against the expelling Die Jungen movement from the party. Nevertheless, he remained in the party and did not join the new organization formed by Die Jungen, the Association of Independent Socialists. In 1892, Kater moved to Berlin. There he worked as a mason, was elected a delegate for the city masons' union, and became an agitator. During the debates over the organisational structure of the union, he supported the "localist" concept as well as the creation of the Representatives Centralization of Germany in 1897 (which renamed itself the FVdG in 1903). He became the first chairman of the federation's Business Commission. In 1907, after Kater refused a staff job with the centralized trade unions and declined to run as a delegate to the Reichstag delegate, he left the SPD. Though critical toward anarchism and syndicalism at first, Kater soon became a leading anarchosyndicalist figure in Germany. During a speech at the 1908 FVdG congress, Kater openly professed syndicalism for the first time. In 1913, he was a delegate at the First International Syndicalist Congress at Holborn Town Hall, London. Fritz Kater was instrumental in sustaining the FVdG's structures during World War I and was one of the founders of the Free Workers' Union of Germany (FAUD) after the war. He worked for the FAUD as a speaker and author, representing the trade union at various congresses of the International Workers' Association. In 1930, he resigned as chairman of the FAUD because of his age. On May 8, 1945, Kater attempted to defuse a dud bazooka shell. The shell exploded, causing burns to his face and chest. Kater died twelve days later in the hospital. References Fritz Kater in Magdeburger Biographisches Lexikon. Retrieved July 24, 2007. 1861 births 1945 deaths Members of the Free Association of German Trade Unions Members of the Free Workers' Union of Germany People from the Province of Saxony Anarcho-syndicalists Farmworkers German civilians killed in World War II Deaths by explosive device