Margarete Schahn

Margarete Schahn (born May 30, 1903 in Forst (Lausitz) , † April 11, 1996 in Cottbus ) was a German politician ( KPD , SED ). She was Lord Mayor of Cottbus from August 1953 to July 1954 , making her the first woman to hold this office.

Life

Margarete Schahn was born in 1903 as the daughter of a farmer . There she did an apprenticeship as a dressmaker and worked in the Forster cloth factories . On March 15, 1945, Schahn was arrested by the GeStaPo for high treason and espionage and taken to the Cottbus prison . On April 28, 1945 she was released again with the invasion of the Red Army . In the same year Schahn joined the KPD, in 1946 the SED.

In 1949 Schahn became district secretary of the Democratic Women's Federation of Germany (DFD) in Forst. On April 27, 1950, she moved to the Brandenburg state parliament in place of the resigned Claire Paatz and was a member of the state parliament until 1952 . From 1950 to 1954 she was a member of the GDR Land Chamber . In 1952 Schahn became chairwoman of the forest district council . The following year she was proposed by the SED as Cottbus candidate for mayor and elected on August 4, 1953 by the city council. She replaced Hans Bertram . After regaining the status of an independent city in March 1954, she became mayor.

During Schahn's tenure, large parts of the Cottbus war ruins were rebuilt and a municipal VEB wet press stone was created. In 1954 the pioneer railway was inaugurated. In addition, during Schahn's tenure, the supply of the population was improved through the establishment of HO and consumer markets . In the same year, the first carnival procession after the Second World War took place in Cottbus .

On July 31, 1954, Schahn was replaced as Lord Mayor by Herbert Bomski . The then chairman of the Cottbus district council , Werner Manneberg , had previously criticized that Schahn would hinder the development of the city of Cottbus into a district town with poor performance. After a brief activity in the council of the Cottbus district, Schahn became first deputy of the district council chairman in Forst in 1958 and from 1962 district chairwoman of the National Front . Margarete Schahn was a member of the Cottbus District Revision Commission of the SED until March 1976.

Margarete Schahn died on April 11, 1996 at the age of 92 in a nursing home in Cottbus.

Awards

1962 Patriotic Order of Merit in silver

literature

Andreas Herbst : Schahn, Margarete . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Web links

Margarete Schahn at www.lr-online.de (accessed on February 17, 2018).

Individual evidence

↑ The Lord Mayors of the City of Cottbus. In: cottbus.de. City of Cottbus, accessed December 18, 2017 .
↑ Last elected at the 13th SED district delegate conference in February 1974. In: Lausitzer Rundschau of February 12, 1974.
↑ Honor by the State Council . In: Berliner Zeitung , October 6, 1962, p. 5.

personal data
SURNAME	Schahn, Margarete
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German politician (KPD, SED)
DATE OF BIRTH	May 30, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH	Forst (Lausitz)
DATE OF DEATH	April 11, 1996
Place of death	cottbus

[1] The Lord Mayors of the City of Cottbus. In: cottbus.de. City of Cottbus, accessed December 18, 2017 .

[2] Last elected at the 13th SED district delegate conference in February 1974. In: Lausitzer Rundschau of February 12, 1974.

[3] Honor by the State Council . In: Berliner Zeitung , October 6, 1962, p. 5.