I’ve never met Walter Wolfgang. But, after reading this fascinating booklet by Carol Turner, perhaps I don’t need to. He seems to become a kind of symbol through its pages. Not least pictorially, as in the iconic image of the moment he was evicted from the Labour party conference of 2005 which adorns the front cover. But the other photographs included are striking too – a series of images of Walter on the front line of demonstrations, speaking at events and often sporting a trademark camel-coloured coat against the cold.

Walter Wolfgang was born in Frankfurt am Main in Germany, and in 1937 was sent to boarding school in Britain, aged 13. His parents followed, but Walter had to leave school at 16 after his father was forced to liquidate his business because of Hitler’s compulsory acquisition of Jewish property and assets. He became a British citizen and joined the Labour Party in 1948. Continue reading →