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Oswald Zimmermann

German politician, opinion journalist and journalist (1852-1910)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ2036500 ↗
Source-derived summary

Oswald Franz Alexander Zimmermann (5 February 1859, Neumarkt – 5 October 1910, Dresden) was a German antisemitic politician and journalist. One of the leading representatives of political antisemitism in the German Empire, he was elected a member of the Reichstag three times.

Zimmermann, a Roman Catholic, was educated at the gymnasium in Ohlau before studying at Breslau University and Leipzig University. Working in Dresden, he was editor-in-chief of the journal Deutsche Reform before later establishing his own journal Deutsche Wacht. He also published Sind die Juden noch das auserwählte Volk? Ein Beitrag zur Aufklärung über die Judenfrage.

Zimmermann was active in the original German Reform Party, a strong antisemitic group active in Saxony between 1880 and 1891. When this party disappeared he developed his own group of followers and with them worked closely with Otto Böckel, with both men combining their followings as a new German Reform Party in 1893. He was elected to the Reichstag as one of a number of independent antisemites in 1890 and held the seat for the German Reform Party in 1893. Zimmermann pressed for closer links with another antisemitic party, the German Social Party, and, despite the reservations of Böckel, they merged in 1894 as the German Social Reform Party.

Editorial summary

“Oswald Zimmermann” enters the record as german politician, opinion journalist and journalist (1852-1910). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Oswald, Zimmermann and German can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1859, 1910, 1880, 1891—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1852-02-05. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Oswald, Zimmermann and German.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Oswald Zimmermann” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Oswald, Zimmermann and German provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2036500. VIAF identifies the subject as 35636814. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1859, 1910, 1880 and 1891.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Oswald Zimmermann”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Oswald Zimmermann primary sources, Oswald Zimmermann archive and Oswald research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Oswald Zimmermann”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Oswald Zimmermann” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.