reported that he died of pneumonia.