Georg Käppler

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Georg Richard Käppler (born June 3, 1875 in Dresden , † September 9, 1956 in Emmershausen ) was a German bricklayer , trade unionist and long-time secretary of the construction workers' international.

Life

Georg Käppler was the son of the bricklayer Ernst Julius Käppler (1841–1895) and his wife, the worker Johanne nee Womann. After learning the mason trade, he initially worked for the masonry movement in Dresden. In 1899 Käppler married the investor Frida Weise (* 1876) in Dresden , with whom he had two children: Richard (1899–1918) and Gertrud (1901–1996).

Käppler was on the administrative board of the Central Association of Masons in Germany and on the agitation commission for East Saxony. When he was supposed to testify against 21 members of the bricklayers' association in court proceedings for a strike offense, Käppler decided, in agreement with the main board, not to obey the summons. Then Käppler came to Switzerland at the age of 30 as a non-documented foreigner to help found the association of bricklayers and henchmen, which later became the Swiss construction workers association. After it was founded in Olten in May 1906 , Käppler was employed there as a paid secretary to look after the German-speaking members. He held his office in Bern and Zurich until 1915. He was succeeded by Augusto Vuattolo . Käppler went to Hamburg to the main office of the German Construction Workers' Association , where he initially worked in the statistical and literary department. The family moved to Hamburg at Hirtenstrasse 46.

Like his predecessor Theodor Bömelburg, the chairman of the German construction workers 'association, Friedrich Paeplow, was also responsible for the construction workers' international (B.-I.). In order to relieve Paeplow, on July 1, 1919 (according to other sources, 1915) Georg Käppler was appointed as the first full-time secretary of the B.-I. set. Together with the German Construction Trade Association, which was formed in 1923 through the merger of several associations, the B.-I. on November 4, 1929 to Berlin at Friedrichstrasse 5-6. Since 1932 Frida and Georg Käppler also lived in Berlin at Barfusstraße 10.

On April 25, 1933, Käppler and his wife, who worked for B.-I. worked as a stenographer, taken into protective custody in Berlin for alleged communist agitation . The entire assets and the archives of the B.-I. were confiscated. In the run-up, the authorized representatives Franz Reichmann (1880–1941) and Augusto Vuattolo had tried in vain to find the one at the Hamburg cooperative bank for B.-I. to withdraw 86,000 Reichsmarks. The board meeting of the B.-I., originally planned by Käppler for May 4, 1933 in Berlin. was moved to Amsterdam and postponed for nine days. Georg Käppler remained the full-time secretary of the B.-I. However, since his further fate initially remained unknown, he was not re-elected. The International Federation of Construction and Woodworkers (IFBWW) only stated in 1934 that the previous secretary, Georg Käppler, would appear to have refrained from re-election .

Käppler remained in custody for a few weeks and after his release settled in a small village in Holstein. From the 1950s until his death, Käppler lived in Hamburg-Wandsbek . At a congress of the IFBWW in September 1953, its president, the British trade unionist Richard Coppock (1885–1971), praised Georg Käppler as one of the pioneers of the international trade union movement. Käppler died at the age of 81 in Emmershausen in southern Hesse, where the Bau-Steine-Erden industrial union operated a training and recreation center on the site of the former Emmershausen mill. Liver cirrhosis is given as the cause of death .

Works (selection)

  • Bauarbeiter-Internationale (magazine in four languages ​​at irregular intervals; published from July 1920 to July / December 1933)
  • Reflections on the Trade Union International. Committee of the 11th district of the ADGB. Hamburg 1924.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Anonymous (1931): From the Bauarbeiter-Internationale: Ein Jubilar. The foundation stone (Wochenblatt des Deutschen Baugewerksbund) 44 (18): Page 135.
  2. ↑ a b Death register Rod an der Weil number 14 1956.
  3. ↑ a b August Vuattolo: History of the Swiss Building and Wood Workers Association, 1873-1953. Volume 2 (The history of the associations of bricklayers and henchmen, stone and brickworkers, construction workers until 1920/21). Zurich 1955. p. 89.
  4. ^ G. Kr (1910): Association of bricklayers and henchmen in Switzerland: on the conflict in the bricklayer organization. Union Review for Switzerland (monthly of the Swiss Trade Union Confederation) Volume 2, Issue 10, Pages 204–205. doi : 10.5169 / seals-349710
  5. ↑ August Vuattolo: History of the Swiss Building and Wood Workers Association, 1873-1953. Volume 2 (The history of the associations of bricklayers and henchmen, stone and brickworkers, construction workers until 1920/21). Zurich 1955. p. 55.
  6. ↑ Hamburg address book, year 131. Verlag Hermanns Erben, Hamburg 1917.
  7. ^ Peter Rütters & Rüdiger Zimmermann: Construction workers 'unions in Germany and international associations of construction workers' associations (1869 - 2004) Protocols - Reports - Newspapers. An inventory of the library of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Publications of the library of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Vol. 16, Bonn 2005. Page 63
  8. ↑ a b c Konrad Carl & Bruno Köbele (eds.): In search of solidarity. BUND-Verlag, Cologne 1993. ISBN 978-3-7663-2519-8 . Page 67.
  9. ↑ Johannes Sassenbach : Twenty-five years of the international trade union movement. Series: International Trade Union Library, Volume 4/5. Publishing house of the International Trade Union Confederation, Amsterdam 1926. pdf
  10. ↑ Konrad Carl & Bruno Köbele (eds.): In search of solidarity. BUND-Verlag, Cologne 1993. ISBN 978-3-7663-2519-8 . Page 66.
  11. ↑ Berlin address book 1932
  12. ↑ a b Konrad Carl & Bruno Köbele (eds.): In search of solidarity. BUND-Verlag, Cologne 1993. ISBN 978-3-7663-2519-8 . Page 109.
  13. ↑ Bernard Degen: Franz Reichmann. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . August 20, 2010 , accessed January 20, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Hamburger Adressbuch, year 165. Hamburger Adressbuch-Verlag, Hamburg 1956.
personal data
SURNAME Käppler, Georg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Käppler, Georg Richard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German bricklayer, trade unionist and long-time secretary of the construction workers' international
DATE OF BIRTH June 3, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH September 9, 1956
Place of death Emmershausen