Landsmannschaft Mecklenburg
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The Landsmannschaft Mecklenburg , based in Ratzeburg ( Duchy of Lauenburg district ), was an association of expellees and, according to the statutes, saw itself as an association of Mecklenburgers and friends of Mecklenburg in the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin. It was founded in Neumünster in 1951 and dissolved in 2012. The Landsmannschaft Mecklenburg established the “ Mecklenburg Foundation ” in 1973 , also based in Ratzeburg, and operated the “Mecklenburg House” in Ratzeburg. She was a member of the Federation of Expellees (BdV). Until the end of the GDR in 1989, the Mecklenburg Landsmannschaft was subjected to intensive research by the three Stasi district administrations of Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg, which listed the Landsmannschaft as an enemy object in their files.
organization
founding
Forerunners of the Mecklenburg Landsmannschaft were the Mecklenburg Landsmannschaft founded in Lübeck on September 28, 1948, and the Mecklenburg Association, founded on July 23, 1950 in Neumünster. After the formation of the United Landsmannschaft of the Soviet Zone in January 1951 in Hamburg , the Landsmannschaft Mecklenburg was founded on June 17, 1951 in the Holsteinisches Haus in Neumünster. At that time it comprised 48 local or district associations of Mecklenburgers in initially four regional associations. The 100 or so delegates elected Dr. Walther Bruse and, as to his deputy, Willi Siewert , both from the Association of Loyal Mecklenburgers in Hamburg. The patronage was Adolf Friedrich Herzog zu Mecklenburg , known as an Africa researcher, who was present at the establishment and kept this until his death in 1969. On October 12, 1953, the Mecklenburg Landsmannschaft was registered under No. 254 at the district court in Ratzeburg Registered association register. At the end of 1954 there were 121 local associations within the Landsmannschaft. The number of members at that time was 7518. On July 1, 1993, the Landsmannschaft moved its headquarters from Ratzeburg to Schwerin and was entered in the register of associations of the Schwerin District Court under the number VR 669. The Landsmannschaft left the office in Ratzeburg. The leadership of the Landsmannschaft consisted of an executive board elected by a meeting of representatives and an executive board.
tasks
The Mecklenburg Landsmannschaft was divided into regional associations with local associations, district associations and cultural groups as well as within the framework of the Mecklenburgischer Heimatkreise working group in cities and homeland districts, in old school groups, student and professional associations. According to the statutes, the Landsmannschaft set itself the task of cultivating Mecklenburg history, culture, customs and the Low German language as well as the lively connection to the homeland, in accordance with the wishes and will of all Mecklenburgers for the reunification of Germany in peace and freedom in a peaceful way To represent the social, economic and legal interests of all members and to particularly promote youth work. In September 1951, the first of the annual home meetings also took place in Ratzeburg. The federal office of the Landsmannschaft has kept a central home location index since it was founded, in which thousands of Mecklenburgers were recorded with their addresses in the federal territory and their Mecklenburg hometown.
The leadership of the Landsmannschaft did not follow the reunification in 1990 with undivided joy. In an invitation to the members of the Federal Executive Committee on September 18, 1990 for the “Memorial hour of the Mecklenburg Landsmannschaft on the unification of Germany on October 3 in Schwerin”, Federal Chairman Karl-Hermann Krog wrote : “ Out of deeply felt gratitude we want to commemorate this day of unity. We are concerned that an old German river should continue to separate our fatherland as a border: 'Injustice, good does not thrive', says an old proverb. "
In 1990/91 the Landsmannschaft tried hard to expand their field of activity to their old homeland Mecklenburg. New local associations were quickly established in Neubrandenburg, Rostock, Schwerin, Burg Stargard and Friedland. On November 2, 1991, the new Mecklenburg State Association was established in Schwerin. In the founding zeal, the federal board led by Krog also had to accept severe setbacks and disappointments. The director of the regional museum there, Dr. Volker Schmidt , who also moved up to the position of deputy chairman and state cultural advisor in the state association and, on September 24, 1994, from the federal executive board together with Mecklenburg's first post-reunification Minister-President Dr. Alfred Gomolka was awarded the Fritz Reuter Medal for his services to the Landsmannschaft. Shortly thereafter, Volker Schmidt was exposed as a former Stasi employee "IM Volker Bittow" and removed from the museum management by the city of Neubrandenburg .
Mecklenburg institutions
On April 26, 1953, the Mecklenburg Relief Organization was established under the direction of the publisher Richard Parbs , based on a decision of the federal executive committee Landsmannschaften) eV “was renamed. In order to intensify the cultural work of the Landsmannschaft, the Landsmannschaft was founded in Hamburg in January 1961 under the leadership of Dr. Walter Lehmbecker and with the assistance of Dr. Gerhard Böhmer the Circle of Friends of Mecklenburg. Simultaneously with the establishment of the Mecklenburg Foundation, the Landsmannschaft created its own cultural center ("House Mecklenburg") on the Ratzeburg Cathedral courtyard in the former Dompropsteigebuilding, now called the manor house, since 1986 in the Ratzeburg Cathedral Barracks. The purpose of the foundation is to collect, organize and preserve cultural values from Mecklenburg. In June 1977 the Verband Sozialwerk der Mecklenburger eV was founded with its seat in Kiel , which looked after the elderly, the sick, small pensioners and the needy and organized parcels to needy GDR residents. In February 1985, based in Ratzeburg, the sponsorship group heimattreuer Mecklenburger eV was founded to publish a newsletter for Mecklenburgers under the name "Mecklenburg"
Sponsorships
At the third home meeting of the Mecklenburgers on June 28, 1953 in Ratzeburg, the Duchy of Lauenburg took over the sponsorship of the Mecklenburg Landsmannschaft. In keeping with the old Schleswig-Holstein motto “ Up forever ungedeelt ” and in the “Will to restore the unity of Germany”, the Prime Minister Dr. Helmut Lemke led the state government in Kiel ten years later on April 6, 1963, after sponsorship for Pomerania , sponsorship for Mecklenburg.
Mecklenburg Culture Days
The cultural work of the Landsmannschaft was organized by a central culture committee. There was also an advisory board for Mecklenburg cultural work and the working group of state cultural advisors. The most important events besides the annual home days in Ratzeburg were the state and federal culture days. The latter mostly took place in Bad Bevensen .
Publications
For their publications, the Landsmannschaft initially used the magazines Der Mecklenburger (1951–1957) and the Heimatblatt Unser Mecklenburg, published for the first time in September 1951 by Friedrich Wilhelm Giebel . A separate newsletter, the so-called Green Leaf printed by Krüger & Nienstedt in Hamburg , was published in July 1959 under the editorship of Dr. Rudolf Junack , a native of Brandenburg. The magazines Mecklenburg (1979 to 2007) and Mein Mecklenburg (2008, 2010 to 2012) later served as the official publication organ of the Landsmannschaft. From 1973 to 1980 the booklet series Mecklenburger Gedenktage was published .
honors and awards
From 1964 to 1996, the Landsmannschaft awarded the Mecklenburg Culture Prize as the highest cultural award . The Mecklenburg writer Friedrich Griese was the first to receive this in 1964 . The Fritz Reuter Medal has been awarded since 1960 for outstanding services to the country team. In addition, gold and silver pins of honor were awarded. Since 1976, the Mecklenburg Foundation has awarded the Friedrich Siems Prize for services to the maintenance of Low German / Mecklenburg lieder in choral singing and since 1988 a sponsorship award for scientific or artistic work in the maintenance and continuation of Mecklenburg culture.
resolution
The Landsmannschaft cited demographic and financial reasons for its dissolution in 2012. In the October 4/2012 issue of their quarterly magazine “Mein Mecklenburg”, Federal Chairman Erwin Kudsk wrote: “ Since the membership of the Landsmannschaft is falling sharply due to death and illness and meetings are therefore hardly popular, it is appropriate to dissolve the association. The last meeting in May 2012 could only be called and held with great difficulty. There was an application to dissolve the country team as top. This was approved unanimously and the dissolution has now been formally initiated. “With the dissolution of the association, Kudsk also announced the discontinuation of the information sheet of the Landsmannschaft:“ At the same time, our magazine 'Mein Mecklenburg' will cease to appear after this issue. Here, too, the readership has decreased considerably due to death and illness. It must be assumed that our magazine will no longer be viable in 2013 and will become a subsidy business. “The magazine was last published in an edition of 500 copies.
The “legacy” is preserved and continued in the Mecklenburg Foundation.
Federal Chairperson
- Dr. Walther Bruse, Itzehoe , lawyer, 1st chairman and spokesman for the “Association of Mecklenburgers” founded on July 23, 1950 in Neumünster (July 23, 1950 to June 15, 1952), † August 13, 1978 in Itzehoe
- August Brinckman , Hamburg, entrepreneur, since 1921 Honorary Consul of the Kingdom of Sweden, grandson of the poet John Brinckman (June 15, 1952 to January 11, 1953), † June 10, 1953 in Hamburg
- Carl Freiherr von Langermann and Erlencamp , Rittmeister a. D., former landowner in Maßlow / Wismar district (January 11, 1953 to January 18, 1961), † January 18, 1961 in Essen
- Dr. Dr. Walter Wegner , former State Secretary D. (April 16, 1961 to April 8, 1972), † May 29, 1978 in Osnabrück
- Karl Werner Flint , farmer, entrepreneur, Detmold (April 8, 1972 to March 28, 1981), † November 2, 1994 in Heidenoldendorf
- Emil Schlee , former Ministerialrat D., Raisdorf near Kiel (March 28, 1981 to January 31, 1986), † February 26, 2009 in Schwentinental
- Karl-Hermann Krog, farmer, Bad Salzuflen (Werl-Aspe) (April 12, 1986 to April 17, 1999)
- Hartmut Brun , Publicist , Polz (April 17, 1999 to?)
- Dr. Hartwig Bernitt , Dannenberg / Elbe (2002 to April 2008), † March 2, 2012
- Erwin Kudsk , Ratzeburg (April 12, 2008 to 2012), † December 25, 2012 in Ratzeburg
Individual evidence
- ↑ Our Mecklenburg, Bremen, March 15, 1955, No. 47, p. 3
- ^ Christiane Baumann: The Literature Center Neubrandenburg 1971-2005. Literary politics between promotion, control and a new lack of history. [Series of the Robert Havemann Archive, 11]. Berlin, 2006. pp. 222-226.
literature
- Peter Heitmann: 25 years Landsmannschaft Mecklenburg 1951-1976 . Hamburg: Krüger & Nienstedt 1978.
- Organizational manual of the Mecklenburg Landsmannschaft . For internal use. As of September 1989. Copy in the holdings of the Fritz Reuter Literature Archive Hans-Joachim Griephan Berlin.