Curt-Christian Elster

Curt-Christian Elster (born February 12, 1902 in Berlin , † January 12, 1974 in Herford ) was a German social worker and liberal democratic politician in the Soviet zone of occupation. From 1946 to 1948 he was general secretary of the LDP regional association of Thuringia.

Life

Elster was born in Berlin, but grew up temporarily in Braunschweig , where he attended a humanistic grammar school. He left this on May 10, 1919 with the high school diploma. From 1920 to 1926 Elster then initially studied at what was then the Technical University of Braunschweig , followed by a degree in education and philosophy at the University of Jena from 1926 to 1930 . At the Thuringian University Elster was also the thesis remedial training in the former Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Dr. phil. PhD. Elster then worked in Thuringia, initially as a social pedagogue, later he also worked in publishing and in the commercial sector in industry. Married since 1932, Elster first lived in Untermaßfeld after completing his studies , and later in Eisenach . Between 1937 and 1940 Elster did his three years of military service, further use in the Wehrmacht was ended in 1940 by a declaration of unworthiness for racial reasons. Elster then made his living as a private scholar.

After the end of the war, Elster began to get involved in the Thuringian Democratic Party , which in December 1945 merged into the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany in the Soviet zone of occupation. Within this party, Elster took over from March 1, 1946 the full-time function of a regional organization manager at the regional office of the LDP regional association Thuringia in Weimar . He was entrusted with all organizational tasks within the regional association and thus occupied a key position within the Thuringian LDP. At first he was subordinate to 12 different departments. Elster's partner at the time was General Secretary Heinz Büchsenschütz , who ran the LDP state executive secretariat. Due to his important party function, Elster was elected as an LDP member of the Thuringian state parliament in the first Thuringian state elections in October 1946 . As early as 1947, the regional office was restructured again, Elster now headed the administration department, which was also responsible for managing the membership file. He worked alongside General Secretary Roland Wüsthoff , who had replaced Büchsenschütz in October 1946, and Hans-Joachim Siekiera , who now led most of the organizational departments. At the II. LDP state party congress, which took place from 6th to 9th June 1947 took place in Erfurt, Elster was finally elected general secretary of the LDP regional association Thuringia. From 1948 Elster was subordinate to the so-called Political Secretariat. Due to his function, the Thuringian LDP nominated Elster as a delegate to the 2nd German People's Congress, where he was elected as a member of the 1st German People's Council in March 1948 . On the III. State party conference of the LDP of Thuringia, which took place in Jena in July 1948, Elster was again confirmed as Secretary General. However, shortly thereafter, events rolled over. The deputy state chairman and Alphons Gaertner , who was designated as the overall party chairman after the death of Wilhelm Külz , fled to the western zone on July 19, 1948. The reason for him was the increasing pressure of the SED for sole rule, which was supported by reprisals on the part of the SMAD. On July 23, the LDP state chairman Hermann Becker, newly elected against the will of the SMAD, was arrested by the Soviet authorities despite his immunity as a member of parliament. As a result, Hans Loch and Karl Hamann, two LDP politicians who were more inclined to the SED, moved up to the governing bodies. Under ongoing political pressure from SMAD, Elster resigned from his post as Secretary General on November 26, 1948, but initially retained his mandate in the state parliament.

In order to forestall an arrest, Elster probably fled to the western sector of Berlin in April 1949 , until April 27th he was registered in Berlin NW 40 (in the Lehrter Bahnhof area ) in the Tiergarten district . On April 13, 1949, the LDP state party court excluded Elster from the LDP. Officially, now without a party, his membership in the Thuringian state parliament ceased on May 9, 1949. After his brief stay in West Berlin , Elster settled in Herford, North Rhine-Westphalia. There he became sales manager of the Amanit sales company, which sold welding accessories.

literature

• Jochen Lengemann : Thuringian state parliaments 1919–1952. Biographical manual. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2014, ISBN 9783412221799 .

See also

• List of members of the Thuringian state parliament (1946–1952, 1st electoral period)