Vogt was chairman of the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold in Bochum and secretary of the economic-political department of the Bergbauindustriearbeiterverbandes ("Mining Industry Workers' Union").
As an active member of the SPD and the head of the Reichsbanner, Vogt was on the front lines of the frequent confrontations with the growing Nazi movement.
[1] Following the Nazis' seizure of power in 1933 Vogt and his family moved to the Saarland, which was not then in the German Reich.
However, shortly afterwards, Saarland was reintegrated into the Reich, causing Vogt to flee again, this time to the Netherlands.
[2] He helped establish the Arbeitsausschuss freigewerkschaftlicher Bergarbeiter Deutschland ("Working Committee of the Mine Workers of Germany") in Paris and became the secretary of that organization.