Karl Kummer

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Karl Kummer (born January 1, 1904 in Vienna , † August 15, 1967 in Warsaw ) was an Austrian Catholic politician , labor lawyer , and social reformer .

life and work

Karl Kummer was born as the son of Carl Maria Franz Kummer and Marie, b. Jelinek, born. He studied law and became a labor law advisor at the Vienna Chamber of Labor , which he remained until his death - except during the National Socialist period . Encouraged by Karl von Vogelsang and the Berlin artist and student chaplain Carl Sonnenschein , he began to organize aid campaigns for needy workers and students as a student, whereby Kummer strengthened the charitable activities of the Vinzenzvereine and the initiative for a number of student dormitories (e.g. . Akademikerhilfe) created. His acquaintance with Karl Lugmayer , with whom he later cooperated in social policy , went back to this time .

At the beginning of the Nazi era, Kummer was removed from office and imprisoned, but then released again. During this time he worked as an employment law advisor at AEG-Union Vienna. In 1940 he married Elisabeth, born in Vienna. Hannauer (October 3, 1916 - April 2007). In 1942 he joined the resistance group around Lois Weinberger , which also included Grete Rehor , Karl Lugmayer , Felix Hurdes and Josef Krainer and which was connected to the group of Heinrich Maier , Franz Josef Messner and Walter Caldonazzi (all three executed). After the war he was involved with Weinberger, among other things, in the establishment of the ÖAAB (Austrian Workers' Association), became its first general secretary and played a major role in the constitution of its program.

Kummer became known mainly through the cooperation with August Maria Knoll powered establishment of the Institute for Social Policy and Social Reform, a research, discussion and planning Institute of Political reform plans on a scientific basis and for managers, which later after him Dr. Karl Kummer Institute was named.

In line with the personalistic philosophy of Karl Lugmayer, Karl Kummer called for labor law to be reformed to the effect that the worker should no longer be the seller of his labor - because he sells part of himself - but should become an equal partner of the employer and his own Position should be improved in this sense. In doing so, he created the theoretical basis for the idea of social partnership . But he also initiated this in a practical way: Since the member of the National Council Karl Kummer was on the one hand labor law advisor to the Chamber of Labor and trade unionists (and drafted legislative proposals here) and on the other hand, as Secretary General of the ÖAAB, a sub-organization of the ÖVP , also worked closely with the business side, he succeeded in laying the foundation stone for the social partnership that is typical for Austria. However, the social laws he initiated to protect against dismissal, etc. have since been softened again and are often circumvented.

In 1994 the Kummergasse in Vienna- Floridsdorf (21st district) was named after him.

Fonts

  • The third way. Principles and practical proposals for social reform. Vienna 1949.
  • Textbook of Austrian labor law. Verlag Des ÖGB, Vienna 1991.
  • Society and politics. Series of publications by the Institute for Social Policy and Social Reform, New Series. Vienna.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Grief, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian lawyer and politician, social reformer, member of the National Council
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH 15th August 1967
Place of death Warsaw