Josef Rudnick

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Josef Rudnick (born May 25, 1917 in Sichts , Schlochau district ; † July 14, 2009 in Rheine ) was a German entrepreneur and politician ( CDU ). He was the founder of the textile company Josef Rudnick GmbH & Co. KG in Rheine and has earned merit primarily through his commitment to the Catholic Church in Poland and to German-Polish relations . As a local politician , he was one of the most important personalities of the CDU in the Steinfurt district .

Career

Josef Rudnick comes from the province of West Prussia . Born in Sichts in the Schlochau district , he grew up in Deutsch Krone in the Deutsch Krone district . He was active in church youth work from an early age and founded new Catholic youth groups during the Nazi era in 1935 and 1936. Although the Catholic youth work was basically covered by the Reich Concordat, Rudnick found himself exposed to strong political pressure from the NSDAP , including house searches and interrogations by the Gestapo .

After serving in the Second World War and being a prisoner of war , he arrived penniless in Rheine as a displaced person. From 1945 to 1949 he headed the youth welfare office of the city of Rheine, but then went into business for himself in 1950 with a shirt sewing shop . Rudnick initially created jobs primarily for displaced persons in the then structurally weak Münsterland . From humble beginnings, Josef Rudnick GmbH & Co. KG, a textile company, emerged in 1953 , which developed into one of the leading shirt and blouse manufacturers in the Federal Republic with 1500 employees. As early as the 1960s and 1970s, Rudnick established economic contacts with companies in what was then the Eastern Bloc, particularly with the Polish shirt factory Wolczanka SA in Łódź . For reasons of age, the shirt manufacturer sold his company to Rudolf Maune on April 1, 1992. The subsequent decline of the company, which finally had to close in 1996, as a result of which many people lost their jobs, deeply affected Rudnick.

Josef Rudnick died on July 14, 2009, four weeks after the death of his wife. He found his final resting place on July 18, 2009 in the Catholic cemetery in Königsesch in Rheine.

Political commitment

After his return from captivity and expulsion from his West Prussian homeland, Josef Rudnick campaigned for the democratic development of the city of Rheine, the Münsterland and the entire British occupation zone . He founded the Junge Union in Rheine and in the Steinfurt district and was its local and district chairman until 1951. He played a key role in founding the Westphalian regional association of the Junge Union and in the merger of the regional associations in the British zone and the founding of the Junge Union Deutschlands on November 19, 1947 in Königstein .

He was also a co-founder of the CDU in Rheine and in the Steinfurt district, and was a member of the Rheine City Council and the district council from 1949 to 1953. For almost 30 years he was a board member in the CDU district association Steinfurt.

In 1970, Rudnick established the CDU Economic Council in Rheine and the Steinfurt district and was its chairman for more than 25 years. Since 1975 he has also been a member of the full board and from 1983 to 1995 the board of trustees of the Federal Economic Council. In addition, as a member of the Association of Catholic Entrepreneurs , the convinced Catholic campaigned for the implementation of the principles of Catholic social teaching in economic life.

Commitment to the Church in Poland and the city of Łódź

Josef Rudnick always campaigned for international understanding , especially between Germany and Poland, and supported humanitarian aid projects in Eastern Europe . For decades he campaigned for the Catholic Church in Poland and especially for the city of Łódź . During the martial law period in the early 1980s , he provided the people there with a variety of help and organized food transports to Poland. In Łódź, he also made significant contributions to the construction of the Church of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy and supported the Carmelite monastery there.

Appreciations

Josef Rudnick has received several awards for his diverse social commitment. In 1993 he received the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia . The Ludwig Erhard Foundation honored him with the Ludwig Erhard Medal for services to the social market economy . For his humanitarian commitment to the people in Eastern Europe, Poland was one of the first foreign business representatives to award him the Order of Merit in Gold of the People's Republic of Poland in 1987 . The city of Łódź made him an honorary citizen . In 2002 Pope John Paul II awarded him the Pope's Commemorative Medal for his commitment to the Church in Poland.

literature

  • Franz Greiwe: Festschrift for the 25th anniversary of the Josef Rudnick GmbH & Co. KG laundry factory on December 8, 1978 . Published by the linen factory Josef Rudnick, Rheine 1978, 38 pp.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f Ulrich Breulmann: Josef Rudnick (92) has died , obituary in Münstersche Zeitung from July 15, 2009; Retrieved July 18, 2009
  2. a b c N.N .: Josef Rudnick is dead ( memento of the original from November 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Münsterländische Volkszeitung from July 15, 2009; Retrieved July 18, 2009  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mv-online.de
  3. -tl-: Rudnick is a man with a big heart , In: Münsterländische Volkszeitung from December 6, 2002 ( online version in the local archive of westline.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically defective Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this note .; accessed on July 18, 2009)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.westline.de  
  4. ^ Obituary of the CDU-Stadtunion Rheine ; Retrieved July 18, 2009
  5. Obituary of the CDU district association Steinfurt ( Memento of the original from July 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Retrieved July 18, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cdu-kreis-steinfurt.de
  6. Obituary of the CDU district association Steinfurt ( Memento of the original from July 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Retrieved July 18, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cdu-kreis-steinfurt.de
  7. -tl-: Rudnick is a man with a big heart , In: Münsterländische Volkszeitung from December 6, 2002 ( online version in the local archive of westline.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically defective Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this note .; accessed on July 18, 2009)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.westline.de