Editing Philipp Scheidemann (section)

=== Early years ===
Philipp Scheidemann was born in Kassel on 26 July 1865, the son of the upholsterer Friedrich Scheidemann (1842–79) and his wife Wilhelmine (née Pape, 1842–1907). He had two sisters.<ref name=Bio>{{cite web|url=http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz111363.html|title=Biografie Philipp Scheidemann |publisher=Bayerische Staatsbibliothek|access-date=2 August 2013}}</ref>

Scheidemann attended elementary and secondary schools between 1871 and 1879. After the death of his father in 1879, the family fell into poverty. Following his school education, he completed an apprenticeship as a typesetter and letterpress printer from 1879 to 1883.<ref name="Bio"/><ref name="DHM">{{cite web |title=Philipp Scheidemann 1865–1939 |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/biografie/philipp-scheidemann.html |access-date=2 August 2013 |publisher=Deutsches Historisches Museum}}</ref> Until he was thirty years old he worked in the book printing trade as a typesetter's assistant and then as master typesetter in the printing shop of the Gotthelft brothers in Kassel, which published the {{Lang|de|Casseler Tageblatt}}, a local newspaper.

In 1883 Scheidemann joined the SPD, which had been banned under the [[Anti-Socialist Laws]] of [[Otto von Bismarck]], and became a member of the Free Trade Union of Book Printers. Between 1888 and 1895 he was an honorary district chairman of the book printers' association in [[Marburg]]. There he also continued his education at the [[University of Marburg]]. The philosopher [[Hermann Cohen]], who taught there, is said to have made a lasting impression on him.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Flemming |first=Jens |title=Männer der Revolution |pages=55 |language=de |trans-title=Men of the Revolution}}</ref>

In 1889 Scheidemann married Johanna Dibbern (1864–1926) in Kassel. They had three daughters: Lina (1889–1933), Liese (1891–1955), and Hedwig (1893–1935).<ref name="Bio" />

In 1895 he gave up the profession he had learned and became active for various social democratic newspapers. First he worked as an editor for the {{Lang|de|Mitteldeutsche Sonntagszeitung}} in [[Giessen]], from 1900 for the {{Lang|de|Fränkische Tagespost}} in [[Nuremberg]], from 1902 for the {{Lang|de|Offenbacher Abendblatt}} ([[Offenbach am Main]]) and finally from 1905 for the {{Lang|de|Casseler Volksblatt}} in his home town.<ref name="Bio" /><ref name="DHM" /> In addition to political articles, Scheidemann wrote "''Dialect Stories''" every Sunday from 1909 under the pseudonym Henner Piffendeckel. He also published several books in the Kassel dialect.