Horst Wagner (politician)

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Horst Wagner (born April 21, 1931 in Berlin-Wedding ; † May 21, 2011 in Berlin ) was a German trade union leader and politician .

Life and work

After completing elementary school, Horst Wagner successfully completed an apprenticeship as an industrial clerk in a Berlin metalworking company from 1945 to 1948. In retirement (1995) he continues to dedicate himself to his numerous cultural interests with great commitment. Since 1991 he has been at the head of the “ Haus am Lützowplatz ” sponsorship group, which he co-founded in 1963 . The artist institution came into being with the help of Günter Grass and Wolfgang Neuss . The widower lived in Ruhleben, in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district, and had three grown sons.

In 2008 he suffered a stroke . Since October 2010, his health has steadily deteriorated, and in January 2011 he was diagnosed with severe dementia. Horst Wagner lived in his house until his death. In March 2011 he married the artistic director of the “Haus am Lützowplatz” gallery.

Grave of Horst Wagner in the Heerstraße cemetery in Berlin-Westend

Horst Wagner died one month after his 80th birthday on May 21, 2011 in Berlin. The burial took place in the state-owned cemetery Heerstraße in Berlin-Westend (grave location: 18-L-198a).

The Governing Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit , recognized Horst Wagner's services posthumously: “Horst Wagner was a trade unionist and social democrat of the old school. He fought with great commitment, perseverance and expertise in many political and social offices and functions for the interests of the so-called common people and for the goals of social justice. "

The world valued Horst Wagner's life's work as early as 2002: “His influence always went further than his public appearance suggested. Horst Wagner was the strong man in IG Metall Berlin for three and a half decades until 1995 and in between until the beginning of 1991 was the SPD Senator for Labor, Transport and Businesses in the 22-month red-green Senate Momper. The motto still applies to him today: 'Be more than seem.' The powerful union leader, who also sat on the supervisory boards of Siemens, Osram, Orenstein & Koppel and Neue Heimat, preferred a calm, matter-of-fact and straightforward working style. Anyone who had anything to do with him was always well advised not to get this wrong. Former negotiating partners of Wagner say that he was able to pursue his goals very energetically, sometimes relentlessly ”.

Political party

Horst Wagner joined the SPD as early as 1950 and worked actively in various functions for decades. As a spokesman for economic policy, he was deputy leader of the SPD parliamentary group from 1983 to 1989. From 1989 to 1991 Wagner was Senator for Transport in the Berlin Senate .

MP

In June 1981 Wagner was directly elected to the House of Representatives for the Neukölln district.

In 1989 in Berlin, which was still divided at the time, a coalition of SPD and alternatives formed the Senate under the leadership of Walter Momper . In this Senate, Wagner was Senator for Labor, Transport and Enterprises from 1989 to 1991. His measures with regard to Tempo 100 on the AVUS, Tempo 30 in residential areas and the introduction of bus lanes on Kurfürstendamm were considered controversial at the time. Today these transport policy model projects have achieved a high level of acceptance. After the Berlin Wall opened , he enthusiastically organized the collaboration with East Berlin's own companies and managed to link the transport network in his hometown, which had been separate for 28 years.

During his term of office, the Labor Market Policy Framework Program (ARP) was also developed, in which tried and tested instruments for integrating the unemployed into the primary labor market were creatively further developed.

After the early elections on December 2, 1990, Wagner left the Senate.

labor union

In 1947 he joined the metal industry union as the youngest full-time trade union official . From 1980 to 1989 he was the first authorized representative (managing director) to head their Berlin (West) administrative office. On the occasion of his 40th anniversary in the service, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class, for his longstanding trade union work.

On October 9, 1990, the IG Metall board of directors elected Horst Wagner to head the newly founded Berlin / Brandenburg district. From January 1, 1991 until he retired in April 1995, he devoted himself to the diverse tasks of the reunification of the unions in East and West.

literature

  • Werner Breunig, Andreas Herbst (ed.): Biographical handbook of the Berlin parliamentarians 1963–1995 and city councilors 1990/1991 (= series of publications of the Berlin State Archives. Volume 19). Landesarchiv Berlin, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-9803303-5-0 , p. 382.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ District Office Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf of Berlin: Prominent graves in the state-owned cemetery Heerstrasse . Notice in the cemetery. As of November 2012. Read on December 3, 2019.
  2. ↑ Wowereit recognizes Wagner's services ( memento from February 10, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), accessed on May 25, 2011.
  3. ↑ What does the former strong man of IG Metall Horst Wagner actually do . In: Die Welt December 30, 2002.
  4. ↑ Grief - Former Transport Senator Horst Wagner is dead . In: Berliner Morgenpost May 26, 2011.
personal data
SURNAME Wagner, Horst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German trade unionists and politicians (SPD), MdA
DATE OF BIRTH April 21, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin-Wedding
DATE OF DEATH May 21, 2011
Place of death Berlin