Georges Politzer facts for kids

Georges Politzer (born May 3, 1903 – died May 23, 1942) was a French thinker and writer. He was known for his ideas based on Marxism, a way of understanding society and history. Some people called him the "red-headed philosopher" because of his hair color. Georges was born in Oradea, a city that is now in Romania, but was part of Hungary at the time. He was sadly killed during the Holocaust, a terrible time in history.

Biography

Georges Politzer was involved in politics from a young age. When he was just 17, he took part in an uprising in Hungary in 1919. This was during a time called the Hungarian Soviet Republic. After this, he had to leave Hungary because of a period known as the White Terror.

In 1921, he moved to Paris, France. Before that, he met famous thinkers like Sigmund Freud in Vienna. Between 1929 and 1931, Georges joined the French Communist Party.

In the early 1930s, the Communist Party started a school called the Workers University of Paris. Georges taught a course there about something called dialectical materialism, which is a way of looking at how ideas and society change. He also worked as a philosophy teacher at a high school called Lycée Marcelin Berthelot.

When World War II began, Georges stayed in Paris and worked secretly with the French Communist Party. After a friend, the famous physicist Paul Langevin, was arrested in 1940, Georges started publishing a secret newspaper. It was called The Free University. This newspaper talked about scholars who were put in prison and spoke out against the actions of the fascists who had invaded France. He worked with other brave writers like Jacques Decour and Jacques Solomon. Sadly, all of them were executed by the Nazis in 1942.

In February 1942, Georges Politzer was arrested. His wife, Mai, who was also a Communist and part of the Resistance, was arrested too. They were arrested because the Communist Party was banned. Georges was tortured and then handed over to the Nazis. On May 23, 1942, he was executed by a firing squad. His wife, Mai, was sent to Auschwitz, a concentration camp, where she died in March 1943.

Contribution to philosophy

Georges Politzer was a follower of the ideas of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. He was very interested in psychology, which is the study of the mind. He believed that traditional psychology was too abstract, meaning it didn't focus enough on real-life experiences.

He also studied Freudian theory, which was a new way of understanding the mind at the time. However, he later moved away from some of its ideas. One of his books, Elementary Principles of Philosophy, was published after his death. It was based on notes taken by his students. This book was the first one to be banned by a military government in Turkey in 1980.

See also

• Jacques Solomon
• Jacques Decour
• Valentin Feldman
• Paul Langevin
• Charlotte Delbo
• List of Holocaust victims

Works

• Against Bergson and some other writers, Philosophical Writings (Contre Bergson et quelques autres), 1924-1939
• Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom, French translation of Schelling, 1926
• Critique of the Foundations of Psychology (Critique des Fondements de la Psychologie), 1928
• Bergsonism, a Philosophical Hoax (La fin d'une parade philosophique: Le bergsonisme), 1929, under the name of François Arouet
• The Great Problems of Contemporary Philosophy (Les Grands Problèmes de la Philosophie Contemporaine), 1938
• Philosophy and Myths (La Philosophie et les Mythes), 1939
• Philosophy of the Enlightment and Modern Thought (La Philosophie des Lumières et la Pensée moderne), 1939
• What is Rationalism? (Qu'est-ce que le rationalisme?), 1939
• The End of Psychoanalysis (La Fin de la Psychanalyse), 1939
• In the Cellar of the Blind, Chronicles on Nowadays Obscurantism (Dans la cave de l'aveugle, chronique de l'obscurantisme contemporain), 1939
• Blood and Gold (Sang et Or) or Gold Vanquished by Blood (L'Or Vaincu par le Sang), November 1940
• Revolution and Counter-revolution in the 20th Century (Révolution et Contre-révolution au XXè Siècle), Éditions Sociales, March 1941
• Antisemitism, Racism and the Jewish Problem (L'antisémitisme, le racisme, le problème juif), 1941
• Obscurantism in the 20th century (L'Obscurantisme au 20ème siècle), 1941
• A Course on Marxism (Cours de Marxisme), 1935-1936
• Elementary Principles of Philosophy (Principes Élémentaires de Philosophie), 1946, notes taken in the course taught at l'Université Ouvrière from 1935 to 1936
• Crisis of Nowadays Psychology (La Crise de la Psychologie contemporaine), 1947
• Foundamental Principles of Philosophy (Principes Fondamentaux de Philosophie), edited by Guy Besse and Maurice Caveing, 1954
• Writings 1 Philosophy and Myths (Écrits 1 La Philosophie et les Mythes), Éditions Sociales, 1973
• Writings 2 The Foundations of Psychology (Écrits 2 Les Fondements de la Psychologie), Éditions Sociales