Victor Berger

Victor L. Berger
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 5th district
In office March 4, 1911 – March 3, 1913
Preceded by	William H. Stafford
Succeeded by	William H. Stafford
In office March 4, 1919 – November 10, 1919
Preceded by	William H. Stafford
Succeeded by	vacant
In office March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1929
Preceded by	William H. Stafford
Succeeded by	William H. Stafford
Personal details
Born	Victor Luitpold Berger (1860-02-28)February 28, 1860 Nieder-Rehbach, Austria-Hungary
Died	August 7, 1929(1929-08-07) (aged 69) Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Political party	Socialist Party

Victor Luitpold Berger (February 28, 1860 – August 7, 1929) was a founding member of the Social Democratic Party of America and its successor, the Socialist Party of America. Born in Austria-Hungary, Berger immigrated to the United States as a young man and became an important and influential socialist journalist in Wisconsin. He helped establish the so-called Sewer Socialist movement. Also a politician, in 1910, he was elected as the first Socialist to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing a district in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

In 1919, Berger was convicted of violating the Espionage Act for publicizing his anti-militarist views and as a result was denied the seat to which he had been twice elected in the House of Representatives. The verdict was eventually overturned by the Supreme Court, and Berger was elected to three successive terms in the 1920s.

Victor Berger was born into a Jewish family on February 28, 1860 in Nieder-Rehbach, Austria-Hungary (today in Romania). He was the son of Julia and Ignatz Berger. He attended the Gymnasium at Leutschau (today in Slovakia), and the major universities of Budapest and Vienna. In 1878 he immigrated to the United States with his parents, settling near Bridgeport, Connecticut. Berger's wife, Meta Schlichting, later claimed that Berger had left Austria-Hungary to avoid conscription into the military.

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