Frieda Koenen

Frieda Koenen b. Frieda Bockentien (born April 18, 1890 in Flensburg , † November 17, 1968 in Berlin ) was a German politician of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). She was a member of the State Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt and the Provisional People's Chamber .

Life

Frieda Koenen trained as a tailor and joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in 1913 . In 1917 she joined the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) and was elected to a workers 'and soldiers' council in Merseburg during the November Revolution in 1918 .

In 1920 she became a member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), in which she assumed leading positions. Koenen was involved in the Red Aid of Germany (RHD), in various consumer cooperatives and was a city ​​councilor in Merseburg. After the National Socialists came to power and communist activities were banned, she emigrated with her family to the Soviet Union in the summer of 1933 . Here she began to study and became a lecturer at the University of the Communist International in Kuschnarenkowo . From 1943 Koenen worked in the National Committee Free Germany (NKFD) as a teacher at the Antifa school for German prisoners of war in Talizi.

After the end of the Second World War , Koenen returned to Germany in November 1945 and participated in the formation of anti-fascist women's committees in the province of Saxony . After Martha Brautzsch's murder , she became her successor in March 1946 as a member of the KPD district leadership in Halle-Merseburg. In April 1946, she was now a member of the SED, head of the women's department of the SED Provincial Board of Saxony and in the same year a member of the State Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt . She was also a guest lecturer at the provincial party school in Wettin Castle . In 1947, as a member of the Preparatory Committee, she co-founded the Democratic Women's Association of Germany (DFD).

In March 1948 she became a member of the German People's Council , which was constituted as the Provisional People's Chamber after the GDR was founded in 1949. From November 1949 to 1950 she was a member of the Provisional People's Chamber and was a member of the budget and finance committee. Most recently she was chair of the women's commission of the SED district leadership in Halle.

Frieda Koenen was married to Bernard Koenen and was the sister-in-law of Wilhelm Koenen , who also held high political positions in the GDR. Koenen's sons Viktor Koenen and Alfred Koenen , who later became an officer in the National People's Army (NVA) and a diplomat of the GDR, fought in the Soviet Red Army during World War II . Koenen was buried in the memorial of the socialists in the Friedrichsfelde central cemetery in Berlin-Lichtenberg .

Awards

• 1955 Clara Zetkin Medal (GDR)
• 1960 Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold (GDR)
• 1965 Labor banner (GDR)

literature

• Christa Jacob: Frieda Koenen. Stations in her life and struggle at the side of her husband Bernard , published by the Commission for Research into the History of the Local Labor Movement at the Halle District Management of the SED, Halle (Saale), 1983
• Hermann Weber , Andreas Herbst : German communists. Biographical Handbook 1918 to 1945 . 2nd, revised and greatly expanded edition. Dietz, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-320-02130-6 ( biography of Bernard Koenens ).
• United on the way to socialism - history of the state party organization Saxony-Anhalt of the SED 1945 to 1952 , published by the district leaderships Halle and Magdeburg of the SED. Halle / Magdeburg 1986

Web links

• Frieda Koenen in the DRAFD Wiki

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Obituary . In: Neues Deutschland , November 19, 1968.
2. ^ New Germany , February 15, 1947.
3. ^ New Germany , November 11, 1949.
4. ^ New Germany , December 20, 1962.
5. ^ Heroism at four in the morning - The best women in Germany . In: Der Spiegel . No. 15 , 1948, pp. 5 ( online ).
6. ↑ A tribute to Frieda Koenen . In: Neues Deutschland , April 19, 1960, p. 2