Elfriede Kaiser-Nebgen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elfriede Kaiser-Nebgen , née Nebgen (born April 11, 1890 in Hildesheim , † October 22, 1983 in Berlin ) was a German social scientist and Christian union leader . She was active in the resistance against National Socialism .

Life

Elfriede Nebgen grew up in Hildesheim, where she attended high school and then a boarding school in Lausanne . After graduation, she began training as a teacher at the Ursuline teachers' seminar in Duderstadt . She then worked as a teacher in Poznan at a school for Polish girls, where she also took over the management from time to time. During the First World War , she had to do social work in Strasbourg and Metz due to the war. It was there that she met Adam Stegerwald , the general secretary of the Christian trade unions, and began to be interested in Christian trade union work. To this end, she began studying economics at the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster in 1916 , where she met Jakob Kaiser , who at that time was the regional manager of the Christian trade unions in West Germany. 1921 doctorate it with the theme of work on the synthesis of socialism and Catholicism .

In autumn 1921 Nebgen moved to Berlin and worked as a consultant on the board of the Christian trade unions. Among other things, she wrote articles for the Central Gazette of the Christian Trade Unions in Germany and the magazine Deutsche Arbeit and worked in trade union education. It is increasingly influencing the basic structure of Christian trade union work. In 1923 and 1928 she formulated The Spiritual Foundations of the Christian National Labor Movement , founded and headed the Central Welfare Committee of the Christian Labor Movement (later: Christian Workers Aid ). She also gave the initiative to build the conference center, later named after Adam Stegerwald, in Königswinter . With the move to Berlin, an “intensive intellectual and political partnership” with Jakob Kaiser began. Together with him, she campaigned against a threat from the right from 1930. Nebgen and Kaiser did not consider cooperation with the National Socialists under Christian influence to be ruled out, but after the seizure of power they defended themselves against bringing the Christian trade unions into line. It was only on the initiative of Nebgen that Kaiser escaped arrest after he had refused to sign a document by Robert Ley . Even before the Christian trade unions were broken up, the two of them distanced themselves from the umbrella organization, which was increasingly coming to terms with the new regime.

Together with Jakob Kaiser she went into the resistance and made contacts with the various resistance groups. She was involved in the Goerdeler circle . After the assassination attempt on July 20, 1944 , she rescued Jakob Kaiser together with Mina Amann and Clara Sahlberg and hid him in a basement apartment in Babelsberg . Together with Kaiser, she also stayed in the Soviet zone of occupation and tried to establish the Free German Trade Union Federation (FDGB) and the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDUD) there. In 1947, however, both left the Soviet zone after their plans failed. Then she worked for Jakob Kaiser on his political life in the Federal Republic and was involved in the Christian Democratic Workforce (CDA).

After the death of Kaiser's first wife, she married her long-term companion in 1953. She cared for her husband until his death in 1961. In 1967 she published a biographical work about her husband. She herself died on October 22, 1983 in Berlin.

Works (selection)

  • Work on the synthesis of socialism and Catholicism . Münster: University publication. Dissertation. 1921.
  • Spiritual foundations of the Christian labor movement . Berlin-Wilmersdorf: Christian trade union publisher 1923 (extended new edition 1928).
  • Overcoming the unemployment problem in a Christian community . Berlin-Wilmersdorf: Christian Work Aid eV 1932.
  • Jakob Kaiser. The resistance fighter. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 1967.
  • Jakob Kaiser. Federal Minister for All German Issues 1949–1957. Together with Werner Conze and Erich Kosthorst. Stuttgart, Berlin, Cologne, Mainz: Kohlhammer 1972.

literature

  • Antje Dertinger : women from the very beginning. From the founding years of the Federal Republic , J. Latka Verlag, Bonn 1989, ISBN 3-925-06811-2 , pp. 131–144.
  • Dieter Schneider: Elfriede Nebgen. In search of synthesis and unity . In: Dieter Schneider (Ed.): They were the first. Women in the labor movement . Book guild Gutenberg, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-7632-3436-5 , p. 269-284 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dieter Schneider: Elfriede Nebgen. In search of synthesis and unity . In: Dieter Schneider (Ed.): They were the first. Women in the labor movement . Book guild Gutenberg, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-7632-3436-5 , p. 272 f .
  2. ^ Dieter Schneider: Elfriede Nebgen. In search of synthesis and unity . 1988, p. 273 .
  3. ^ Dieter Schneider: Elfriede Nebgen. In search of synthesis and unity . 1988, p. 278 ff .
  4. ^ Dieter Schneider: Elfriede Nebgen. In search of synthesis and unity . 1988, p. 281 ff .
  5. ^ Ralf Baus: Nebgen, Elfriede. Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , accessed on July 24, 2012 .
personal data
SURNAME Kaiser-Nebgen, Elfriede
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nebgen, Elfriede (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German social scientist and Christian trade union leader
DATE OF BIRTH April 11, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Hildesheim
DATE OF DEATH October 22, 1983
Place of death Berlin