Union of homeworkers

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Stone drawing in postcard format by Helene Neumann, chairwoman of the association

The union of homeworkers existed from 1904 to 1914 in Koenigsberg, today Kaliningrad-Kaliningrad Oblast. Chairwoman and secretary was Helene Neumann (1874–1942). The organ "Die Heimarbeitin" , established by Margarete Behm and Clara Countess von Bernsorff, functioned as the organ. In 1906, the Königsberger Verein implemented the first collective bargaining agreement between the umbrella industry and homeworkers in Germany.

prehistory

At the turn of the century, the women's movement in Berlin was divided into radical and moderate associations. Among them was the Berlin club Woman Welfare and General German Women's Association (ADF) with Helene Lange (1848-1930) on the board. In the “bourgeois-conservative” Königsberg and the surrounding area, the pragmatic Königsberger Verein Frauenwohl (founded 1890) under Pauline Bohn and the “Agricultural Housewives Association” (founded 1898) under the direction of Elisabet Boehm prevailed.

Club work

The chairwoman of the association and artist Helene Neumann

Helene Neumann (1874–1942) founded in 1904, initially at her place of residence in Rauschen, today Svetlogorsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, the “Union of Homeworkers in Germany” as a regional offshoot of the association founded two years earlier by Margarete Behm (1860–1929) in Berlin. As stated in the Christian trade union , the name of the association is generally listed in the literature without the addition "Germany". In 1904 or early 1905, the club was officially relocated to Königsberg. The reason for the establishment was to support the women who were forced to work from home in the age of industrialization with regard to working hours and payment of manual labor, in order to secure their livelihood in addition to raising their children.

Organ: The homeworker 1902–1933

The organ for the supraregional associations was the union newspaper "Die Heimarbeiterin" (1902–1933) published in Berlin by Margarete Behm, with the help of Clara Countess von Bernsdorff. Initially, the subtitle of this body was: "An organ of the trade union of homeworkers in Germany for clothes and lingerie and related professions". After a few years the subtitle changed to "Organ of the Christian homeworker movement". The Königsberger Verein took part in the publication of the magazine through its own contributions.

First collective agreement for homeworkers in Germany

The union of homeworkers in Germany in Königsberg finally took on an important role with its activities compared to its predecessor in Berlin-Zehlendorf. This was shown by the fact that the first collective wage payments for homeworkers were negotiated with the umbrella industry through the association.

"With much greater joy and satisfaction we look at the collective agreements that were concluded in the second half of May 1906 through the mediation of our organization in the Königsberg umbrella industry."

From a public general meeting of the trade union in June 1906:

The first modest rest home for homeworkers in 1908 in Sassau, near Königsberg

Helene Neumann and the visiting Margarete Behm from Berlin “explained in detail how the collective bargaining agreements came about and what advantages they offer homeworkers, and they rejected all the attacks by the power of fact. An editor of the Königsberger Volkszeitung and the chairman of the umbrella employers' association - the opponents were admitted as guests to our general meeting - tried in vain to prove the opposite. "20 years later Olga Friedemann wrote :" Here in Königsberg the first tariff was implemented the German homework has ever been completed. Helene Neumann remained loyal to the work of her old friend Margarete Behm until it was dissolved by the new Germany and taken over by the German Association of Homeworkers and Housekeepers. "

The quote generally applies to almost all homeworkers' associations in Germany at the time. The Königsberg Association (from 1905) is an exception: when Helene Neumann and Olga Friedemann founded the Königsberg Housewives Association in 1914 and the First World War broke out immediately afterwards, the work in the home workers' union was taken over by the Königsberger Hausfrauenbund , so that this union was officially only 1904 to 1914 existed, but its tasks were continued unchanged under the direction of Helene Neumann in the Königsberg housewives' association.

Simultaneously with the takeover of the association into the Königsberger Hausfrauenbund, the Helene Neumann rest home in Sassau was also taken over, which was built around 1905 by Helene Neumann's father, the pathologist Ernst Christian Neumann , through a Helene Neumann Foundation.

literature

  • Helene Neumann, Margarete Behm: union of homeworkers. In: The homeworker. Organ of the Christian homeworkers movement, vol. 5, no. 1 (1905), p. 1; Note: From March 1905 Margarete Behm was the first chairwoman of the association. In: Die Heimarbeitin, vol. 5, no. 3 (1905), p. 1)
  • Helene Neumann: Trade Association of Homeworkers in Germany, local group Königsberg i.Pr. 1904 - 1914, Königsberg Handelsdruck 1914 (from Wermke: Bibliography of the History of East and West Prussia (until 1929), print 1933 No. 10.270)
  • Eberhard Neumann-Redlin von Meding : From the beginnings of East Prussian housewives' associations to the job title “Master of Housekeeping”: Pauline Bohn, Elisabet Boehm, Helene Neumann, Olga Friedemann. In: Prussia. Yearbook of the Historical Commission for East and West Prussian State Research No. 7 (2016), pp. 121–146
  • Eberhard Neumann-Redlin von Meding: From the beginnings of East Prussian “housewives' associations” to the professional title of “Master of Housekeeping”, Part 1. In: Königsberger Bürgerbrief No. 86 (2015), pp. 35–41
  • Olga Friedemann: Helene Neumann 60 years - A review and thanks . In: Ostdeutsche Hausfrauenzeitung, Vol. 9, No. 4 (1934), p. 1
  • Helene Neumann: “Helene Neumann Foundation” in Sassau . In: Ostdeutsche Hausfrauenzeitung, vol. 1, no. 12 (1912), pp. 2–3 with illustrations and floor plans of the rest home
  • Eberhard Neumann-Redlin von Meding: Elisabet Boehm (1859-1943) and Helene Neumann (1874-1942). Pioneers for the profession of "housekeeping manager" . In: Königsberger Bürgerbrief, No. 86 (2015), pp. 32–34
  • Olga Friedemann: Ways in the household job. Creation, development and implementation of home economics vocational training in Germany with the currently valid agreements and regulations. Königsberg: Sturmverlag 1934

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Home worker tariffs. In: Die Heimarbeitin, Vol. 6, No. 7 (1906), pp. 1 and 3.
  2. ^ Edited management: In: Die Heimarbeitin, vol. 6, no. 7 (1906), title page p. 1
  3. ↑ Editing: In: Die Heimarbeitin. Vol. 6, No. 7 (1906), p. 3
  4. ↑ Olga Friedemann: Helene Neumann 60 Years - A Review and Thanks, Hausfrauenzeitung, Vol. 9., No. 4 (1934), pp. 1–2