Trade union freedom federation against the swastika

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The Union Freedom Association against the Swastika was founded in May 1940 on the proposal of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) through a corresponding appeal by Walter Auerbach .

It was needed as the organizational backbone for the planned broadcaster of the European revolution so that it could act as a representation of all German workers in Great Britain and the former German trade unionists.

As the ITF had already worked closely in the past with the ISK , SAP and Neu Beginnen groupings represented in the Socialist Working Group , but had reservations about the London representation of the free workers ', salaried employees and civil servants' unions , which are close to the Sopade and which acted as representatives of the Foreign representation of German trade unionists (ADG) looked at, an action group called the Union Freedom Association against the Swastika (GFgH) was founded to avoid disagreements with the other trade union groups.

The GFgH went public with a May appeal. The appeal was published in the magazine "Zukunft" and brought to Germany via message in a bottle, balloons and railroad cars. Excerpts of the appeal were broadcast on the BBC and on Radio Strasbourg .

In addition, the International Department of the Labor Party was informed of the establishment and an application was made to the Chairman of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and Trades Union Congress (TUC), Walter Citrine , for official recognition by the ITUC.

At that point in time, the GFgH was more of a promise than a reality. Because the attack by German troops in Western Europe had severed all connections between the GFgH and the continent.

In addition, since June 1940, with a few exceptions, all political refugees had been interned in Great Britain.

After the deputy general secretary of the IGB Georg Stolz had signaled that an agreement with the ADG would be necessary for the recognition of the GFgH and that an authoritative body was also interested in the question of trade union unity, Hans Gottfurcht became a representative of the illegal employee groups on the committee of the GFgH, which in January 1941 included Auerbach and Hans Jahn for the ITF, Fritz Eberhard for the Independent Socialist Union (USG) and Erwin Schoettle von Neu Beginnen for the miners.

This gave rise to the National Group of German Trade Unionists (LDG) in Great Britain in February 1941 , which set itself the task of organizing all German workers in Great Britain and the former German trade unionists. In contrast to the ADG, the LDG had given up the claim to represent the former German trade unionists as a legal entity abroad.

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