Heinrich Meister

Members of the SAPD parliamentary group in the Reichstag in 1889. (seated from the left: Georg Schumacher , Friedrich Harm , August Bebel , Heinrich Meister and Karl Frohme . Standing: Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Dietz , August Kühn , Wilhelm Liebknecht , Karl Grillenberger , and Paul Singer )

Heinrich Ernst August Meister (born October 2, 1842 in Hildesheim , † April 5, 1906 in Hanover ) was a German trade unionist and social democratic politician.

Origin and occupation

The son of a professional musician first attended the community school in Hildesheim and graduated with a tertiary degree. He then did an apprenticeship as a bookbinder and paper processor. However, from 1860 to 1885 Meister worked as a cigar maker in a factory in Hanover. There he rose to the position of foreman. Then he was an independent cigar manufacturer until his death.

labor union

In 1865, Meister was one of the founders of the General German Cigar Workers' Union . From 1867 to 1873 he was vice chairman of the organization. From 1882 to 1905 he was chairman of the central association committee of the free trade union tobacco workers' association .

Political party

Politically, in 1867 he was the founder and leading figure of the General German Workers' Association in Hanover. During the Socialist Law from 1878 he was the leading social democratic functionary of the SAP in the province of Hanover . In 1887 and 1890, Meister was a member of the central social democratic election commission. From 1891 to 1906 he was the chairman of the SPD control commission.

Mandates

In the years 1877, 1878 and 1881 Meister ran in vain for a seat in the Reichstag . In 1884, because of the election recommendation of the National Liberals, Meister succeeded in a runoff against the secret government councilor Dr. Brüel from the Welf Party to win the Reichstag seat for Hanover for the first time. Until 1906 he represented the constituency of Hanover 8 in the Reichstag. From 1884 to 1906 he was a member of the parliamentary group's executive committee and was at times its cashier.

Tomb in the Stöcken cemetery

Commemoration

After his death, the social democratic electoral association Linden Meister donated a tomb in the Stöcken city cemetery with the inscription “ The tireless champion for the rights of the proletariat. "

literature

• WB Heinrich Meister † . In: The True Jacob . No. 516 of May 1, 1906, p. 5018 digitized
• * Hermann Meister . In: Franz Osterroth : Biographical Lexicon of Socialism . Deceased personalities . Vol. 1. JHW Dietz Nachf., Hanover 1960, p. 221.
• Wolfgang Schröder : Master, Heinrich Ernst August . In: History of the German labor movement. Biographical Lexicon . Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1970, s. 324-325
• Franz Osterroth, Dieter Schuster: Chronicle of the German social democracy. Volume 1: Until the end of the First World War . Bonn and Berlin 1975.
• Wolfgang Starke:  Master, Heinrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-428-00197-4 , p. 725 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

• Heinrich Meister's biography . In: Wilhelm H. Schröder : Social Democratic Parliamentarians in the German Reich and Landtag 1876–1933 (BIOSOP)
• Biography of Heinrich Ernst August Meister . In: Heinrich Best : database of the members of the Reichstag of the Empire 1867/71 to 1918 (Biorab - Kaiserreich)
• Information on hannover.de
• Heinrich Meister in the database of members of the Reichstag