Helene Weber
Helene Weber (born March 17, 1881 in Elberfeld (today in Wuppertal ), † July 25, 1962 in Bonn ) was a German politician of the center and the CDU . She was considered "the most influential woman in the Union". She became known as a Catholic women's rights activist, from whom - the statement related to wars - often quoted comes: “The pure male state is the ruin of the peoples.” She is one of the four “ Mothers of the Basic Law ” and has the sentence “Men and women are equal ”in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Life and work
After completing secondary school at the daughter's school in Elberfeld, Helene Weber attended the teachers' seminar in Aachen from 1897 to 1900 . After several years of teaching in Haaren and Elberfeld, she studied history, philosophy and Romance studies in Bonn and Grenoble from 1905 to 1909 . There she joined the Hilaritas student association. She then went back to school as a teacher and taught at the Lyceum in Bochum and from 1911 in Cologne . She became a member of the central board of the Catholic German Women's Association and first chairwoman of the Association of Catholic Social Workers in Germany . From 1918 she was the head of the Aachen Social Women's School , which was originally founded by the Catholic German Women's Association in Cologne and which later became a department in Aachen, which in turn became the nucleus for the Catholic University of North Rhine-Westphalia that followed. In 1920 Weber became a ministerial councilor (“ lecturing council ”) in the Prussian Ministry for People's Welfare , where she headed the “Social Education” department. She was the first female ministerial advisor in Prussia. After the seizure of power of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) she was transferred on 30 June 1933 for political reasons to retire and then worked in the voluntary welfare organizations.
After the Second World War , she took over the chairmanship of the Federal Association of Catholic Welfare Women in Germany and was again deputy chairwoman of the Catholic Women's Association. After Elly Heuss-Knapp's death , she was chairwoman of the maternal recovery organization from 1952 to 1959 .
Political party
In the Weimar Republic Weber belonged to the center. In 1945 she took part in the development of the CDU. In 1948 she was co-founder of the CDU / CSU women's working group , a forerunner of today's Women's Union . From 1951 to 1958 she was chairwoman of the Women's Union.
MPs
As a member of the Weimar National Assembly , she was involved in the development of the Weimar Constitution in 1919/20 . From 1921 to 1924 she was a member of the state parliament in Prussia and then from May 1924 to 1933 a member of the Reichstag . In March 1933, together with the former Chancellor Heinrich Brüning, she was one of the minority of Center MPs who spoke out against Hitler's Enabling Act . Ultimately, however, she bowed to pressure from her parliamentary group in the Reichstag and approved the law, which paved the NSDAP 's decisive step towards power.
After the Second World War she was appointed to both appointed state parliaments of North Rhine-Westphalia . In 1947/48 Helene Weber was a member of the zone advisory board for the British zone of occupation . In 1948 she was elected to the Parliamentary Council as CDU representative in order to be one of four women involved in the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany , where she was a member of the Presidium as secretary. She is thus one of the “ mothers of the Basic Law ” and has supported the sentence “Men and women have equal rights” in the constitution.
From 1949 until her death she was a member of the German Bundestag , where she represented the constituency of Aachen-Stadt in 1949 and 1953 . Then she moved into parliament via the state list . In 1961 Helene Weber was the third oldest member of the Bundestag after Konrad Adenauer and Robert Pferdmenges .
She persistently urged Chancellor Adenauer to put at least one ministry in charge of a woman. This happened in 1961: Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt became a member of the cabinet.
Helene Weber was also a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 1950 to 1962 .
Honors
In 1929 Helene Weber received the papal cross of honor Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice . In 1930 she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Political Science Faculty of the University of Münster . In 1956 she was awarded the Great Cross of Merit with Star of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany ; five years later, the shoulder ribbon for the Great Cross of Merit with a Star followed.
Numerous educational institutions are named after Helene Weber, such as the Helene Weber Vocational College in Paderborn , the Frauenbundhaus Berlin and the Catholic family education centers Helene Weber House in Stolberg (with branches and course locations in the Aachen city region ), Gelsenkirchen and Fulda . The commercial and social care school in Bad Saulgau was also named after her.
There has also been the Helene Weber Prize since 2009 . The award announced by the Federal Ministry for Families, Seniors, Women and Youth is intended to promote the political commitment of women at the local level.
Streets that are named after Helene Weber
- Helene-Weber-Platz, a square in the Nordstadt district of Wuppertal
- Helene-Weber-Platz, square in the Cologne district of Neubrück
- Helene-Weber-Straße, street in the Vilich district of Bonn
- Helene-Weber-Allee, street in the Munich district of Neuhausen , where the headquarters of the Goethe Institute is located
- Helene-Weber-Strasse, street in the Berlin district of Rudow
- Helene-Weber-Strasse, street in Norderstedt
- Helene-Weber-Strasse, street in Laatzen
- Helene-Weber-Straße, street in the Troisdorf district of Bergheim
- Helene-Weber-Strasse, street in Datteln
- Helene-Weber-Strasse, street in Herzogenrath
- Helene-Weber-Strasse, street in Mörfelden-Walldorf
- Helene-Weber-Weg, street in Huerth
- Helene-Weber-Weg, street in the Gelsenkirchen district of Buer
- Helene-Weber-Weg, street in the Langenhagen district of Kaltenweide
- Helene-Weber-Weg, street in Enger
- Helene-Weber-Weg, street in Giessen
- Helene-Weber-Weg, street in Bad Mergentheim
- Dr.-Helene-Weber-Strasse, street in Gernsheim
- Dr.-Helene-Weber-Strasse, street in Recklinghausen
- Helene-Weber-Platz, street in the Nordstadt district of Wuppertal
- Helene-Weber-Straße, street in the Wennigs district of Degersen
- Helene-Weber-Strasse, street in Nordhorn, Bookholt district
- Helene-Weber-road, street in Brühl district Rohrhof
- Helene-Weber-Strasse, street in Vreden
Publications
- Understanding for today's youth. In: Bayerische Gemeinde- und Verwaltungszeitung, year 1927, page 385 ff.
- The profession of social worker. In: Hermann Geib (Ed.), Yearbook for Social Policy , Leipzig 1930, pages 172–177.
literature
- Eckhard Hansen, Florian Tennstedt (Eds.) U. a .: Biographical lexicon on the history of German social policy from 1871 to 1945 . Volume 2: Social politicians in the Weimar Republic and during National Socialism 1919 to 1945. Kassel University Press, Kassel 2018, ISBN 978-3-7376-0474-1 , p. 213 f. ( Online , PDF; 3.9 MB).
- Helene Weber - Contributions to a biography
- Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth: Mothers of the Basic Law, brochure, 2018
- Konrad Fuchs : Weber, Helene. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 13, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-072-7 , Sp. 404-405.
Web links
- Literature by and about Helene Weber in the catalog of the German National Library
- Helene Weber in the database of members of the Reichstag
- Sven Trösch, Regina Haunhorst: Helene Weber. Tabular curriculum vitae in the LeMO ( DHM and HdG )
- The Parliamentary Council: Helene Weber extensive presentation of the House of History Foundation
- Helene Weber, Federal Agency for Political Education
- Helene Weber Prize
- Helene Weber Research College
- Helene Weber at KAS
Individual evidence
- ↑ Die Zeit from October 18, 2018, p. 18 history, "We too!", On the history of the right to vote by Hedwig Richter
- ↑ German History, Basic Law and Parlementary Council, Helene Weber , website Federal Agency for Civic Education
- ↑ A female lecturing council. In: Viennese latest news. Sunday and Monday newspaper / Viennese latest news. Independent Monday newspaper / Viennese latest news. Independent organ / Vienna Latest News. Monday morning sheet / New Monday sheet / New Monday sheet. Sport vom Sonntag / Wiener Montagblatt. Sport from Sunday , August 16, 1920, p. 5 (online at ANNO ).
- ^ Official retirement in Prussia. In: Neues Wiener Journal , September 9, 1933, p. 2 (online at ANNO ).
- ^ Helene Weber at the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Weber, Helene |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German politician (center, CDU), MdR, MdL |
DATE OF BIRTH | March 17, 1881 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Elberfeld (Wuppertal) |
DATE OF DEATH | July 25, 1962 |
Place of death | Bonn |