Editing Carl von Ossietzky (section)

== Early life ==
Ossietzky was born in [[Hamburg]], the son of Carl Ignatius von Ossietzky (1848–1891), a Protestant from [[Upper Silesia]], and Rosalie (née Pratzka), a devout Catholic who wanted her son to enter [[Holy Orders]] and become a priest or [[monk]]. His father worked as a [[stenographer]] in the office of a lawyer, and of senator [[Max Predöhl]], but died when Ossietzky was two years old. Ossietzky was baptized as a Roman Catholic in Hamburg on 10 November 1889 and [[Confirmation (Lutheran Church)|confirmed]] in the Lutheran [[St. Michaelis Church, Hamburg|Hauptkirche St Michaelis]] on 23 March 1904.<ref name=db>{{cite web|url=http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz73879.html|title=Deutsche Biographie|publisher=Deutsche-biographie.de|language=de|access-date=5 August 2013}}</ref>

The [[von]] in Ossietzky's name, which would generally suggest noble ancestry, is of unknown origin. Ossietzky himself explained, perhaps half in jest, that it derived from an ancestor's service in a Polish lancer cavalry regiment as the [[Elector of Brandenburg]] was unable to pay his two regiments of lancers at one point due to an empty war chest, so he instead conferred nobility upon the entirety of the two regiments.<ref>[[István Deák|Deák, István]]. ''Weimar Germany's Left Wing Intellectuals''. 1968, [[University of California Press]], p. 49.<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref>

Despite his failure to finish [[Realschule]] (a form of German secondary school), Ossietzky succeeded in embarking on a career in journalism, with the topics of his articles ranging from theatre criticism to [[feminism]] and the problems of early [[motorisation]]. He later said that his opposition to German [[militarism]] during the final years of the [[German Empire]] under [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]] led him as early as 1913 to become a [[pacifism|pacifist]].{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

That year, he married [[Maud von Ossietzky|Maud Lichfield-Woods]], a [[Manchester|Mancunian]] [[suffragette]], born to British colonial officer and the great-granddaughter of an Indian princess in [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]]. They had one daughter, [[Rosalinde von Ossietzky-Palm|Rosalinda]]. During [[World War I]], Ossietzky was drafted much against his will into the Army and his experiences during the war{{snd}}where he was appalled by the carnage{{snd}}confirmed him in his pacifism. During the [[Weimar Republic]] (1919–1933), his political commentaries gained him a reputation as a fervent supporter of democracy and a [[Pluralism (political philosophy)|pluralistic society]].<ref name="Wheeler-Bennett, John pages 92-94">Wheeler-Bennett, John. ''The Nemesis of Power'', London: Macmillan, 1967, pp. 92–94.<!--ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref>