Karl Köster (politician)

Karl Köster (born November 12, 1888 in Bremen ; † August 7, 1965 in Bremen) was a Bremen politician ( SPD ), resistance fighter against the Nazi regime and member of the Bremen citizenship .

biography

Köster learned the trade of a lathe operator. In 1907 he joined the SPD . From 1907 to 1913 he was organized in the German Metal Workers Association (DMV). From 1913 he started working in a railway workshop and therefore became a member of the German Transport Workers Association . From 1917 he was an honorary authorized representative of the German Railway Workers' Association (DEV), the later unified association of railway workers in Germany (EdED) in Bremen. He was also a substitute on the trust committee of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft .

From 1919 to 1924 Köster was a local council representative for the SPD in Hemelingen . From January 1919 he became a full-time employee of the DEV. In July 1919, the delegates elected him to the full-time authorized representative of the DEV - a position that Köster assumed for the DEV / EdED until May 1933. At the same time he was active in various committees of the railway union.

After the onset of National Socialism , Köster was dismissed when the trade unions were broken up on May 2, 1933 and imprisoned by the police until May 23, 1933. From November 5 to December 5, 1933, the trade unionist was again in "protective custody".
Köster took an active part in the resistance fight against the Nazi regime within the framework of illegal trade union groups of the EdED . In this context he was connected to Hans Jahn . In addition to Carl Schnakenberg, he was responsible for the Oldenburg and Bremen region in the structure of the illegal association . He took part in a number of conspiratorial meetings, including with Franz Apitzsch and Franz Scheffel (SPD). On July 24, 1940, the Gestapo arrested him on suspicion of illegal activities. Although there were considerable suspicions against Köster, he was released on August 5, 1940.

After the end of the Second World War, Köster took part in the rebuilding of the trade union in Bremen and in the British zone of occupation . At times he was chairman of the Association for Transport, Traffic and Public Enterprises in Bremen, later he took on several functions in the trade union for public services, transport and traffic (ÖTV) and in the German trade union federation (DGB) at regional level. At the same time he was a member of the main ÖTV board for several years.

From October 1946 to September 1950, Köster was a member of the first and second elected Bremen citizenship and in deputations of the citizenship for the SPD . He resigned his mandate early. He was followed by Wilma Landwehr (SPD) as a member of parliament.

literature

• Siegfried Mielke , Stefan Heinz : Railway trade unionists in the Nazi state. Persecution - Resistance - Emigration (1933–1945) . Metropol-Verlag, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-86331-353-1 , pp. 141, 339 f., 545 f. (Short biography), 656.
• Norbert Korfmacher: Directory of members of the Bremen citizenship 1946 to 1996 (= local politics. Volume 1). LIT, Münster 1997, ISBN 3-8258-3212-0 .