Heinrich Brauer (functionary)

Jacob Ludwig Heinrich Brauer (born January 19, 1874 , † August 29, 1950 in Hamburg ) was the founder of the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund in Hamburg.

Work in Hamburg

The place of birth, life and other biographical information about Heinrich Brauer are almost unknown beyond his work in the Diakonie.

In Hamburg, Brauer was initially involved in the militarily organized, politically conservative German Red Cross (DRK). The aid organization, which did not sympathize with the labor movement, looked after soldiers injured in the war in particular. After DRK President Bodo von dem Knesebeck had resolutely opposed helping at events of the SPD and the trade unions that the DRK rejected, Brauer left the Red Cross with about 20 other people. Those who had left, all of whom also belonged to the Free Gymnastics Association, decided to create their own column of Samaritan workers in Hamburg. A call for a meeting of interested comrades-in-arms in a restaurant in Hamburg's Neustadt was published in the Hamburger Echo . About 50 people attended the event on August 5, 1907, among them several doctors, who pursued social goals. They formed a commission that prepared an inaugural meeting that took place on August 21, 1907. Heinrich Brauer, who had informed the SPD and trade unions accordingly before the meeting, took over the chairmanship of the newly founded aid organization.

The Arbeiter-Samariterbund (ASB) deliberately distinguished itself from the DRK. The primary goal of the members was to help the injured "on the labor battlefield". By this they understood people who had suffered injuries in industrial accidents. They also wanted to monitor compliance with health and safety regulations. They promised the SPD and the trade unions support at larger events. Shortly after it was founded, the ASB trained many volunteers and grew quickly. In May, he organized an information session attended by 500 people on the causes of diseases in factory workers. In 1911 the organization trained 2,706 helpers, most of whom worked on a voluntary basis in 12,387 accidents. At Easter 1912 the ASB in Hamburg had 48 columns in which 3107 helpers worked.

After the First World War , the ASB increased its range of assistance and organized home nursing care together with the workers' welfare organization. He also kept accident watchmen in several parts of the city and provided needy children with food and recreational measures. The aid organization experienced repeated attacks from right-wing extremists and communists, but still helped 20 seriously wounded members of both groups who attacked each other at Hamburg-Harburg train station after the Kapp Putsch . Another notable operation came on May 20, 1928 after the explosion of an iron tank filled with poisonous phosgene on the Veddel , which resulted in twelve deaths. The ASB cared for more than 100 injured people.

During the time of National Socialism , the National Socialists dissolved the ASB and merged it with the DRK. They confiscated the association's assets. After the end of World War II , Heinrich Brauer, Hermann Steuerjohann and other former members of the ASB contacted the Danish Samaritan Association, which helped to re-establish the ASB in Hamburg. At the first meeting on May 21, 1949 in Wandsbek , more than 100 visitors elected brewers as first chairman. The association offered emergency services in the event of accidents in companies and in traffic and medical services in sport and politics. In addition, association members gave lectures on occupational accident prevention, birth control and sexual hygiene. In 1950, the mostly voluntary members provided 35,000 hours of work. They provided help in 5,000 cases, took over 120 ambulance transports and gave nine training courses and medical lectures.

Working in the federal association of the ASB

In addition to his work in Hamburg, Brauer took part in the national organization of the ASB. In 1909 he took part in the founding assembly of the ASB Federal Association in Magdeburg . On lecture tours through the German Reich , he tried to spread the idea of ​​the ASB with "agitation lectures ". He also played a key role in important political initiatives. This included a petition to the Reich Insurance Office and the Reichstag with the aim of improving the sanitation in factories.

In 1912 Brauer took part in the Bundestag of the ASB, which took place in Hamburg. He submitted a successful application to bring all workers 'aid and sports organizations together in a "Central Commission for Workers' Sports and Personal Care". The ASB initially participated in the commission, against which the affiliated doctors protested violently because they did not want to be organized in an association with alternative practitioners who were not considered medically recognized at the time. Brauer then expressly agreed that the ASB should leave the commission and only re-enter in 1919.

After the end of the First World War , Brauer changed his attitude due to the changed social and political circumstances. Since he wanted to preserve the political neutrality of the ASB, he refused to cooperate with the labor movement and organized the aid organization tightly and centralistically, with which he decisively influenced their further work. The realignment, however, did not change the fact that Social Democrats and union members were by far the strongest group in the ASB.

literature

• Bodo Schümann: Brewer, Heinrich . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 6 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8353-1025-4 , p. 44-46 .