Minna Fasshauer

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Minna Faßhauer , née Nikolai, (born October 10, 1875 in Bleckendorf ; † July 28, 1949 in Braunschweig ) was People's Commissar for the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) in the Socialist Republic of Braunschweig from November 10, 1918 to February 22, 1919 for popular education . She was active as a member of several political parties.

Minna Faßhauer was the first woman to hold a ministerial office in Germany .

Formative youth

In 1875 Minna Nikolai was born as the daughter of the worker Theodor Nikolai and his wife Dorothea, b. Schmidt and thus came from a humble background. When she was three years old, her father passed away. From 1881 to 1889 she attended elementary school in Bleckendorf. Since the family did not receive any financial support, the children had to look after themselves at an early age. Even during her school days, she contributed to the family's livelihood by working on the side.

She describes this formative experience in her résumé: “Due to the fact that I was forced to work from an early age and had to work all my life to make a living, I was directed at an early stage to familiarize myself with the causes of the misery to familiarize the broad masses. ”This social emergency led Nikolai to decide to get involved“ illegally ”in the labor movement, especially because at the time“ women had no political equality ”. This equality became one of their main concerns.

First political engagement

Nikolai came to Braunschweig in 1893, where she initially worked as a maid , later she was a bottle washer, washerwoman and worker in the canning industry . She had not learned to read and write in her childhood and adolescence, it was only when she was an adult that she taught herself both. So she came into contact with socialist writings and met the blacksmith Johannes Georg Faßhauer, through whom she came into contact with the Braunschweig workers' movement. On April 16, 1899, they made the covenant in the Church of St. Michaelis .

She soon campaigned in particular for the rights of young working women and equality . At the regional level, Minna Faßhauer had made a major contribution to the lifting of the ban on women’s political activity in 1908.

Hermann Wallbaum, KPD member and contemporary witness of the November Revolution in Braunschweig, described it as follows:

“She was portrayed by the bourgeois press as a stupid woman: can't read or write, something like that; does not speak the German language [...] In any case, she was an honest and active woman who gave everything for the movement. She was a laundress and went from house to house doing people's laundry. A real worker in the bottom rows. Merges and Robert Gehrke were closely related to her; I only know that she worked her way up from the lowest milieu by reading and so on. The bourgeoisie cannibalized the various blunders that appeared while writing. "

In 1903 Minna Fasshauer joined the SPD , where she said she was a speaker. Here, too, she campaigned in particular for the abolition of the ban on women’s political activity, which was actually lifted with the Reich Association Act of 1908.

Minna and Georg Faßhauer lived in Weststr. 12, today's Hugo-Luther-Str. and had two children: Otto (* 1903) became a locksmith and Walter (* 1906) a worker.

Another concern of Fasshauer was, due to her own experiences, concern for the workers' children and the education of the young people. The "Educational Association of Young Workers" was launched in 1907 as a youth organization of the SPD. The first chairman was Robert Wiebold, other members were the assessors Walter Römling, Otto Kolbe and Fritz Benke. The later Brunswick Minister and Prime Minister of the German Democratic Republic Otto Grotewohl was one of the members of the association. Faßhauer's active participation in the founding of the association has not been proven. However, she had an influence on the renaming of the organization to “Bildungsverein Jugend Arbeiterinnen und Arbeiter” in 1908. At the women's conference held this year in Nuremberg under the direction of Clara Zetkin , she and Lina Behrens participated as the “Braunschweig delegate”. The club name was changed due to their report.

Before the start of the First World War , the main concern of the women's representatives was the demand for political equality and women's suffrage . Faßhauer actively campaigned for these goals by giving lectures and addressing the topic in party discussions, for example the first Wolfenbüttel Women's Day on March 2, 1913.

In 1913, a “child protection commission” was set up, which included Minna Faßhauer, Berta Schlösser, Anne Menge and Hedwig Steinbrecher. This had set itself the task of monitoring the implementation of the child protection regulations from 1904 as well as measures for the health and cultural promotion of children.

First World War and November Revolution

Faßhauer was in contact with August Merges , who later became President of the Socialist Republic of Braunschweig. The looming war led to a split within the party, because the negative consequences were foreseen. Food prices rose dramatically while workers' wages were not adjusted. Minna Faßhauer could not gain anything from the so-called castle peace policy of the SPD and the trade unions, so she increasingly oriented herself towards the radical anti-war policy and the socialist ideas of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht . In 1915 she and Merges made contact with the International . When she protested at a meeting in early 1916 against further war credits and the extension of the war, she was expelled from the National Women's Service. On January 1, 1916, she joined the Spartakusbund in Braunschweig. She was actively involved in the August strike of 1917, during which 5,000 striking workers had come to an unauthorized meeting in the Oelper Waldhaus to elect a negotiating commission. The commission consisted of Faßhauer (party representative and chairwoman of the Spartakus-oriented women's club), Warnecke ( Amme, Giesecke & Konegen ), Junke ( Voigtländer ), Kugelberg and Richter ( Büssingwerke ).

Faßhauer joined the more radical Independent Social Democracy (USPD) in 1917 after the split in the SPD due to the dispute over the truce policy. At that time, her political work consisted, among other things, of strengthening the influence of her group in the factories and poaching members from the SPD. At the end of the war she took an active part in the November Revolution in Braunschweig and led the revolution in Wolfenbüttel .

On November 9th, the republic was proclaimed in Berlin , and a few days later Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated. On November 10, 1918, the Workers 'and Soldiers' Council proclaimed the "Socialist Republic of Braunschweig". August Merges was elected President of the Socialist Republic, the government consisted of the Council of People's Commissars , chaired by Sepp Oerter (Interior and Finance). Other members of the Council of People's Commissars (ministers) were August Junke (law), Minna Faßhauer and Jean Kautz (national education), Gustav Gerecke (nutrition), Michael Müller (transport and trade), Karl Eckardt (work), August Wesemeier (city of Braunschweig ), Senior Seaman Rosenthal (revolutionary defense).

First female minister in Germany

In her office as minister of education, Faßhauer abolished church school supervision on November 22, 1918, reduced the age of religious majority to 14 years and advocated a secular unified school . She began by introducing fundamental socialist reforms. Their decree on the organization of history lessons of November 16, 1918 forbade, for example, the glorification of princes or sedition and replaced war history with cultural history. In addition, she was committed to the establishment of elementary kindergartens and elementary schools. From December 1918 to May 1919 she sat as a USPD member of the state parliament in Braunschweig . In January 1919 she was elected to the district executive committee of the USPD and ran unsuccessfully for the Reichstag . However, her time as minister ended on February 22, 1919, when the council government in Braunschweig was replaced by a coalition of the USPD and SPD.

1921 explosives attacks

From 1920 to 1933 Faßhauer was a member of the Communist Workers 'Party (KAPD) and active in the Free Workers' Union of Germany (FAUD). She was arrested several times between 1920 and 1924 and put on trial for communist terrorist acts against churches and civil institutions. So she was z. B. in July 1921 sentenced to four months imprisonment and a fine of 300 marks for "offenses against the Disarmament Act ". However, the sentence was released by amnesty . Your name is also associated with a number of explosive attacks: Also in July 1921, at the time of the Social Democratic government under Sepp Oerter ( USPD ), there were several politically motivated explosive attacks in the city. The goals were the clubhouse of the Braunschweiger THC in the Bürgerpark , the garrison church located between the city ​​park and the Prinzenpark , the residence of the manor owner Ernst Lekebusch at Gaußberg 6 and the laboratory of the court chemist Nehring in Bismarckstraße . Faßhauer was arrested along with others on September 6, 1921 and charged with "having been involved in bringing in the dynamite". However, it could not be clarified beyond doubt to what extent Faßhauer had been involved in the attacks. But at least she should have known about the plans. The sentence was 9 months in prison. This punishment was also waived taking into account pre- trial detention , as the z. The sometimes turbulent process dragged on until April 1922.

Period of National Socialism and after

After the seizure of power of the Nazis Faßhauer in was Communist Councils Union , a resistance group, who also August Merges belonged active. On October 5, 1935, she was convicted of high treason in a trial with him. Merges was sentenced to three years in prison , Faßhauer was also sentenced to prison, but was acquitted in the appeal hearing. However, she was not released, but was imprisoned in Moringen concentration camp from October 24, 1935 to January 13, 1936 . Until 1945, the now healthily weakened Faßhauer was constantly monitored by the Gestapo .

After the end of the Second World War, despite her old age, she reorganized the KPD in Braunschweig and ran for several years on their lists from 1946 onwards. On March 4, 1946, Minna Fasshauer was recognized as a victim of fascism .

She died on July 28, 1949 as a result of a stroke. Arthur Krull held the funeral speech on August 1st .

On June 29, 2015, a stumbling block was laid at her last home in Braunschweig to commemorate her political persecution by Gunter Demnig .

2012/13: Political controversy about an "appropriate honor"

On February 16, 2012, the parliamentary group of the Left , represented in the City Council of Braunschweig, proposed that the administration draw up a concept [...] how Minna Faßhauer could be appropriately honored in the future. According to the Left, Faßhauer ... was elected in 1918 by the Braunschweiger council government as people's commissar for popular education and welfare. This made her the first woman in Germany to serve as a minister. During her tenure, u. a. the laws on the separation of state and church and the abolition of gender-specific schools in motion. This justifies a corresponding honor. In September 2012 there was a proposal to name a street in the Viewegsgarten-Bebelhof district of Braunschweig after Minna Faßhauer. However, this has not yet been pursued further.

Following the application, a debate began about the pros and cons of such an honor, or whether Minna Faßhauer was even worthy of such an honor. Since no comprehensive information on Fasshauer's biography was publicly available at the time of the application, the Institute for Braunschweigische Regionalgeschichte under Gerd Biegel was commissioned on November 13, 2012 to prepare a corresponding report and submit it to the council so that it could take a decision. The 51-page “biographical documentation” was handed over to the council in July 2013.

On July 26th, the Lord Mayor of Brunswick, Gert Hoffmann , commented on the matter as follows:

"... Minna Faßhauer [was] a remarkable and in a certain phase quite significant personality in the history of Braunschweig ... There are numerous important personalities in the Braunschweig region, also in the last 100 years, but they were anything but exemplary and therefore of course for some honorable one Souvenirs are not eligible. But, in the opinion of the administration, what matters in honorable remembrance is the exemplary character, i.e. the exemplary character also for today's generations of such personalities. Minna Faßhauer simply cannot be awarded this exemplary quality even after this documentation. That would be in contradiction in all respects to what should be presented to today's young generation as a political personality with a role model. The crimes of political crimes, for which Minna Faßhauer was convicted in the Weimar Republic, may also be regarded as “political sins of youth” that were due to an extreme political situation and possibly should not characterize the personality for her entire life. The decisive factor, however, is that… Minna Faßhauer had been politically opposed to parliamentarianism from the twenties and until the end of her life. ... Minna Faßhauer also manifested this consistent political view up to the end of her life by not joining a democratic party after the end of the Nazi regime. B. the SPD - but specifically that anti-democratic and anti-parliamentary Communist Party of Germany (KPD), which was later banned as unconstitutional by the Federal Constitutional Court because of precisely this political direction. "

- Comment from the administration on the biographical documentation

On August 8, 2013, the majority of the Committee for Culture and Science of the City Council voted against the votes of the CDU parliamentary group in favor of "appreciation" (instead of an "honor") for Fasshauer. This sparked outrage among the CDU, since the role model character required for the honor could not be discussed in view of the unclear entanglements of Faßhauer in the Braunschweig bombings of 1921 as well as her radical political attitude directed against parliamentarism .

A few days after the vote in the Committee on Culture and Science, the SPD parliamentary group moved away from approving an appreciation and instead spoke of a "critical appreciation". Ernst-August Roloff , an expert on the history of the city of Braunschweig during the Weimar Republic and during the National Socialist era , summarized the situation as follows: “You can accuse her of knowing about the explosives and her proximity to the assassins ... She deserves respect and respect, but it is not a role model for democracy. " A few days later the SPD postponed a final decision on the matter.

On September 23, 2013, a majority of the CDU and SPD councils finally rejected the motion submitted by the Left with the support of the Greens . Faßhauer's problematic relationship to parliamentary democracy and her ultimately unexplained involvement in the explosives attacks of 1921 were cited as reasons.

The SPD parliamentary group then submitted a new motion that provides for further historical personalities from the time of the November Revolution, the Weimar Republic to the time of National Socialism in Braunschweig to be critically assessed. This proposal was supported by the CDU parliamentary group. Under the heading “From Ernst August to August Merges to Heinrich Jasper - The time of the Weimar Republic in Braunschweig from the beginnings to the beginning of fascism” , the résumés of the following people should be examined: Otto Grotewohl , Carl Heimbs , Werner Küchenthal , August Merges , Josef Oerter , Ernst August Roloff . On December 17, 2013 this request was withdrawn in the Council.

musical

In November 2014, the life of Minna Faßhauer was staged by the Brunsviga in Braunschweig as a musical review under the name Minna - A Life in Braunschweig . The title role took over the Braunschweiger actress Gisa Flake . The production was funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Culture with 20,000 euros.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Gerhard Schildt (Ed.): Braunschweigische Landesgeschichte. A region looking back over the millennia. Braunschweig 2000, p. 934.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Gerd Biegel: Faßhauer Minna biographical documentation (2). About the person: Minna Faßhauer (1875–1949). ( Memento from June 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) on ratsinfo.braunschweig.de (PDF)
  3. ^ Hans Wilhelm-Binder, Peter Dürrbeck, Jürgen Klose (eds.): The red flag over the Braunschweig castle. November Revolution 1918/19 in Braunschweig. Hermann Wallbaum tells. In: Building block for the history of the Braunschweig workers' movement. Self-published, Braunschweig around 1978, p. 20.
  4. ^ Braunschweig address book for 1919. Retrieved on May 4, 2018 .
  5. ↑ A women's day 100 years ago. on braunschweiger-zeitung.de
  6. ↑ a b Heide Janicki: First Minister in Germany - Minna Fasshauer - a woman in the November Revolution 1918. ( Memento of the original from March 15, 2016 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. on dkp-niedersachsen.de (PDF) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dkp-niedersachsen.de
  7. ↑ Gerd Biegel: Minna Faßhauer (1875-1949). Biographical documentation on a current discourse. , P. 37
  8. ^ Antifascist Minna Fasshauer. Minna / DGB Südostniedersachsen working group, accessed on November 6, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Minna Fasshauer. In: Frauenorte-niedersachsen.de. Minna / DGB Südostniedersachsen working group, accessed on July 31, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Application "Appropriate honor for Minna Faßhauer" ( Memento from June 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Minutes of the meeting of the City District Council 132 on September 26, 2012 ( Memento from June 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ Appropriate honor for Minna Faßhauer - state of affairs ( Memento from June 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ Minna Fasshauer (1875–1949). Biographical documentation on a current discourse ( Memento from June 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ↑ Comment of the administration on the biographical documentation of July 26, 2013 ( Memento of December 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  15. ↑ Appreciation for Faßhauer , Braunschweiger Zeitung of August 9, 2013
  16. ↑ SPD is rethinking Minna Faßhauer , Braunschweiger Zeitung of August 21, 2013
  17. ^ Further dispute about the honor of Faßhauer , Braunschweiger Zeitung of August 28, 2013
  18. ↑ Rejection of the motion of the Left ( Memento from June 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ^ SPD proposal "From Ernst August to August Merges to Heinrich Jasper - The time of the Weimar Republic in Braunschweig from the beginnings to the beginning of fascism" ( Memento from January 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  20. ↑ List of funded projects in the second half of 2014 - list item 4 on mwk.niedersachsen.de
personal data
SURNAME Fasshauer, Minna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nikolai, Minna (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician and revolutionary
DATE OF BIRTH October 10, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Bleckendorf
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 1949
Place of death Braunschweig