Biography
George Schwartzwalder was born in Baden, Germany. Immigrated to the United States in 1910.
George Schwartzwalder migrated repeatedly across Europe in his youth, living in Austria, Russia, and Italy before returning to Germany, where he served three years in the army and later worked as a sailor between Germany and Argentina.
Immigrated to the United States in 1910 and lived as a migrant laborer. Although sympathetic to the Industrial Workers of the World since 1915, he formally joined the organization only in December 1918 in Kansas City. He was also a personal friend of Joe Hill. Classified as an “enemy alien” during World War I, he was arrested in Bartlesville in February 1919 and interrogated for five hours before being released, then arrested again the following month in Muskogee, Oklahoma, where he lost thirty to forty pounds in unsanitary jail conditions. He told officials he hated the Kaiser because “he represented the capitalist class in Germany” and declared “he would not fight for any country, that he felt no patriotism for any country.” Deported to Germany January 7, 1920.
1920s custody-date review: The earlier arrest and later rearrest are separated into distinct episodes. The first arrest is no longer treated as the start of uninterrupted detention through deportation. Dates retain the precision actually supplied by the source; sentence lengths are not used to invent admission or release days.
Source: Kenyon Zimmer, George Schwartzwalder biography and archival references.
