Fritz Anneke

Baden and Palatinate revolutionaries (1848–1849) Russian revolutionary democrats Germany Germany 1818–1872 ✕ Accidental death

Communist League member, secretary of the Cologne Workers' Association and artillery commander of the Palatine revolutionary army in 1849

Born in Dortmund in 1818, he became a Prussian artillery lieutenant in 1841 but was dishonourably dismissed in 1846 for his democratic activities and his refusal of a duel. In 1847 he joined the Communist League in Cologne, and in April 1848 he co-founded the Cologne Workers' Association and became its first secretary. Arrested for high treason on 3 July 1848, he was acquitted by a jury on 23 December. With his wife Mathilde Franziska he published the Neue Kölnische Zeitung. In 1849 he took command of the artillery of the Palatine people's army, with Carl Schurz as his adjutant. After the defeat he escaped through France to the United States and was sentenced to death in absentia. In 1862 he became colonel of the 34th Wisconsin Infantry but was dismissed the next year. He died in Chicago in 1872 after falling into a construction pit.

Also known as: Karl Friedrich Theodor Anneke

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