Karl Flesch

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Karl Flesch
Honorary grave of Karl Flesch in the main cemetery in Frankfurt

Karl Ferdinand Moritz Flesch (born July 6, 1853 in Frankfurt am Main ; died August 15, 1915 there ) was a Frankfurt social politician . He was a lawyer , city ​​councilor , head of the poor and orphan office and a member of the Prussian parliament.

Life

Karl Flesch was born as the youngest son of the doctor Jacob Gustav Flesch and his wife Florentine, (also called Florence) née Creizenach. Both parents came from established and respected Frankfurt families. They had been married since 1851 and converted from Jewish to Protestant in 1859 .

Flesch first attended the model school in Frankfurt, then today's Lessing-Gymnasium and graduated from high school in 1872 . He studied law in Heidelberg and Berlin and graduated three years later with a doctorate . In Heidelberg he was one of the founders of the Rupertia Association . Together with defense attorney Bernhard Geiger, he settled in his hometown in 1880. Among other things, he repeatedly represented social democratic workers in court, although he was opposed to socialist ideas. From 1884 he sat on the city council as a member of the Progressive People's Party and in the same year took the position of head of the Office for the Poor in Frankfurt. At the same time he married Ida Ebeling, with whom he had five children. Flesch was a member of the Frankfurt Freemason Lodge Zur Einigkeit. His youngest son Hans Flesch (1896–1945) was one of the most prominent radio pioneers of the Weimar Republic .

Act

His declared goal as head of the City of Frankfurt's Office for the Poor was to permanently improve the living conditions of the poor population. He tightened the structure of poor relief and consistently expanded the Elberfeld system that was already established in Frankfurt . An essential element of his poor relief was the promotion and the organized use of voluntary poor relief workers. In addition, he tried to create a better knowledge and understanding in the Frankfurt citizenship for the poor and their problems. Among other things, he called the "Committee for People's Lectures" into being, which was supposed to give workers access to lectures free of charge. He organized folk performances in the theater, folk concerts and museum tours. He also played a decisive role in founding the Kalmenhof sanatorium and nursing home in Idstein . His approaches to cross-class communication were initially viewed with skepticism by both bourgeois groups and the trade unions, but in the end he succeeded in establishing the committee. He also helped found the stock building company for small apartments .

His scientific work is also remarkable : As a lawyer, he dealt primarily with labor law issues and focused on the legal situation of unskilled workers in large-scale industry. He examined possible causes of poverty and had surveys and statistical surveys carried out for this purpose. Through their publications, he tried to draw attention to the living conditions of the poor and at the same time worked out solution concepts. He believed that long-term improvement could only be achieved through a state organization for poor relief. From 1906 he was also active as a Frankfurt deputy in the Prussian parliament. At the center of his political and legal work were freedom, equality and self-determination of all social classes and subjects, especially the workers.

In Frankfurt's Bornheim is Karl Flesch street named after him.

Fonts (selection)

  • Liability, accident insurance and normal working day discussions on private law and social law . G. Pollner, Munich 1883.
  • The causes of poverty and health insurance . JCC Bruns, Minden i. Westf. 1886.
  • The housing shortage from the point of view of poor relief. In: Writings of the German Association for Poor Care and Charity. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1888, No. 4, pp. 121-172.
  • with Heinrich Bleicher: Contributions to the knowledge of the poor system in Frankfurt am Main and to the poor statistics . Knauer Brothers, Frankfurt 1890.
  • Frankfurt labor budgets. Household bills of a worker of a royal. State Railroad Workshop, a Chemical Factory Worker, and a Temporary Worker . Published and explained by members of the Volkswirtschaftl. Section of the Free German Hochstift, foresaw on behalf of the section by City Councilor Dr. Karl Flesch, Knauer Brothers, Frankfurt am Main 1890.
  • with Friedrich Soetbeer : Social organization of poor relief. In: Writings of the German Association for Poor Care and Charity. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1901.
  • Community activity in the field of poor relief and social welfare. Fischer, Vienna 1907.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. on this source collection on the history of German social policy 1867 to 1914 , Section II: From the Imperial Social Message to the February Decrees of Wilhelm II (1881-1890) , Volume 7: Communal Poor Care , edited by Wilfried Rudloff, Darmstadt 2015 and Collection of sources on the history of German social policy from 1867 to 1914, III. Department: Development and Differentiation of Social Policy since the Beginning of the New Course (1890-1904) , Volume 7, Poor Care and Communal Welfare Policy , edited by Wilfried Rudloff, Darmstadt 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Flesch, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Flesch, Karl Ferdinand Moritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Frankfurt social politician
DATE OF BIRTH July 6, 1853
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH August 15, 1915
Place of death Frankfurt am Main