Ernst Hoff

Ernst Hoff (born August 11, 1872 in Düsseldorf ; † September 20, 1932 there ) was a German association functionary .

Life

Ernst Hoff was born as the son of Karl Hoff , painter and art writer and professor at the Karlsruhe Art School , and his wife Maria, daughter of Karl Ferdinand's son . His brother Karl Heinrich Hoff later also became a painter.

Ernst Hoff studied chemistry at the universities of Karlsruhe , Berlin and Zurich and received his doctorate in 1896. After completing his studies, he became assistant to a company in the cement industry in Bestwig and later he was also employed as technical director in a company in the cement industry in Lengerich .

In 1903 he gained experience in the management of the employers ' association Verband der Eisenindustrie Hamburg and in 1904 took over management of the newly founded employers' association of the Northwestern Group (in short Arbeit Nordwest) of the Association of German Iron and Steel Industries in Düsseldorf. The employers' association initially pursued an uncompromising policy aimed at defending its own interests and, like hardly anyone else, ruthlessly took the "master of the house" (that is, they saw themselves as masters of their workers, so they were the unrestricted Gentlemen in their companies and could act as they saw fit; there was almost no right of participation for workers). The association therefore followed a strictly anti-union course. In close connection with the chairmen of the Heinrich Lueg association (chairman from 1904 to 1913) and Ernst Poensgen (chairman from 1914 to 1933), Ernst Hoff presented the treatment of the "workers' questions" that the Northwestern Group had previously perceived from a decidedly entrepreneurial standpoint, on a new basis and developed the association into the largest employer organization in the iron industry and also represented it in the central employers' associations.

The "exchange office" he set up, which observes all company-social matters ( proof of work , occupational health and safety , training, unemployment benefits, health insurance, vacation) and had their experiences presented to representatives of member companies and discussed by them, was a model for many similar institutions at other associations . He recognized the opposition between capital and labor, albeit while preserving conservative notions of property that precluded participation. Step by step, the "gentleman in the house standpoint" was dismantled over time. As a result, however, his actions took place under the compulsion of socio-political necessities within the framework of economic possibilities. For health reasons he had to give up management in 1928, but remained on the board until his death.

In 1935, the association was transferred to the “Iron Industry Business Group”. After the Second World War, the Iron and Steel Industry Association, today's Steel Association , continued this tradition.

Fonts (selection)

• On the introduction of the nitro group in the side chain of aromatic bases . AW Schade's Buchdruckerei, Berlin 1896.
• Ernst Hoff; Bernhard Henrich: Reports on the protection of those willing to work ; reimbursed by Dr. Ernst Hoff and lawyer Bernhard Henrich. Berlin, 1914.
• The origin and meaning of the collective agreement concept . Industrie-Verlag u. Printer, Düsseldorf 1925.

literature

• Lutz Hatzfeld: Hoff, Ernst . In: Neue Deutsche Biographie 9 , 1972, p. 382 f.