Westphal, Max

Max Westphal was born in Hamburg on September 30, 1895, the son of a dockworker. After attending elementary school, he worked at the Hamburg branch of Benz & Co. AG, first as a messenger and then as a clerk. He was a member of the youth group of the Fortbildungsverein, a socialist youth group that was forbidden to engage in political activity. During World War I he was drafted and lost his left arm in an attack. After a long stay in hospital, he returned to Hamburg and married Alice Düsedau, who was also politically active. In 1921 he was elected chairman of the Social Democratic youth organization "Verband der Arbeiterjugendvereine Deutschlands." That year he moved to Berlin with his family. He had a daughter Lotte and a son Heinz, and the family lived in Tempelhof at Paradestraße 22. He was elected party secretary at the 1927 SPD party congress in Kiel, and in 1932 was elected to the Prussian state parliament. After the Nazis seized power, the SPD was banned on June 22, 1933, and Max Westphal was taken into protective custody. He was released again in the fall of 1933, but he was deprived of his livelihood. He tried to earn a living by trading tobacco products by bicycle among his comrades. In 1938 he was arrested again: he was accused of having made preparations for high treason. Although he was acquitted, he was not released from prison but deported to Sachsenhausen. After mistreatment, he was not released until May 1940. He died on December 28, 1942 in the Hildegard Hospital in Charlottenburg as a result of the prison conditions.