Alfred Bruno Neumann

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Alfred Bruno Neumann (1st from right) at a reception of the German Cycling Association in 1961

Alfred Bruno Neumann (born April 10, 1927 in Berlin ; † February 25, 2010 ) was a politician and sports official of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). He served as chairman of the State Committee for Physical Culture and Sport from 1960 to 1968 and was then Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1968 to 1990 . Neumann was primarily involved in the field of rowing and was President of the German Rowing Sports Association (DRSV) from 1964 to 1974 and 1989 to 1990 .

Life

Youth and Political Beginnings

Neumann was born in the Weißensee district of Berlin in 1927 and trained as a pipe fitter . During the Second World War he served in the Wehrmacht and was taken prisoner of war. After his return, Neumann became a member of the anti-fascist committee of the Berlin-Weißensee district office and then secretary of the FDJ district leadership Berlin-Weißensee.

Promotion in the ministerial administration

Neumann (2nd from right) at the 32nd GDR State Council meeting

In 1951 Neumann became deputy head of the Office for Youth Issues and Physical Exercise in the GDR. A year later he was appointed deputy chairman of the State Committee for Physical Culture and Sport (Stako) formed on the initiative of Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker , which he held until 1960. In 1958 he was the official chairman of the committee for a short time and was finally chairman in 1961 as Manfred Ewald's successor , and from 1962 in the rank of State Secretary . In 1964 he became president of the German Rowing Sports Association (DRSV). Neumann led the Stako until 1968, when it came to a dispute with Ewald over the question of whether to set up a state committee for popular sports. Even before that, there had been tensions between Neumann and Ewald in relation to sports policy, among other things because Neumann was reluctant to separate competitive and popular sports. Neumann was dismissed surprisingly and without prior notice.

Foreign Ministry and turning point

After his dismissal, Neumann became State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MfAA) and thus retired from active sports politics. Neumann held the office of State Secretary in the MfAA until 1990, but according to his own statement, he only had limited scope for shaping and influencing. With the international recognition of the GDR, his tasks grew by leaps and bounds, so that in 1974 he waived another candidacy for the presidency of the DRSV. In 1990, however, he became DRSV President again and, together with Henrik Lotz from the German Rowing Association (DRV), organized the union of the West and East German rowing associations.

Honors

In 1968 Neumann was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit (VVO) when he left the Stako , and in 1970 he was awarded the VVO.

Sources and References

literature

  • Short biography for:  Neumann, Alfred Bruno . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  • Andreas Ritter: Changes in the management of high-performance sport in the GDR in the 1960s and 1970s. Dissertation, University of Potsdam, Berlin 2002. (Online as PDF ( Memento from March 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ))
  • Alfred Bruno Neumann . In: Contributions to the history of sport 30, spring 2010. pp. 96–98.
  • André Neumann: Pilot series - for my father. Nora Verlag, Berlin 2017, ISBN 9783865574299 .

Web links

Commons : Alfred Bruno Neumann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Müller Engbergs 2010, p. 945.
  2. ↑ Ritter 2002, p. 280.
  3. ↑ Ritter 2002, p. 283.
  4. ↑ Hoffmann 2010.
personal data
SURNAME Neumann, Alfred Bruno
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician and sports official
DATE OF BIRTH April 10, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH February 25, 2010