Hermann Link

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Hermann Heinrich Johannes Link (born March 19, 1879 in Wittingen ; † January 8, 1964 in Lübeck ) was a German lawyer.

education

Hermann Link was a son of Christian Friedrich Link (* March 8, 1845 in Wustrow ; † July 12, 1899 in Lübeck) and his wife Elisabeth Juliane Johanne, née Nicolai (* November 15, 1852 in Gronau ; February 2, 1927 in Lübeck ). At the age of ten he moved with his parents to Lübeck , where his father took over the St. Jürgen pharmacy . He visited the Katharineum in Lübeck and got to know Gustav Radbruch . He had a lifelong friendship with this classmate.

In 1898 Link left the Katharineum with the Abitur and attended six semesters of universities in Leipzig, Marburg, Berlin and Göttingen. In addition to studying law, he attended lectures in other fields, particularly philosophy and history. During his studies in Berlin, he also learned at the journalist college and thus prepared the basis for his later publications. In Leipzig, the historian Rudolph Sohm introduced him to Friedrich Naumann . Both encouraged him to get involved socially.

In 1903/04 Link, who did not join any party for life, belonged to Naumann's “National Social Association”. In 1902 he was awarded a Dr. jur. PhD. In his doctorate he wrote about "The position of solitary confinement in today's German penal system". He spent his time as a trainee lawyer in Lübeck. In April 1905 he passed the second state examination in law at the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg.

Work in Lübeck

From his traineeship in Lübeck, Link was particularly involved in popular education and social welfare. In 1902/03 he wrote articles for magazines with which he thematically linked to his dissertation. In it he stated that the Lübeck penal system was out of date and needed to be reformed. With that he initiated the construction of today's correctional facility in Lübeck . In addition, he was committed to a better public book and reading hall. He belonged to its sponsoring association and became a member of the board in 1903. From 1906 to 1903 he took over the chairmanship of the board. Link also worked in the library himself until Bennata Ottens took office . So he procured new books and took care of the loan.

In 1902 Link joined the Society for the Promotion of Charitable Activities . From 1905 to 1908 he was the editor of the Lübeckische Blätter . In 1904 he wrote an article for this club magazine, in which he proposed the creation of a free public legal information center for people in need who already existed in other cities. This was created in 1905, initially supported by a private association. Link took over the management of the club. From 1910 onwards, the institutions received public grants. Link thus became an official of the Lübeck city ​​and country office .

The task of the legal information center headed by Link was to protect people in need from disadvantages. She also resolved disputes and helped with social problems. These tasks were later taken over by the welfare office. Link wrote regularly about his experience for social practice . In addition, he prepared the annual reports of his institution, which were observed nationwide. In 1906 Link co-founded the "Association of German non-profit and impartial legal information centers". He took over the management himself, later worked as managing chairman and published the association magazine "Gemeinnützige Rechtsauskunft".

Link took on other duties during the First World War . This included the war welfare and the war wounded welfare. He also published a hospital newspaper. Since too few workers were available after the beginning of the war, the employers' organizations no longer resisted public employment agencies. As a result, Link's legal information center received a proof of work in the hands of the city, which was no longer controlled by employers' associations, guilds and trade unions. Link created the legal basis for a public employment agency and unemployment welfare, which from his point of view should be closely linked. So in 1918 a labor and welfare office was created, which Link managed. In 1925 they developed into the Department of Labor and Welfare under Paul Hoff with Link as president.

Change to Hanover and Dresden

As early as 1922, the Reich Labor Administration asked Link to take on a position in Berlin. Link disagreed with the order because he saw greater opportunities to be effective at the Trave. At the beginning of 1928, however, he moved to the Lower Saxony State Labor Office in Hanover and took over its management. Here he continued to follow his idea of ​​“productive unemployment welfare”, which he wanted to implement in Lübeck. This meant that the unemployed had to work for the payments made to them. They helped build the Sösetalsperre , cultivate moors and gain land in the North Sea.

Local employment offices were set up in Lower Saxony during Link's service. The labor administration was integrated into the Reich Labor Ministry . This required significantly more organizational skills, an overview of economic issues and the ability to communicate than before in Lübeck. In 1931 he was also appointed head of the Nordmark regional employment office in Hamburg. When the double burden turned out to be too great in the following year, he left the position in Hanover.

In March 1933, Link was given leave of absence. Reasons for this were not given. It was probably suspected that he was democratic. He unsuccessfully requested to be rehabilitated. Since very good practitioners were apparently needed due to the high unemployment, the National Socialists transferred Link to the Dresden employment office in 1934, which he headed until 1945. He did not join the NSDAP . Nevertheless, the head of the Saxon State Labor Office, who had learned from Link, helped him.

The air raids on Dresden on February 13 and 14, 1945 left Link's family completely without possessions. After the end of the war he was to lead the rebuilding of the Dresden labor administration. In October 1945 he went to Hamburg without a permit, where it had been signaled to him that he could again head the Landesarbeitsamt Nordmark. The British Control Commission in Berlin shared it in the spring of 1946 with the advice center for work, housing and settlement in West Germany. This was initially in Bad Oeynhausen and developed into the Central Labor Office in Lemgo . Link worked here as a ministerial director in the work area of ​​the former Reich Employment Agency and Unemployment Insurance . His service ended in March 1949.

retirement

After the end of work, Link went back to Hamburg. In 1953 he moved into his own house in Lübeck and stayed there until the end of his life. Until autumn 1954 he was still active as chairman of the association “ Pro Honore ” and in the “German Central Office for Combating Fraudulent Companies” in Hamburg. These institutions and the Association of Legal Information Centers appointed him honorary chairman.

Personality and meaning

In his work, Link always followed the basic idea of ​​a popular administration of justice and a social legal conception. He expanded the small Lübeck legal information office to become an authority for work and welfare. The effectiveness of this institution was seen as a model for other cities. In conflicts, Link was considered an impartial arbitrator. As a part-time job, he therefore worked from 1923 to 1927 for the Reich Ministry of Labor as an arbitrator in labor disputes in the districts of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Lübeck and Mecklenburg. Outside of this subject area, he was also active as an arbitrator.

family

Link was married to Elise ( Lies ) Schumacher (born November 10, 1880 in Leer ; † October 12, 1958). His wife was a daughter of Ernst Christian Schumacher (1830-1908) and his second wife Ulrike Emilie Louise Neumann (1845-1918). The Link couple had three daughters and two sons.

Honors

Link has received numerous awards for his work:

His friend Radbruch dedicated the book “Man in Law” to him, which appeared after Link's death.

literature

  • Hetta Zagarus: Dr. Hermann Link 1879-1964. In: Der Wagen 1975, pp. 136–140
  • Hartmut Freytag: Link, Hermann . In: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, pp. 246-250.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Our pharmacy , accessed on October 31, 2017. After the early death of his father, Hermann Link's brother Otto took over the pharmacy.
  2. ↑ a b Hartmut Freytag: Link, Hermann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, pp. 246-247.
  3. ^ Hermann Genzken: The Abitur graduates of the Katharineum zu Lübeck (grammar school and secondary school) from Easter 1807 to 1907. Borchers, Lübeck 1907 ( digitized ), no. 1068. Gustav Brecht was his fellow high school graduate alongside Radbruch
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Hartmut Freytag: Link, Hermann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, p. 247.
  5. ↑ a b c d Hartmut Freytag: Link, Hermann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, p. 248.
  6. ↑ President Dr. jur. Hermann Link: Senator Hoff †. In: Lübeckische Blätter , Volume 70, No. 5, Edition of January 29, 1928, pp. 77-78.
  7. ↑ Hartmut Freytag: Link, Hermann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, pp. 248-249.
  8. ↑ a b c Hartmut Freytag: Link, Hermann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, p. 249.
personal data
SURNAME Link, Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Link, Hermann Heinrich Johannes (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Wittingen
DATE OF DEATH January 8, 1964
Place of death Lübeck