Leader of the Austrian Socialist Movement
Born in Vienna, son of Victor Adler a leader in the Austrian Socialist Movement and a baptised Jew. Friedrich Adler studied physics in Switzerland where he also lectured. He was converted to Christianity as a child, but at a later stage left that religion. He returned to Austria (1911), and became active in politics. Friedrich Adler opposed his party’s policy during WWI, which supported Germany. He assassinated the Austrian Prime Minister Count Karl von Sturgkh (1916), and was sentenced to death, but was released in 1918, after the fall of the Monarchy.
Friedrich Adler was one of the founders of the left-wing International Working Union of Socialist Parties (1921), and served as secretary of the Labour and Socialist International (1923-1939). During WWII he lived in the USA, but returned to Europe after 1945. Adler had a Jewish wife and many contacts with Zionists, but nevertheless did not believe in a Jewish independent state.
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