Johannes Lau (politician, 1879)

Johannes Lau (born May 20, 1879 in Rostock , † November 22, 1955 in Hanover ) was a German politician ( SPD ).

Life

Johannes Lau was born the son of a worker. After attending primary school, he completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter in Rostock and then worked in the profession he had learned. He joined the union in 1897 and was managing director of the German Woodworkers ' Association from July 1906 to June 1910 , initially for a short time in Dortmund and then in Lauterberg am Harz . From 1900 to 1902 he did military service and was a member of the German expeditionary force to fight the Boxer Rebellion in the Chinese Empire . From 1914 to 1918 he took part in the First World War as a soldier and was deployed on the Western Front.

Lau joined the SPD in 1903 and worked from July 1910 to 1933 as party secretary for the Hanover district. During the November Revolution he was a member of the Soldiers' Council of the 4th Army . In December 1918 he was sent as a delegate to the First Reichsrätekongress in Berlin . After that he worked in local politics. From 1919 to 1920 he was a city ​​councilor (mayor) and from 1919 to 1924 unpaid city ​​councilor (senator) in Hanover. From 1925 to 1929 he was a member of the Hanover Provincial Parliament and at the same time a deputy member of the Provincial Committee. In 1928 he was elected as a member of the Prussian state parliament, to which he was a member until 1933. In addition, he was a member of the board of directors for the SPD district of Hanover and a member of the central party committee of the Social Democrats until 1933. In addition, from 1924 to 1933 he was Gauleiter of the Hanoverian Reich Banner Black-Red-Gold .

After the National Socialists came to power, Lau was taken into " protective custody " for several weeks in April 1933 . In June 1936 he was arrested again, taken to a remand prison and sentenced in May 1937 to four years in prison for preparation for high treason, which he had to spend in Hameln prison . From July 1940 until his liberation by British soldiers in April 1945, he was interned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp .

Lau resumed political activity in 1945. He participated in the re-establishment of the SPD, was a delegate of the Wennigs conference and from 1945 until his death a member of the district executive of the SPD Hanover. From 1946 to 1955 he was a council member of the city of Hanover.

literature

• Ernst Kienast (Ed.): Handbook for the Prussian Landtag , edition for the 5th electoral period, Berlin 1933, p. 355.
• Social Democratic Party of Germany (ed.): Committed to freedom. Memorial book of the German social democracy in the 20th century. Schüren, Marburg 2000, ISBN 3-89472-173-1 , p. 198 f.

Web links

• Biography of Johannes Lau . In: Wilhelm H. Schröder : Social Democratic Parliamentarians in the German Reich and Landtag 1876–1933 (BIOSOP)
• Johannes Lau on Hameln's story - away from the Pied Piper