Maria Weber (trade unionist)

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Maria Weber (front left) at a reception of the federal executive in Kiel town hall (1968)

Maria Weber (born December 27, 1919 in Horst-Emscher / Gelsenkirchen-Horst , † June 25, 2002 in Essen ) was a German trade unionist . From 1972 to 1982 she was deputy chairwoman of the German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB).

Live and act

Origin and youth

Maria Weber grew up in a miner's family in the Ruhr area . Active participation in the Christian labor movement had a long tradition in her family . Her grandfather was a co-founder of the Christian trade unions - the Christian Miners' Association in Essen was one of his initiatives. Her father worked underground for 45 years. Two of her three brothers died in World War II . Rooted in her denominational milieu, Weber attended Catholic elementary school for four years. After that, she also moved to a higher girls' school for four years. She then began an apprenticeship as a tailor, which she finished in 1938 with the journeyman's examination. Maria Weber was considered highly talented. She was unable to realize her wish to study and become a pediatrician, also for material reasons. Her later socio-political commitment to education and educational justice was anchored in this experience.

National Socialism and World War II

Since 1939 Weber worked as a telephone operator and then as a materials tester in a large company. At that time she tried to get the required school leaving certificate for a degree through evening classes, which again failed due to the circumstances of the time. Until 1938 Weber led Catholic youth groups in the parish of St. Hippolytus in Horst. When they were banned by the National Socialists , Weber continued to be involved in the Catholic youth associations. During the war years, Maria Weber's aversion to National Socialism was closely linked to the Catholic Church. Your parish belonged to the diocese of Münster, where Bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen worked. When he turned against euthanasia and his speeches were distributed in the community, Maria Weber also took part. A few months before the end of the war, Weber expressed himself critical of the regime in the workplace and was in danger. Her supervisor transferred her to the vicinity of Schmallenberg, where the war-important company Gelsenberg Petrol AG, for which Maria Weber was employed, had brought important equipment to safety from bomb attacks. Jewish concentration camp prisoners from the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp were deployed on the premises of Gelsenberg Petrol AG in Gelsenkirchen-Horst . In 1944 a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp was set up in order to keep manpower available for the reconstruction work after the bombing of Gelsenberg gasoline. When Maria Weber returned to the Ruhr area at the end of the war, the Weber family's center of life had moved from Horst-Emscher to Altenessen. They had been bombed out.

Union career and socio-political commitment

Union beginnings

Weber made his first trade union experience in meetings of the IG Bergbau . Gelsenberg Gasoline was a Ruhr mining company that specialized in the hydrogenation of hard coal for the production of fuels. After the end of the war, however, the company increasingly concentrated on the processing of crude oil. After the war, Weber therefore joined the chemical union. She kept one of the first membership books the union issued. She became a works council, attended the Academy of Labor from 1947 to 1948 and returned to her company, where she was promoted to deputy works council chair. In the chemical, paper, ceramic union , which is currently being established , she took on her first important activities at local, district and association level. In the British occupation zone, Weber joined Hans Böckler's extended sphere of activity as a member of the DGB's zone women's committee. Since 1947 he was in front of the federations in the British zone, which had united to form the union confederation. Until 1956 Weber worked in the regional women’s committee in Westphalia and in the main women’s committee in functions of the chemical, paper and ceramic union.

DGB federal board

In 1950 Weber moved to the head office of the German Trade Union Confederation in Düsseldorf and took on a job as a clerk in the women's department in Thea Harmuths' division, who was a member of the DGB federal executive board. Weber's commitment to the rights of employees also became more concrete in these years when, after moving to Düsseldorf, she again acted as works council member and chairwoman of the DGB's board of directors. When Thea Harmuth died in 1956, Weber was given her duties at the age of 36. Weber became a member of the federal executive committee and was responsible for the women's, vocational training and handicraft departments. In 1972, as part of the succession plan for Bernhard Tacke, who was leaving the DGB, she was also responsible for the education department. As Tackes 'successor, Weber, as deputy chairwoman of the DGB, also assumed the top position of trade unionists from the Christian Democratic Workers' Union (CDA). Since Martin Heiß left the DGB's federal executive board prematurely in 1980 for health reasons and Irmgard Blättel took his place, Maria Weber handed over the women's department to Irmgard Blättel as part of the redistribution of the business areas. In the last few years of her DGB engagement, Weber was still responsible for the collective bargaining policy department. For the first time, from 1980 to 1982, two women sat on the executive board of the DGB - both were members of the CDA. In 1982 Weber retired.

Catholic

Maria Weber saw herself as a left-wing Catholic. One of the mainsprings of their commitment was Catholic social teaching. Weber was represented in various functions in the Catholic Church and in organized Catholicism. From 1969 to 1974 she was a member of the advisory board for political questions at the Central Committee of German Catholics ZdK and from 1975 to 1979 a member of the Committee for Economic and Social Affairs of the ZdK. Between 1968 and 1976 Maria Weber acted as advisor to the commission for socio-political issues of the German Bishops' Conference. In 1968 she was vice-president of the 82nd German Catholic Convention “In the middle of this world” in Essen. Weber actively supported the work in her parish of St. Johann Baptist in Altenessen. Here she belonged to the church council of the community.

CDA and CDU

Maria Weber later joined the CDU in 1968 - according to her own statements, only because leading positions in the CDA were tied to party membership. At that time she had worked in the social committees of the CDU, i.e. in the Christian-Democratic workforce, for almost two decades. Since the early 1970s, Maria Weber has been increasingly involved in the CDA. She became chairwoman of the working group of working women of the social committees and was appointed to the board of the CDA. Since 1973 she headed the important CDA working group formed by DGB trade unionists with a Christian-democratic attitude. In this role Weber tried to bring the trade unions closer to the CDU, which under the new CDU chairman Helmut Kohl seemed to be ready for reform. Weber's attempts to establish a Christian-democratic “trade union council” in analogy to the corresponding social-democratic institution were connected with the intention of modernizing employee policy in the CDU. In women's and family policy, the CDU should be separated from the conservative family image. Weber's diverse political interventions in the further course of the 1970s led to content-related and personal differences with Helmut Kohl and Kurt Biedenkopf as General Secretary of the CDU and with Franz Josef Strauss and Edmund Stoiber as General Secretary of the CSU.

Issues and conflicts

In her functions, Weber was particularly committed to some union goals. In women's politics, she was concerned with equal rights in terms of wages and work, as well as in social and labor law. At one of the interfaces of family, women's and educational policy, in the care of children, the increasing importance of care over conventional trade union demands such as maternity leave was emphasized at an early stage under Weber's leadership in the DGB. In a sometimes tough conflict with the CDU and CSU, Weber strongly advocated the comprehensive school, which she saw improved the chances for working-class children. Weber stood for the protection of unborn life when the reform of § 218 StGB in the DGB was controversial since the 1970s. In this dispute Weber referred to the majority of union functionaries, who strongly criticized Weber's position, of their experiences under National Socialism and their Christian rejection of any form of killing that they considered legalized. Weber participated intensively in the reform of vocational training during the phase of special state activities surrounding the 1969 Vocational Training Act. The Federal Institute for Vocational Training Research, established in Berlin in 1970, which served as a model for the European Center for the Promotion of Vocational Training established in 1975, was based on the initiatives of Maria Weber. The expansion of the federal schools of the DGB in the 1970s also took place under her leadership.

Participation in committees and organizations

In the course of her career, Weber performed various functions at national and international level. She was represented at the European level in the Economic and Social Committee and in the Advisory Committee for Vocational Training of the EC Commission. In the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) she took part as a member and chairman of the meetings of the committee for questions of women workers. She was a member of the Advisory Committee on Women Workers at the International Labor Office in Geneva. As a delegate she took part in international labor conferences of the International Labor Organization (ILO / ILO). She was temporarily president of the European Center for the Development of Vocational Training. From 1957 to 1974 Weber sat on various committees of the Federal Employment Agency in Nuremberg. She was u. a. Member of supervisory boards and supervisory bodies in the Ruhr mining industry and at Mannesmann AG, for Alte Volksfürsorge, Volksfürsorge Deutsche Sachversicherung Eigenhilfe AG ​​or the asset management and trust company of the DGB. She acted as chairwoman of the German Women's Council. As the DGB board member responsible for educational policy, Weber was represented on the board of trustees of the Hans Böckler Foundation, the Academy of Labor in Frankfurt am Main and the Social Academy in Dortmund. From 1958 to 1977 she was also a member of the Presidium of the German Horticultural Society under President Count Lennart Bernadotte.

Quote

“Union work is not work in a space devoid of history. The mandate to change living and working conditions has been confirmed by history and repeatedly - for every generation of trade unions - anew "

Honors

At the same time as her 60th birthday, Weber was awarded the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in December 1979. In May 1982 she was awarded the Grand Cross of Merit with a Star just before she retired from active trade union work. In addition, on September 18, 1986 she received the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia .

In Essen-Katernberg today the Maria-Weber-Weg is named after her. The Maria Weber Grant from the Hans Böckler Foundation has been named after Maria Weber since 2017 in recognition of Maria Weber's work for educational policy and educational justice.

Fonts

  • About the order of vocational training, in: Die Quelle 12/1963, pp. 566–567.
  • The Federal Committee for Vocational Training, in: Die Quelle 4/1971, pp. 183–185.
  • Programmatic demands of the DGB in the year of the employee, in: trade union monthly monthly books 23, 1972, pp. 673–687.
  • Demands of the DGB for vocational training, in: trade union monthly magazines 24, 1973, pp. 137-146.
  • 25 years of union work with women was successful, in: Die Quelle 4/1974, pp. 148–150.
  • Trade union policy for women in the "International Year of Women 1975", in: trade union monthly books 26, 1975, pp. 658–665.
  • Trade union university policy, in: trade union monthly books 28, 1977, pp. 65–71.
  • Equal rights for women and men must be realized, in: Die Quelle 1/1979, p. 12.
  • Equality is still a difficult business, in: Die Quelle 1/1980, pp. 11-12.
  • (Ed.): Trade union education work - concrete, Cologne 1982.

literature

  • Maria Weber , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 16/1985 of April 8, 1985, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
  • Stefan Remeke: Be different on the left. In the footsteps of Maria Weber and Gerd Muhr. Klartext-Verlag, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0488-0 (biography)
  • Stefan Remeke: Looking for your own "heroic story "? On the political claim to shaping the Nazi memory of the DGB top officials in the 1970s , in: Stefan Berger (Ed.): Trade Union History as Memory History. Klartext-Verlag, Essen 2015, ISBN 978-3-8375-1580-0 , pp. 245-265.
  • Stefan Remeke: Gerd Muhr and Maria Weber: A sociopolitical elite of the DGB in the early years of the socio-liberal coalition (1969–1974) , in: Karl Lauschke (ed.): The trade union elite of the post-war period - character, function, models . (Bulletin of the Institute for Social Movements, Issue 35). Klartext-Verlag, Bochum and Essen 2006, ISBN 3-89861-621-5 , pp. 207–223.
  • Wolfgang Schroeder : Trade union policy between DGB, Catholicism and CDU 1945 to 1960. Catholic workers leaders as contemporary witnesses in interviews. Bund-Verlag, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-7663-2148-X .
  • Wolfgang Schroeder: Catholicism and a unified union. The dispute over the DGB and the decline of social Catholicism in the Federal Republic up to 1960. Verlag JHW Dietz Nachf., Bonn 1992, ISBN 3-8012-4037-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stefan Remeke: Be different on the left. In the footsteps of Maria Weber and Gerd Muhr . Klartext, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0488-0 , p. 33-39 .
  2. ↑ Stefan Remeke: Be different on the left. In the footsteps of Maria Weber and Gerd Muhr . Klartext, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0488-0 , p. 35-38, 50 .
  3. ↑ Stefan Remeke: Be different on the left. In the footsteps of Maria Weber and Gerd Muhr . Klartext, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0488-0 , p. 48-56 .
  4. ^ Andreas Jordan: Subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp in Gelsenkirchen: The Gelsenberglager. In: gelsenzentrum.de. 2009, accessed February 13, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Marlies Mrotzek: The concentration camp satellite camp of Gelsenberg Petrol AG . Germinal, Fernwald (Annerod) 2002, ISBN 978-3-88663-527-6 .
  6. ↑ Stefan Remeke: Be different on the left. In the footsteps of Maria Weber and Gerd Muhr . Klartext, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0488-0 , p. 58-64 .
  7. ↑ Stefan Remeke: Be different on the left. In the footsteps of Maria Weber and Gerd Muhr . Klartext, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0488-0 , p. 82-96 .
  8. ↑ Stefan Remeke: Be different on the left. In the footsteps of Maria Weber and Gerd Muhr . Klartext, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0488-0 , p. 131-144 .
  9. ↑ Stefan Remeke: Be different on the left. In the footsteps of Maria Weber and Gerd Muhr . Klartext, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0488-0 , p. 14, 144, 190 .
  10. ↑ Stefan Remeke: Be different on the left. In the footsteps of Maria Weber and Gerd Muhr . Klartext, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0488-0 , p. 290-298 .
  11. ↑ Overview of the German Catholic Days (PDF; 58 kB)
  12. ↑ Wolfgang Schroeder: Trade union policy between DGB, Catholicism and CDU 1945 to 1960. Catholic workers leaders as contemporary witnesses in interviews . Bund, Cologne 1990, ISBN 978-3-7663-2148-0 , p. 54 .
  13. ↑ Klaus Schönhoven: Sources on the history of the German trade union movement in the 20th century Volume 13: The German Trade Union Federation 1964-1969 . In: Hermann Weber (Ed.): The German Trade Union Confederation 1964-1969 . tape 13 . Dietz, Bonn 2006, ISBN 3-8012-4157-2 , p. 30 .
  14. ↑ Stefan Remeke: Be different on the left. In the footsteps of Maria Weber and Gerd Muhr . Klartext, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0488-0 , p. 333-345, pp. 365-370 and pp. 372-386 .
  15. ↑ Stefan Remeke: Be different on the left. In the footsteps of Maria Weber and Gerd Muhr . Klartext, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0488-0 , p. 356-365 .
  16. ↑ Stefan Remeke: Be different on the left. In the footsteps of Maria Weber and Gerd Muhr . Klartext, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0488-0 , p. 153-156, 221, 372-380 .
  17. ↑ Stefan Remeke: Be different on the left. In the footsteps of Maria Weber and Gerd Muhr . Klartext, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0488-0 , p. 307-333 .
  18. ↑ Stefan Remeke: Be different on the left. In the footsteps of Maria Weber and Gerd Muhr . Klartext, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0488-0 , p. 157-160, 226-227 .
  19. ↑ Stefan Remeke: Be different on the left. In the footsteps of Maria Weber and Gerd Muhr . Klartext, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0488-0 , p. 226 f., 240 f., 248 f., 252 f., 263 .
  20. ↑ ver.di: 125 years of self-administration, Berlin 2014, p. 38
  21. ↑ Stefan Remeke: Be different on the left. In the footsteps of Maria Weber and Gerd Muhr . Klartext, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0488-0 , p. 190 f .
  22. ↑ Merit holders since 1986. State Chancellery of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, accessed on March 11, 2017 .
  23. ↑ The Maria-Weber-Weg in Essen-Katernberg. Dennis Wegner, accessed February 12, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Weber, Maria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German trade unionist
DATE OF BIRTH December 27, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Gelsenkirchen
DATE OF DEATH June 25, 2002
Place of death eat