Institute for the common good

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The Institute for Common Welfare in Frankfurt am Main was founded around 1890 by the Frankfurt industrialist and patron Wilhelm Merton and converted into a GmbH in 1896 . This institution should bring together the private and municipal initiatives in the field of foundation and poor welfare and at the same time serve the scientific research and publication of social problems of industrial society . From this institute and with its start-up help, important institutions for charitable welfare and social science in Germany emerged (e.g. the Central Office for Private Welfare and the Academy for Social and Commercial Sciences ). Last but not least, impulses for the establishment and organization of the University of Frankfurt, today's Johann Wolfgang Goethe University , came from here.

Founding history

With industrialization in the course of the 19th century and the associated growth of an industrial proletariat , social inequality worsened. The solution of the so-called social question posed a practical as well as theoretical problem and a challenge for politics and science. In social policy practice, the existing welfare system , which consisted of a large number of uncoordinated communal institutions and private foundations working side by side, proved itself to be facing the new tasks only insufficiently grown. This explains the intense efforts to standardize and reorganize, especially poor relief in the second half of the century.

In what was then still the Free City of Frankfurt am Main , great efforts were made in the social field even before 1866. Already in 1881 a memorandum was published by the then Lord Mayor of Frankfurt , Johannes Miquel , which called for the establishment of a central body that should direct the municipal welfare institutions and involve the private foundations, at least by providing information. Especially in Frankfurt, where there was no lack of wealthy citizens with a sense of community, there was a richly developed foundation system. The insight into the necessity that the Frankfurt welfare landscape had to be reformed in order to remedy the social grievances prompted the well-known industrialist and patron Wilhelm Merton to found an institution that was to coordinate private and municipal initiatives in the foundation and poor sector. Furthermore, the institute to be founded should stimulate and promote scientific research projects and publications on welfare and social policy . Merton also had a long-term educational goal. The professionalization of social work should be promoted through the connection of scientific competence and practical professional qualification.

Under its managing director Andreas Heinrich Voigt , who later became the first professor for economics and social sciences at the University of Frankfurt , which emerged from the "Institute for Common Welfare", the "Academy for Social and Commercial Sciences" and other foundations, the institute soon developed into a successful one Social facility and research facility. In 1896, the year it was officially founded, Merton provided it with an initial capital stock of 500,000 marks and converted it into a GmbH .

Work and impact history

The Institute for the Common Welfare initially saw its task primarily as collecting materials and experience for further research into poor relief and charity . This resulted in an extensive, constantly expanding file archive on social support cases. Right from the start, great attention was paid to housing. So the institute initiated z. B. an inquiry on the economic conditions of land using the example of Berlin . Further investigations looked at the living conditions of industrial workers; Observers from the institute followed B. the course of workers' strikes and took part in meetings and conferences. Merton himself obliged the staff of the institute to constantly observe a certain branch of industry and economy, especially to keep in close contact with the people concerned.

In addition to own publications, another important task was to promote relevant publication organs. One of the first measures under the management of Andreas Voigt consisted in the merger of socio-political organs into the journal Soziale Praxis , which received great attention and formed a forum for scientifically sound social policy . A social policy office set up in Berlin in 1904 took over the editing.

The institute usually had a coordinating effect and was an initiator and sponsor of new social institutions. Even if they continued to develop independently, the institute mostly remained connected to them in terms of personnel and financial participation. These facilities included: B. an "information center for workers' affairs", from which a legal information center and the "social museum" developed. The extensive collection of relevant pamphlets and other documents built up there was transferred to the Institute for Economics at the University of Frankfurt in 1928.

With the participation of numerous Frankfurt citizens, the Institute for Common Good gave the impetus to found the " Central for private welfare " in 1899 , which initially acted as an examination office for support issues. Especially in the time of crisis during and after the First World War , the institute and its affiliated institutions played an important role in dealing with the social emergencies of war victims, the unemployed as well as children and young people. Some of the foundings of the Institute for Common Welfare merged into existing organizations, while others continued to exist independently for a long time. In 1908, the institute's efforts in the field of occupational safety led to the establishment of an institute for industrial hygiene, which was merged into the German Society for Occupational Safety. Merton and his institute were also involved in founding the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Occupational Physiology in 1913.

The need to create a practical scientific education for businesspeople, engineers and senior administrative officials led, after a few intermediate stages, in 1901 to the establishment of the Academy for Social and Commercial Sciences in Frankfurt am Main, a preliminary stage to the University of Frankfurt. Employees of the Institute for Common Welfare took on teaching positions at the academy (according to the previous managing director Andreas Heinrich Voigt; Philipp Stein was his successor as head of the institute) and later became professors at the university. The establishment of the University of Frankfurt would hardly be conceivable without the preparatory work of the Institute for Common Welfare and the Academy for Social and Commercial Sciences. Ultimately, it is thanks to the successful cooperation of Wilhelm Mertons with the Mayor of Frankfurt Franz Adickes and the placement of the staff of the institute and the academy.

In 1899, Wilhelm Merton had transferred 30% of the institute's capital to the city of Frankfurt with a view to founding the academy in order to secure the institute's independence. When he died in 1916, the remaining 70% of his private capital invested in the institute went to a trust company which he had founded for this purpose. The inflation of the interwar period reduced the institute's capital, so that in 1924 a capital stock of 500,000 Reichsmarks had to be set again.

The scientific interests of the director of the Central for Private Welfare, Wilhelm Polligkeit , determined the activities of the institute from now on. Many initiatives to modernize the welfare system such as B. the introduction of the professional guardianship and the youth court assistance went from him.

In the 1930s, the Institute for the Common Good and all of the institutions it sponsored came under increasing pressure from the National Socialists and their policy of harmonization . The Jewish origin of the founding Merton family in particular posed a threat to the continued existence of the institute, which was to be liquidated by the National Socialist People's Welfare . The management of the Institute for Common Welfare tried to save its existence by adapting it. Nevertheless, the Centrale for private welfare had to be abandoned in 1937. In the same year, the assets of the trust company had been transferred to Wilhelm Merton's son Richard Merton , who had been managing director of the institute until then. In 1938, under pressure from the National Socialists , Richard Merton had to give up the management of the institute and his chairmanship of the metal company . Before he was forced to emigrate to England in 1938, Richard Merton transferred his 70% stake in the institute, which he owned, to his step-sons, the Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein. However, they had to cede their shares to the city of Frankfurt am Main by order of the National Socialists. After Richard Merton's return from exile , this step was reversed.

The possibilities of the Institute for Common Welfare were limited after the Second World War , as the capital stock was reduced to 150,000 DM as a result of the currency reform . After all, the reconstruction of the Central Office for Private Welfare and the German Society for Occupational Safety could be supported with considerable funds. The expansion of the University of Frankfurt was also promoted through start-up financing for chairs, scholarships and research projects. According to the sponsorship agreement, the institute has a seat on the Grand Council of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University .

Since Richard Merton's death in 1960, the private capital shares in the Institute for Common Welfare have been owned by his stepson Casimir Johannes Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg .

literature

  • Hans Achinger: Wilhelm Merton and his time . Frankfurt 1965
  • Dieter Eckhardt: "Social institutions are children of their time ...". From the Central for Private Welfare to the Institute for Social Work . Frankfurt 1999