Lore Agnes

Who was Lore Agnes?

Lore Agnes was a German politician. A house-wife from Düsseldorf, Agnes was a leading figure in the Social Democratic Party of Germany and the socialist women's movement in the city. She was a member of parliament 1919-1933.

Agnes was the daughter of a coal miner from Bochum. She moved to Düsseldorf in 1906. As a socialist women's activist, she founded a Domestic Workers' Association.

At the 1913 Jena congress of the SPD, Agnes belonged to the radical anti-militarist grouping, and supported Rosa Luxemburg's call for general strike action. After the SPD split, Agnes became a leading personality in the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany. She was jailed in 1914, after having given an anti-war speech at an International Women's Day meeting. In her speech she had called on the women of Germany to organize resistance against the war.

At the time of the outbreak of the November Revolution, Agnes and other left leaders from Düsseldorf were jailed. Agnes belonged to the group that was freed as revolutionaries stormed the prison, and she immediately became a leading organizer of the revolution in Düsseldorf. She was put in charge of issues relating to food, health and welfare on behalf of the Düsseldorf council.