Max Wönner

Max Wönner (born December 9, 1896 in Munich ; † November 22, 1960 there ) was a German politician ( SPD ). He was elected to the German Bundestag in the first federal election in 1949, from which he left after this legislative period in order to concentrate on trade union work.

Life

Max Wönner was born on December 9, 1896 in Munich. At the age of fifteen, he completed his schooling and began an apprenticeship as a locksmith . In the same year he also joined the German Metalworkers' Association and in 1917 the Social Democratic Party of Germany. He was drafted into the army during World War I and was a prisoner of war from 1918 to 1919. After his release he first worked in the local administration service of the German Transport Association, from 1926 he attended the Academy of Work and from 1927 the Ficecroft College in Birmingham . Because of his political work he was temporarily arrested in 1933 and was also no longer able to practice his profession until 1939. Immediately after the outbreak of World War II , he was drafted again and was a soldier until the end of the war in 1945.

politics

MP

Immediately after the end of the war, Wönner resumed his work in the trade union movement. His experience and competence brought him the office of General Secretary of the Bavarian Trade Union Federation and that of the local chairman of Munich. He was also a full-time member of the state district executive, but often had to put up with criticism, as he also ran a printing company as a union official for years. In the first federal election in 1949 he was elected as a member of the SPD in the Munich-South constituency. In the next election in 1953, he decided not to run again in order to concentrate on his trade union work.

Trade unionists

In the following years, Wönner became an opponent of Germany's rearmament. His growing influence was noticeable in January 1955, when the long-time DGB state chairman Lorenz Hagen clearly lost to Wönner in the election of the chairman of the Bavarian state district of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB). After winning the election, he showed his rejection of the federal government's policy by making several statements at a mass rally of the DGB in Munich.

After the victory of the CDU in the federal elections in 1957 , he prophesied the downfall of the SPD and criticized it for calling for socialization. These statements at a trade union meeting in Augsburg caused a sensation in both the party and the union. He was asked to resign from the state committee of the SPD, to which he had been sent as a representative of Munich. Shortly afterwards he also had to face the main board of the DGB. The next few months were marked by health problems. On March 1, 1958, Wönner retired for health reasons and died on November 22, 1960 at the age of 63 in Munich.

Awards

1959: Bavarian Order of Merit

literature

• Rudolf Vierhaus , Ludolf Herbst (eds.), Bruno Jahn (collaborators): Biographical manual of the members of the German Bundestag. 1949-2002. Vol. 2: N-Z. Attachment. KG Saur, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-598-23782-0 , p. 969.

source

• Max Wönner in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)