Maria Opitz-Döllinger

Maria Opitz-Döllinger - often also Maria Opitz - b. Döllinger (born October 13, 1917 in Friedrichshafen ; † July 9, 2007 ibid) was a housekeeper and politician ( ödp ) and, since 1990, she has been awarded the Federal Cross of Merit .

Her partisan engagement began in 1978 when she joined the Green Action Future (GAZ) . Since it had participated in the founding of the GREEN in 1980, it also became a member there before leaving in September 1980. At the beginning of 1982 she was one of the co-founders of the Ecological Democratic Party , in which she held important offices both in the federal party and within the Baden-Württemberg state association. Fellow campaigners often attribute a significant share to the 1.4% success of the party in the Baden-Württemberg state elections of 1988; This is seen by other party representatives as a disparaging one-sidedness towards the election campaign achievements in particular of the state chairman Herbert Pilch and the federal chairman Herbert Gruhl , with whom she got more and more in dispute.

Life

Maria Döllinger was born on October 13, 1917 as the daughter of Karl Döllinger and his wife Katharina. Steel born. Her father died in 1918, her mother in 1923, so that she became an orphan at the age of six. She spent most of her childhood with her stepfather. She graduated from the Pestalozzi School in Friedrichshafen. Attending the girls' high school failed due to the lack of financial resources of her stepfather. This was followed by training as a notary's assistant.

At the end of 1949 she married the civil engineer Richard Opitz. From this marriage there were four daughters. She also worked in her husband's engineering office during this time. There she worked as an accountant and secretary.

She started getting involved in environmental protection very early on. She was also active in other areas; So in 1974 she founded a local association of the German Housewives Association in her home town of Friedrichshafen , of which she was chairman until 1991. She worked on-site with Women Help Women and the German Child Protection Association . In 1979 she passed the master's examination for housekeeping.

On April 17, 1990, Maria Opitz-Döllinger was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit due to her political commitment in the presence of the then Friedrichshafen mayor Bernd Wiedmann . The latter said of her as follows:

"With what she has achieved, she should actually have had three lives"

- Bernd Wiedmann

On July 9, 2007, she died after a long illness.

Political career

Beginnings in the environmental protection movement, the GAZ and the GREENS (1970–1980)

From the seventies, Maria Opitz-Döllinger turned to the environmental protection movement. In 1978 she joined the Green Action Future (GAZ) ; in March 1979 she was one of the co-founders of their Baden-Württemberg regional association; initially she acted there as deputy state chairwoman. From 1979 to 1981 she was federal secretary of the party and in 1981 and 1982 deputy federal chairwoman before the GAZ was absorbed into the newly founded ödp in early 1982 . Since the GAZ had already participated in the founding of the GRÜNEN in 1980, it was a member there for a short time until it left in September 1980.

ödp (from 1982)

Maria Opitz-Döllinger herself described her work in the ödp in an article with memories and first mentioned that she was the chairman of the presidium for the first party congress of the newly founded ödp, which took place on January 23 and 24, 1982 in Wiesbaden was commissioned. At the first public party conference, which met two months later in Bad Honnef , she was elected to the Presidium together with three other members. Within the party she founded the working group Christians and Ecology , which was present at almost all Catholic and Protestant church conventions.

In the Baden-Württemberg state association of the ödp, which was founded three months before the federal party, she was first state chairman, then state treasurer, assessor and again state chairwoman; Overall, she worked there for 15 years in the party executive. According to her own assessment, she contributed significantly to the 1.4% that her party had achieved in the state elections in Baden-Württemberg in 1988; this was the Ödp's best up to now in a state election and the first in which it took part in the reimbursement of campaign costs. From 1988 to 1990 she held the office of federal treasurer in the ödp.

In addition, she was present at the founding of the Ecological Democratic Party of the GDR , which took place on February 24, 1990 in Coswig , together with three other members from her regional association. After reunification in October 1990, this became part of the ödp. Maria Opitz-Döllinger had already been involved in founding the party's first district association in Freiberg on March 21 of the same year .

In 1992 she became an honorary member of her party. From December 1996 she was honorary chairwoman of the Baden-Württembergische ödp. In 2002 she withdrew from party work and from the public due to health problems.

Conflicts with Herbert Gruhl

Beginning of animosities (1979–1987)

During the eighties she repeatedly came into conflict with the party chairman at the time, Herbert Gruhl . This had already started at the GAZ federal party conference, which took place on March 10, 1979 in Würzburg. Gruhl wanted her to run for the post of Deputy Federal Chairman, as she herself writes, as a "model woman", which she refused.

At the first public federal party convention of the ödp in March 1982 in Bad Honnef, Maria Opitz-Döllinger suggested creating an additional post on the federal executive board with the “organization commissioner”. While she originally had this in mind for herself, Gruhl rejected the project, which is why Jaspar von Oertzen received the office, who had initially run for it just for fun. When the assessors were subsequently elected, they were also defeated, which Opitz-Döllinger also largely attributed to Gruhl.

Dispute over finances, escalation and climax at the Saarbrücken party conference (1988/1989)

When she was elected federal treasurer at the party congress in Stuttgart, which took place on January 30 and 31, 1988, it was against Gruhl's will; he had designated another person for this office. As federal board member Peter Schröder recalls on the occasion of "20 years of ödp" in 1999, there was a violent argument between her and Gruhl at the second meeting of the newly elected federal board in May 1988 in the Bonn office. In the course of this, according to Schröder, he assumed malice and greed for money. The background was that Opitz-Döllinger was still officiating as state treasurer in Baden-Württemberg at that time and as such was busy settling the state elections of 1988.

Due to the respectable success of the party in this election, in which she was entitled to state finances for the first time, Maria Opitz-Döllinger wanted a third of this money for her regional association and for the corresponding district associations; According to his report on the Federal Main Committee of July 3, 1988, Gruhl saw this as a breach of a pre-election agreement on mutual aid between the federal and regional associations.

Gruhl had obtained an injunction against Opitz-Döllinger and Peter Schröder in February 1989 - shortly before the Saarbrücken party convention - at the Munich Regional Court to refrain from defamatory allegations without truthfulness; in the event of an infringement, a fine of 50,000 DM or, alternatively, an orderly detention of up to 6 months was set.

On the occasion of the Saarbrücken party congress in 1989, she was one of the co-signatories of the “decision of principle to differentiate the ÖDP from the right-wing parties”, which Herbert Gruhl rejected. At the party congress itself, he tried to have her voted out together with two other board members, but this did not find a majority among the delegates. This, as well as the fact that the aforementioned delimitation resolution was adopted, ultimately led to Gruhl's resignation from the federal presidency.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} State list proposals for the 1998 federal election in the state of Baden-Württemberg . 1998 ( online [accessed July 5, 2008]). Online ( Memento of the original from October 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Ruth Bärenweiler: Maria Opitz-Döllinger turned 80 in October - commitment that is contagious ... In: Ecology Policy . November 1997.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Verena Föttinger: Obituary for ödp honorary member Maria Opitz-Döllinger (1917–2007) . In: Ecology Policy . May 2008.
4. ↑ ^{a b c} High proportion of women in the ödp - active eco-democrats . In: Ecology Policy . May 2008.
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Mankau, p. 235
6. ^ Maria Opitz-Döllinger: Prehistory, new edition and the first Ödp party congresses, in: Mankau, p. 55
7. ↑ Maria Opitz-Döllinger: Prehistory, new edition and the first ödp party congresses, in: Mankau, p. 57
8. ^ Maria Opitz-Döllinger: Prehistory, new edition and the first Ödp party congresses, in: Mankau, p. 44
9. ↑ ^{a b c d} Maria Opitz-Döllinger: Prehistory, new edition and the first ödp party congresses, in: Mankau, p. 61
10. ↑ Herbert Alexander Gebhardt: Foundation of the "ÖDP der DDR", in: Mankau, p. 121
11. ^ Herbert Alexander Gebhardt: Founding of the "ÖDP der DDR", in: Mankau, p. 124
12. ^ ^{A b} Maria Opitz-Döllinger: Prehistory, new edition and the first Ödp party congresses, in: Mankau, p. 43
13. ^ Maria Opitz-Döllinger: Prehistory, new edition and the first Ödp party congresses, in: Mankau, p. 62
14. ↑ ^{a b c d} Peter Schröder: The Saarbrücker Party Congress of 1989, in: Mankau, p. 94
15. ^ Regional Court Munich I, 12th Civil Chamber, business no. 12 0 2812/89
16. ↑ Peter Schröder: The Saarbrücken Party Congress of 1989, in: Mankau, p. 99
17. ↑ Peter Schröder: The Saarbrücker Party Congress of 1989, in: Mankau, p. 100f
18. ↑ Peter Schröder: The Saarbrücken Party Congress of 1989, in: Mankau, p. 101

literature

• Raphael Mankau (Ed.): 20 years of ödp - beginnings, present and perspectives of ecological-democratic politics . dolata verlag, Rimpar 1999, ISBN 3-344-70790-6 .

Web links

Wikiquote: Maria Opitz-Döllinger  - Quotes