Hans Godfear

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hans Gottfurcht (born February 7, 1896 , † September 18, 1982 ) was a German and international trade union official. In 1941 he was the founder of the national group of German trade unionists in Great Britain .

Life

Godfeart came from a Jewish family and learned a commercial profession in the textile industry. In 1913 he became a member of the SPD and the Central Association of Employees (ZdA).

From 1919 to 1933 he was a full-time trade union officer, most recently as Gauleiter of the ZdA in Berlin . After the smashing of the German trade unions on May 2, 1933, he began working as an insurance agent, which enabled him to set up an illegal trade union organization in Saxony , Thuringia and Silesia . In July 1937 he was arrested by the Gestapo .

In 1938 he managed to escape from Germany via Amsterdam to London. There Godfear joined the Labor Party . In 1940 he tried to influence the British government's plans for Germany policy through his party and trade union contacts. After a brief internment as an "enemy foreigner", he founded the national group of German trade unionists in Great Britain in early 1941 . In the function of the state group spokesman, he worked, among other things, in the Union of German Socialist Organizations in Great Britain . He was one of the co-editors of the union program for post-war Germany that the regional group had been working on since late summer 1943.

As a representative of the illegally active groups of German salaried workers' trade unionists , Gottfurcht was active in the management committee of the Union Freedom League against the swastika . Later he also became a member of the social democratic working group “Germany and Europe after the War” and broadcaster in the German-language program of the BBC .

After 1945 Godfeart lived in Brussels and was deputy chairman of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).

literature

  • Ursula Bitzegeio: Beyond party and national borders: Hans Gottfurcht (1896–1982) and the union organization of the employees. Dietz-Verlag, Bonn 2009.
  • Gerhard Beier : Hans Gottfurcht. Worker diplomat from the white-collar movement. In: Gerhard Beier: shoulder to shoulder, step by step: CVs of German trade unionists. Cologne 1983, p. 73 ff.
  • Hans Gottfurcht: The international trade union movement from the beginning to the present. Cologne 1966.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Godliness, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German trade unionists and resistance fighters
DATE OF BIRTH February 7, 1896
DATE OF DEATH September 18, 1982