Selma Lohse
German politician (1883–1937)

Selma Lohse (née Rösel; 17 February 1883 – 4 May 1937) was a German politician who served in the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic from 1931 until 1932. A member of the Social Democratic Party, she represented the Franconia constituency. Lohse was also a member of the Lower Franconia district council and the Würzburg city council, serving as one of four women in the latter body.
Biography
Selma Rösel was born on 17 February 1883 in the town of Görlitz, then part of the Kingdom of Prussia within the German Empire. Unlike other lower-class children at the time, she did not begin working after completing school, instead becoming an apprentice seamstress. In 1904, she married Max Lohse, a prominent social democrat and union leader, quitting her apprenticeship to become a housewife and caretaker to their three children. The family moved to the Bavarian city of Würzburg in 1908 after her husband became the regional manager of the German Stone Workers' Association (Steinarbeiterverband).
Lohse first became politically involved in 1911 when she joined the Social Democratic Party. During World War I, she worked as a volunteer in "war welfare", and she was elected to the local "council for the poor and orphans" in 1919. Later that year, she was also elected to the Lower Franconia district council (Kreistag).
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Selma Lohse” as german politician (1883–1937). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as german politician (1883–1937). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1459365. VIAF identifies the subject as 147158630917123370002. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1883, 1937, 1931 and 1932.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. 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.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Selma Lohse”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Selma Lohse primary sources, Selma Lohse archive and Selma research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Selma Lohse”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Selma Lohse” 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.