Kate Selbmann

Käte Selbmann , née Käte Müller (born February 17, 1906 in Berlin ; † April 5, 1962 there ) was a German communist and SED functionary. At times she was a candidate for the SED Central Committee and from 1950 to 1954 she was a member of the People's Chamber . She was married to Fritz Selbmann .

Life

After attending a lyceum, she completed an apprenticeship as a state-certified youth leader at the state women's schools in Droyssig and Halle . She then initially worked as a clerk and secretary. In 1923 she became a member of the Communist Youth Association of Germany (KJVD), and in 1929 she joined the KPDa. In the same year she was appointed director of the municipal children's home in Leipzig. After participating in a jobless demonstration, Selbmann was dismissed from her position with the city of Leipzig in 1931. She then remained unemployed for the time being. After the KPD was banned, Selbmann could only be politically active illegally. In March 1933 she was briefly taken into protective custody by the new rulers until April 1933 . Then she worked in a cardboard box factory in Gotha . In 1935 Selbmann was arrested again and sentenced by the Dresden Higher Regional Court to 14 months in prison for preparing for high treason. She served her imprisonment in the penal institutions of Leipzig and Dresden. After she was released from custody in 1937, Selbmann was again involved in illegal activities. From 1942 to 1945 she found employment as a private teacher.

After the Second World War, Selbmann initially found employment in the KPD sub-district leadership in Gotha. After her husband Fritz Selbmann gained a foothold in Leipzig and took on responsible party functions there, Käte Selbmann was now also involved in the Saxon city. Initially, she worked in a responsible position at the Leipzig People's Solidarity . After the founding of the SED, she was in charge of the SED district of West Saxony as a consultant and later as a secretary. A little later she moved to the SED district leadership in Leipzig, where she headed a department as secretary. In 1947 Käte Selbmann, who meanwhile lived with her husband through his state ministerial post in Dresden, was one of the founders of the DFD . Subsequently, she was temporarily secretary of the German Women's Council . In 1948 she was elected 2nd chairwoman of the DFD regional executive committee for Saxony. In this function she was also a member of the DFD federal board. When Fritz Selbmann was appointed deputy chairman of the German Economic Commission in autumn 1948 , his wife went with him to Berlin. From October 1948 she worked there as a personal assistant in Walter Ulbricht's office. When Maria Weiterer , head of the women’s department in the SED party executive, was released from this position in the summer of 1949 and later expelled from the SED in the context of the Fields affair , the SED party executive entrusted Käte Selbmann with this function. On the III. At the SED party congress in July 1950, she was accordingly elected as a candidate for the SED Central Committee. The DFD put her up as a candidate for the Volkskammer elections in October 1950. Selbmann represented the women's organization until 1954 as a member of the People's Chamber. In November 1952 she was relieved of her position as head of the women’s department at the SED Central Committee because of a serious illness. In 1954 she was not re-elected to the Central Committee. Käte Selbmann died on April 5, 1962 after a long and serious illness in Berlin. Since her husband had been sidelined by the SED party leadership in 1958, the usual expressions of condolence in the party press were omitted for Käte Selbmann.

Web link

• Andreas Herbst :  Käte Selbmann . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .