Ernst Kern (politician)

Ernst Kern (born October 11, 1904 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein ; † March 3, 1976 there ) was chairman of the Palatinate Socialist Workers' Youth and the Palatinate district of the Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft der Kinderfreunde . Kern, a mechanic by profession, was already a leader in the Socialist Workers' Youth and the Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft der Kinderfreunde in the Palatinate district and in Ludwigshafen / Rhein during the Weimar Republic and shaped the Palatinate and Ludwigshafen youth workers in the first decade after the Second World War.

Work during the Weimar Republic

Since the beginning of the 1920s, Ernst Kern appeared at events of the Socialist Workers' Youth (SAJ) in Ludwigshafen / Rhine. From 1932 to 1933 he was chairman of the Palatinate Socialist Workers' Youth, from 1930 to 1933 chairman of the Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft der Kinderfreunde of the Pfalz district, and from 1926 to 1933 also chairman of the Ludwigshafen / Rhein local group. In 1933 Ernst Kern was nominated as a successor to the SPD for the city council that was “brought into line”, but a little later all social democratic organizations were banned.

Time in exile

Ernst Kern and his wife fled into exile in France after threats from the National Socialists. There he joined the émigré group "groupe des socialistes allemands refugiés en France". There he met with emigrants from the Palatinate SPD such as B. the family of Werner Ludwig together.

Reconstruction and work after the Second World War

In 1946 he returned from exile and, together with his brother Fritz Kern, played a key role in establishing the joint social democratic children and youth organization “ Socialist Youth in Germany - The Falcons ” in Ludwigshafen and the Palatinate district. From 1946 to 1956 he shaped the activities and orientation of the organization as district chairman of the district of Palatinate and the state association of Rhineland-Palatinate. In his hometown of Ludwigshafen, Ernst Kern sat on the city council for the SPD from 1946 to 1952. After leaving the association, Ernst Kern dedicated himself to the Franco-German partnership in Ludwigshafen and Lorient from 1963 until his death and organized youth camps. In 1992 a children's and youth leisure center in Ludwigshafen-Oppau was named after Ernst Kern.

swell

• Manfred Geis and Gerhard Nestler (eds.): The Palatinate Social Democracy. Contributions to its history from the beginning until 1948/1949 , Geißler, Edenkoben 1999.
• Katrin Kusch: The re-establishment of the SPD in Rhineland-Palatinate after the Second World War (1945-1951) , v. Hase and Koehler, Mainz 1989.
• Pfälzische Post and Palatinate Free Press , years 1923–1933