Hermann Heller

Who was Hermann Heller?

Hermann Heller was a German legal scholar and philosopher of Jewish descent. He was active in the non-Marxist wing of the Social Democratic Party of Germany during the Weimar Republic. He attempted to formulate the theoretical foundations of the social-democratic relations to the state, and nationalism. He was politically active in the relatively conservative Hofgeismarer Kreis of the SPD and is believed to have authored the group's statement of principles.

Heller was born in Teschen, Austrian Silesia. In World War I he volunteered for the army, served in an Austro-Hungarian artillery regiment and got a heart disease at the front. In 1928 Heller had a short time relationship with Elisabeth Langgässer. Their daughter, Cordelia, was born in 1929.

In his short life, he was involved in a number of political debates and controversies, most notably with Hans Kelsen, Carl Schmitt and Max Adler. In short, Heller's theories are both a reinterpretation of Hegelian social theory and an emendation of Bernstein's revisionism. Heller calls for the integration of the working class in the social, cultural and political structures of the nation-state.