Friedrich Schomerus

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Grave of Friedrich Schomerus in the north cemetery in Jena

Friedrich Riclef Schomerus (born January 2, 1876 in Marienhafe / Ostfriesland ; † April 20, 1963 in Jena ) was head of the personnel department at Carl Zeiss in Jena, 1945–1949 member of the management team and authorized representative of the Zeiss Foundation. Honorary citizen of the city of Jena .

Life

Schomerus comes from an old family from northwest Germany. After his youth in East Friesland he studied law and economics in Göttingen , Berlin, Leipzig and Tübingen. During his studies in Göttingen he became a member of the 1895 Schwarzenburg Bund - connection Burschenschaft Germania . Very early on he was characterized by a special interest in social policy. 1901–1903 he took over the position of managing director at the newly created Hamburger Volksheim. He then went on a study trip lasting several months on behalf of the Delmenhorst entrepreneur Carl Lahusen in order to gain information on the situation of industrial workers in England and the USA. However, Schomeru's efforts to induce Lahusen to engage in concrete social reform efforts were unsuccessful.

In 1906 Schomerus became head of the personnel department at the Carl Zeiss Foundation in Jena. There he worked on the preservation and further development of Ernst Abbe's socio-political legacy . In Jena he also developed a lively commitment to local and empire politics. From 1914 to 1933 he was a member of the city council and chairman of the faction of the German Democratic Party, as well as a member of the city's finance and construction committee. Until 1933 he wrote in the "Jenaer Volksblatt" commentaries on local and imperial politics. In addition, he was active in numerous local and regional committees. B. 1919 to the founders of the Thuringian Adult Education Center. Schomerus consistently took a stand in favor of the Weimar Republic and was a member of the Reichsbanner .

In 1933, when the National Socialists came to power , he was relieved of his position as head of the personnel department, as well as almost all of his public offices. Within Carl-Zeiss, he has now been entrusted with less exposed tasks. As a member of the board of the Carl-Zeiss-Siedlungsgemeinschaft he was responsible for the construction of 920 own homes and 240 apartments.

After the occupation of Jena by the American troops, Schomerus was reinstated in his position as personnel manager. After the Americans had cleared Thuringia and took away essential parts of both the management and the company's documents, he was part of the new management team and at the same time was an authorized representative of the Carl Zeiss Foundation. In the year of the Soviet dismantling of the Zeiss works (1946), Schomerus became a member of the LDP parliamentary groups both in the Jena city council and in the Thuringian state parliament in Weimar . Political pressure finally forced him to resign from all positions in 1949. The Carl-Zeiss company, which had meanwhile been converted to VEB , retired in the same year.

Friedrich Schomerus died in 1963 at the age of 87.

Bibliography (selection)

Own writings

The index of the writings of Friedrich Schomerus comprises 73 titles as well as numerous articles in daily newspapers.

  • Workers' welfare institutions in Holland, in: Der Arbeiterfreund 3 (1900).
  • The free interest groups for trade and industry and their influence on legislation and administration, in: Yearbook for legislation, administration and economics in the German Reich (1901), pp. 57-138.
  • The small trade, in particular the baker's, confectioner's and butcher's trade, processed monographically and statistically. Diss., Kohlhammer-Verlag, Stuttgart 1902.
  • The student and the social question, in: Basic questions from the Schwarzburgbund 3 (1902).
  • The employment relationship in the Jena Zeisswerk. A report. Jena 1906; 8th edition 1936.
  • History of the Jena Zeisswerk 1846–1946. Piscator Verlag, Stuttgart 1952.
  • Becoming and essence of the Carl Zeiss Foundation, based on letters and documents from the time it was founded (1886–1896). G. Fischer Verlag, Jena 1940; 2nd edition Stuttgart 1955.

Literature on Schomerus

  • Johann Gerhard Schomerus, History of the Schomerus Family , Part 3, Münster 1968, p. 66; Part 4, Münster 1969, pp. 178-184.
  • German Biographical Archive II
  • Ralf Springer: Biographical studies of the social reformer and politician Friedrich Schomerus (1876–1963) . Oldenburg 2003.
  • Ralf Springer: On behalf of Carl Lahusen. "... to look at everything yourself ...". Investigations of the social secretary Friedrich Schomerus in England 1903/04 , in: Delmenhorster Springer, Heimatjahrbuch 2008. Travel pictures. Isensee, Oldenburg 2007. pp. 23-44.
  • Lambert Grolle: Friedrich Riclef Schomerus. His Becoming and Working , in: Jena Yearbook for Technology and Industrial History (11) 2008, pp. 133–153.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.ostfriesenelandschaft.de
  2. ^ Hermann Goebel (ed.): Directory of members of the Schwarzburgbund. 8th edition, Frankfurt am Main 1930, p. 130 No. 2857.
personal data
SURNAME Schomerus, Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schomerus, Friedrich Riclef (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German manager, Member of the State Parliament in Thuringia (1946–1949)
DATE OF BIRTH January 2, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Marienhafe , East Frisia
DATE OF DEATH April 20, 1963
Place of death Jena