Julius Braunthal

Julius Braunthal (1891–1972) was an Austrian-born Jewish historian, magazine editor, and political activist. Braunthal is best remembered as the Secretary of the Socialist International from 1951 to 1956 and for his massive three volume History of the International, first published in German between 1961 and 1971.

Julius Braunthal was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary on 5 May 1891.

During World War I Braunthal was an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army, winning a decoration for valor and rising to the rank of lieutenant by the end of the war.

After the war Braunthal served as an Assistant Secretary of State for the newly established Republic of Austria from 1918 to 1920.

A committed socialist, following his departure from government service Braunthal edited several socialist publications. In 1924 Braunthal was editor of the Arbeiter-Zeitung, the official organ of the Socialist Party of Austria (SPÖ). From 1927 to 1934 he served as editor of the popular socialist newspaper, Das Kleine Blatt (The Little Leaf), also published by the SPÖ. He also edited the illustrated magazine Der Kuckuck (The Cuckoo).

Austrofascism began to rise in the middle 1930s and Brauthal was soon embroiled with difficulties with the new right wing regime. In 1934 Braunthal was arrested and jailed, charged with treason. He was ultimately expelled from the country in 1935, narrowly escaping the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany three years later.

In 1938, Braunthal went into exile in Great Britain, where his elder sister Bertha Clark (1887-1967) had been living and working with her Scottish born husband since 1933, and where he would remain for the rest of his life.

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