Fridl Lewin

Fridl Lewin (born September 15, 1911 in Berlin ; † unknown) was a German social democrat. In 1946 she was one of the founders of the Free German Youth in the Soviet zone of occupation and made a name for herself primarily with childcare under the auspices of the FDJ. From 1947 she headed the children's association of the FDJ, the forerunner of the pioneer organization Ernst Thälmann , of which she was first chairman for a few months after it was founded. Later she worked for some time as a functionary in the DFD federal board.

Life

Lewin was born in Berlin in 1911 to a working class family. The father Arthur Lewin belonged temporarily to the Jewish community, later joined the SPD and was politically active in the Berlin district of Neukölln . The mother was also a member of the SPD. After elementary school, Lewin completed three years at a secondary school and then worked as a folder in print shops and large binders. Initially a member of the Socialist Workers' Youth (SAJ), she joined the SPD in 1932. During her work with the “ Falken ” she came into contact with the so-called child friends . After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists, she was repeatedly exposed to racist and political persecution, so that in 1933 the mother decided to emigrate with her daughter to England, while the father was later drafted into forced labor and later in the subcamp in the Berliner Wuhlheide was imprisoned. He died in 1943.

After the war , Lewin returned to Berlin from England in the summer of 1945 and initially rejoined the SPD. There she got involved in the SPD state executive and represented the SPD in the Central Anti-Fascist Youth Committee in Berlin, initially from her place of residence in Neukölln, which was in the American sector. As a result, Lewin took an active part in campaigns by the youth committee, such as the Save the Children campaign initiated in autumn 1945 in preparation for the first Peace Christmas . In the committee she met for the first time with the committee chairman Erich Honecker from the KPD, who had the task of building a youth organization out of the youth committee in the Soviet zone. Lewin was also enthusiastic about the ideas and actions and subsequently also belonged to the unification supporters of the SPD and KPD and consequently joined the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED).

She was one of the delegates of the first FDJ parliament in Brandenburg at Pentecost 1946 and was elected to the secretariat of the central council of the FDJ. Within the Central Council, chaired by Erich Honecker, Lewin was responsible for the so-called children's groups of the FDJ.

As a result, the former member of the Falken tried to build this group of children, based on the Kinderfreunde movement in the Weimar Republic, largely apolitically. An example was the so-called Heinzelmännchen-Aktion at Christmas 1946 as an aid for the elderly, the sick and children. A lot could be done for the children's groups through the FDJ, which in turn received financial support from the SED. B. Funded summer camps. The initially rather apolitical action was also expressed in the fact that, especially in Saxony and Thuringia, based on earlier reform pedagogy, the name Kinderland Movement became naturalized in contrast to children's groups of the FDJ. For Lewin, because of the increasing political orientation of the FDJ, this inevitably led to tensions with members of the central council of the FDJ, namely its chairman Erich Honecker.

In order to bind the children's groups even more closely, also politically, to the FDJ, the FDJ Children's Association was founded at the Second Parliament of the FDJ in May 1947, and Lewin initially continued to chair it. She was now in charge of the central working group of the FDJ's children's association, which was also supposed to develop structures at state and district level. This phase was still characterized by a discussion about the influence of the FDJ on the children's association, which was by no means undisputed. In addition, there were forces within the FDJ who wanted to base the youth organization more on the model of the KJVD or the communist children's groups. But since not enough new youth functionaries who were suitable for the FDJ had been trained, considerable reform pedagogical ideas could still be maintained and established under Lewin, since not a few child carers were close to the former child friendship movement or the Red Falcons. Because of their own social democratic past, they did not necessarily have an opponent in Lewin.

As a result, Lewin himself demanded a debate on the FDJ children's association at a meeting of the FDJ Central Council on May 24, 1948. As a result, it was admitted that the FDJ paid too little attention and help to the children's association. It was still not possible to introduce strict centralism and enforce clear political leadership. In the absence of professional training, many of the FDJ functionaries employed in the children's association simply felt overwhelmed. After a meeting of the secretariat of the Central Working Group of the Children's Association on November 20, 1948, to which instructors were sent to the regional associations, the pioneer organization was finally founded. At the same time, at a meeting on December 6, 1948, at the suggestion of Paul Verner , then head of the youth secretariat of the SED party executive committee, it was decided to name the children's association Young Pioneers. This was a clear reminiscence by name of the Red Pioneers from KPD times. At the meeting of the FDJ Central Council on December 10, 1948, mandatory FDJ membership was established for all helpers and supervisors of the pioneers. In addition, the Central Council of the FDJ announced that the Pioneer Association was now a political organization. In one fell swoop, all educational reform approaches and efforts were declared null and void. At the same time, the structure of the pioneer organization was based heavily on the Soviet model. Lewin initially remained in office and thus officially became the first chairman of the pioneer organization. December 13, 1948 was given as the founding date of the organization. However, Lewin was already on the III. Parliament of the FDJ replaced by Kurt Morgenstern at the beginning of June 1949.

With regard to her qualifications in child labor, Paul Wandel brought Lewin to the Central Administration for National Education , where she became head of the Central Youth Welfare Office. After converting to the Ministry of National Education , she was deputy head of the Office for Youth Issues and Physical Exercise until 1951. The office was directly subordinate to the Deputy Prime Minister Walter Ulbricht and had the first major task to implement the youth law of the GDR enacted in February 1950 and to fill it with life.

In November 1951 Lewin moved to the DFD federal executive committee, where she was confirmed as the new federal secretary for culture and education at the 10th meeting of the federal executive committee. In the context of the Zaisser - Herrnstadt affair, which was knitted by the SED leadership around the events of June 17, 1953 , the SED leadership removed not only the then DFD chairman Elli Schmidt but also Fridl Lewin from their positions on the DFD federal executive committee . She was sent to production for so-called probation , where she worked as a worker and party secretary in a Berlin clothing factory until 1960. In 1960, the former social democrat moved to the State Planning Commission , where she worked as an employee until she retired in 1971. As a party veteran and contemporary witness, Lewin was again increasingly welcomed from the 1970s, especially at events organized by the pioneer organization.

Fridl Lewin was married to the Berlin Kulturbund functionary Heinz Hensel (1911–1987) and has been called Fridl Hensel-Lewin ever since.

Honors

• 1960 Clara Zetkin Medal

literature

• Gabriele Baumgartner, Dieter Hebig (Ed.): Biographical Handbook of the SBZ / GDR 1945–1990 , 2 volumes. Saur, Munich 1996f. ISBN 3-598-11130-4 . P. 477
• Andreas Herbst (eds.), Winfried Ranke, Jürgen Winkler: This is how the GDR worked. Volume 3: Lexicon of functionaries (= rororo manual. Vol. 6350). Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-499-16350-0 , p. 206.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Neue Zeit of November 9, 1951 p. 5
2. ↑ Neues Deutschland, March 8, 1960, p. 4