Biography
Alexander Norbe was a conscientious objector from New Jersey imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for refusing military service, he was held at Fort Leavenworth; Fort Douglas. Sentenced to life. (Documented in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection's World War I Conscientious Objectors database.) Archival note: registered for draft on June 5, 1917, but not as a C.O.; soldiered for 5 months; interviewed by Bd. on Jan. 5, 1919 at Disciplinary Barracks ; charged with violation of 64th Article of War; sentenced to life to 30 years in prison, reduced to 2 years; reason for stance = socialist; …
The Revolutionary Age of August 9, 1919 prints a letter received by the National Left Wing Conference on June 21, 1919 from political prisoners confined in the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. It lists Alex Norbe among political prisoners who explicitly said they were not Socialist Party members, endorsing the letter's support for the Left Wing and its political aims. June 21 is the conference's receipt date, not an admission or release date; no individual charge or measured custody total is supplied.
