Max Barthel

Max Barthel was a German writer.
A factory worker, Barthel was a member of the socialist youth movement; he was a World War I frontline soldier from 1914 to 1918.

Trip to Russia

In 1920 he accepted a personal invitation from Karl Radek to travel to Moscow and attend the 2nd World Congress of the Comintern in 1920. He travelled as a stowaway to Estonia. Once here he mingled with Russian prisoners of war and thus was able to cross the border. Whilst in Russia, he also attended the International Conference of the Young Communist International and met Vladimir Lenin. He attended the Kultintern, where he joined the Provisional International Bureau.
In 1923 Barthel moved from the KPD to the Social Democratic Party of Germany. He drew closer to Nazism after the seizure of power; he was a reporter on Strength Through Joy trips, and a press correspondent during the war. In 1922 he had worked Communist ideas into the poem "Arbeiterseele", but in 1934 his novel Das unsterbliche Volk described "the transformation of a German worker from a Communist to a follower of the Führer". In a tone of resignation, Barthel titled his postwar autobiography Kein Bedarf an Weltgeschichte.

Works

Vom roten Moskau bis zum schwarzen Meer Berlin: Internationaler Jugendverlag
Der Mensch am Kreuz. Roman nach dem Tagebuch eines katholischen Pfarrers Berlin: Der Bücherkreis