Out of the Archives: “Read and Decide!”
by Kevin Schlottmann, Levy Processing Archivist, Center for Jewish History

Jakob Altmaier was a German-Jewish parliamentarian in the Federal Republic of Germany. After spending World War Two in north Africa attached to the British army, he returned to Germany. In 1949, he ran for and won a seat in the German Parliament (the Bundestag) representing Hanau-Gelnhausen as a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SDP). He held the seat until his death in 1963.

The above flyer, printed by the SDP, provides a brief overview of the candidates competing for the seat that Altmaier ultimately won. It is undated, but it is most likely from the first post-war election in 1949. It exhorts the voter to “Read and decide!”, and then presents a brief but balanced account of Altmaier’s life

His opponents, however, are depicted in a less-than-flattering light. Regarding Dr. Kurt Blaum, the candidate for the center-right CDU: “During the Nazi era, he busied himself with scientific activities – so he says.” Dr. Rudi Schultze, the candidate of the FDP, was “a fervent member of the NSDAP [the Nazi party]” and a member of the east Prussian land-owning elite, which “has much blame for the misfortune that has overcome us.” The Communist party candidate Oskar Müller is “a fanatic member of the bolshevistic party leadership whose only goal is Sovietize all of Germany.” Franz Demel, the FWG candidate, is brushed off as having no opinion and no clue.

At the end, brief summary wraps it all up for the voter: Blaum has “never felt the pain of the people”; Schultze is a reactionary Junker; Müller is a fanatic communist who seeks to enslave all people; and Demel is a man without an opinion. The only option, clearly, is to vote for Jakob Altmaier.  

For more information, see the finding aid for the Jakob Altmaier Collection (AR 2298) held by the Leo Baeck Institute Archives.

To search the collections, click here.