Otto Körting

Otto Körting (born May 20, 1884 in Jeßnitz (Anhalt) ; † July 3, 1959 in Dessau ) was a social democratic politician in the Weimar Republic and the first chairman of the Association of Mutual Peasant Aid (VdgB) in the Soviet zone of occupation and the GDR .

Life

Otto Körting was born the son of a small farmer . After attending elementary school in Bobbau , he completed an apprenticeship as a locksmith at the AGFA film factory in Wolfen , where he worked until 1933. In 1902 Körting joined the SPD and the German Metalworkers' Association . After the First World War , Körting became increasingly politically active. In 1919 he ran successfully for the SPD as a member of the Landtag of the Free State of Anhalt , in which he held a mandate until 1932. He also took part in trade union congresses as the works council chairman of the AGFA plant in Wolfen and was involved in his hometown of Bobbau from 1926 to 1933 as head of the local government and community. He also worked as a lay judge.

After the “ seizure of power ” by the National Socialists , Körting lost all political offices and his employment. In 1933 he was imprisoned for eight months in the Oranienburg concentration camp . Körting, who was a father of three, then hired himself out as a farm worker. As a former social democratic member of the state parliament, he was under constant control by the Gestapo and was imprisoned several times, most recently as part of the " Operation Grid " in July 1944. Körting spent the time until the end of the war as a prisoner in Buchenwald concentration camp .

After returning to his homeland after the end of the war, Körting was mainly involved in the agricultural sector. He became a member of the newly created VdgB and rejoined the SPD. As a member of the Land Commission of the Province of Saxony, Körting participated in the implementation of the land reform . Member of the SED since 1946 , he successfully ran as a candidate for the VdgB state list for the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt . As one of only two members of the VdgB, he was elected Vice President of the State Parliament. At the first VdgB farmers' day on November 22nd and 23rd, 1947 in Berlin , Körting was elected the first VdgB chairman after he had previously been the regional chairman of the VdgB in Saxony-Anhalt . Since this first mandate-bearing mass organization in the Soviet occupation zone had a high influx of members and was a not insignificant political force in rural areas, its chairman was consequently given a seat on the presidium of the newly constituting German People's Council , the forerunner of the People's Chamber . Körting was also active in the forerunner of the GDR government, the German Economic Commission (DWK).

In March 1950 he was replaced as chairman of the main committee of the VdgB because of “incomprehensible attitude to questions of the democratization of the village”. In July 1950, Körting was expelled from the SED for alleged “reactionary activities” and lost his mandate in the state parliament. As an old Social Democrat, he fell victim to internal party purges under flimsy accusations. He was arrested in 1952 and spent a year in custody.

literature

• Martin Broszat , Gerhard Braas and Hermann Weber (eds.): SBZ manual. State administrations, parties, social organizations and their executives in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany 1945–1949 . 2nd Edition. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-486-55262-7 , p. 952.
• Friederike Sattler: Economic order in transition. Politics, organization and function of the KPD / SED in the state of Brandenburg during the establishment of the central planned economy in the Soviet Zone / GDR 1945–52 . LIT Verlag, Münster 2002, ISBN 3-8258-6321-2 , pp. 939f.
• Andreas Schmidt: "... ride with you or be thrown off". The compulsory unification of KPD and SPD in the province of Saxony / in the state of Saxony-Anhalt 1945–1949 (= research on the latest history , volume 2). LIT Verlag, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-8258-7066-9 , p. 510.
• Christina Trittel, State Center for Political Education Saxony-Anhalt (ed.): The members of the first state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt 1946–1950. The failure of democratic hope . Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 2007, ISBN 978-3-89812-444-7 , p. 63f.
• Siegfried Kuntsche, Helmut Müller-Enbergs :  Körting, Otto . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Web links

• Otto Körting's biography . In: Wilhelm H. Schröder : Social Democratic Parliamentarians in the German Reich and Landtag 1876–1933 (BIOSOP)