Renate Fölsch

Renate Klara Fölsch (née Röske, later Wilimek, born April 22, 1938 in Breslau ) was President of the Reichsbahndirektion Schwerin from 1982 to 1990 and a member of the People's Chamber ( FDGB ) from 1981 to 1990 .

education and profession

After attending the eight-class school in Wusterhausen / Dosse , Renate Fölsch completed an apprenticeship as a skilled worker for operations and transport services at Neustadt (Dosse) train station from 1952 to 1955 , which was followed by studies at the Gotha engineering school .

From 1960 Fölsch acted as head of service at the Bützow station , from 1962 as dispatcher and chief instructor of the political department at the Güstrow Reichsbahnamt . From 1965 to 1975 she was in charge of the Reichsbahnamt Güstrow. She was the first woman in this position in the history of the Deutsche Reichsbahn . While she was working in Güstrow, Fölsch completed a distance learning course to become a social scientist at the SED party college "Karl Marx" in Berlin .

In 1975, at the age of 37, Renate Fölsch was appointed Vice President for Transport Organization and Vehicles, and finally on November 3, 1982, GDR Transport Minister Otto Arndt appointed President of the Reich Railway Directorate in Schwerin . She was also the first woman to be appointed to these positions, which according to the linguistic usage in the GDR were exclusively male. Her work as president of the board of directors included:

• the electrification of the Neustrelitz – Warnemünde line , which was completed in 1985, and other lines (such as Ludwigslust – Wismar , completed in 1987);
• the elimination of damage to the superstructure caused by the use of Baltic gravel in the manufacture of railway sleepers ( see alkali-silica reaction );
• the new construction of the railway bridge over the Elbe near Wittenberge, which was completed in 1987 after a five-year construction period;
• the organization of travel to the seaside resorts on the Baltic Sea and freight traffic to the seaports;
• the commissioning of automated block stations at the Deutsche Reichsbahn in Grünhof (between Grabow and Ludwigslust on the Hamburger Bahn ) and in Kassow (between Bützow and Schwaan on the Bad Kleinen – Rostock railway ) in 1988;
• the revival of east-west travel after the opening of the inner-German border on November 9, 1989.

On October 12, 1990, Fölsch, who had been promoted to main director of the Reichsbahn in 1987, was removed as president of the Reichsbahn directorate in Schwerin. She then worked in the General Directorate of the Deutsche Reichsbahn in Berlin with the harmonization of the fitness and rescue regulations between the German Reichsbahn and the German Federal Railroad . On December 31, 1993, Renate Fölsch left the railway service at her own request. Until 2000, she ran a guesthouse in Berlin-Köpenick together with her husband .

Political career

Fölsch became a member of the SED in 1962 , from 1967 to 1969 she was a member of the Güstrow district leadership. In addition, she was involved in the Free German Trade Union Confederation (FDGB) and in its federal executive committee. In 1987 she took part in the World Congress of Women in Moscow for the Democratic Women's Association of Germany .

In 1981 she became a member of the People's Chamber for the constituency of Oranienburg - Nauen . She was a member of the FDGB parliamentary group and the committee for industry, construction and transport. In 1986 she came back to the People's Chamber, this time for the constituency of Rügen . During the peaceful revolution in the GDR in 1989/90, Renate Fölsch appealed to the railroad workers for the maintenance and renewal of the "socialist society". She was one of the signatories of the appeal “ For our country ”.

Private

Renate Fölsch claims to be the daughter of Werner Hahues. She has been married to the farmer Hans-Joachim Fölsch (* 1930) since 1959. The marriage had two children. Today Fölsch lives in Alt Schwerin .

Others

In 1988 Fölsch was portrayed in a documentary by Südwestfunk Baden-Baden ( German Women's Life 1945–1988 - a documentary about women in the FRG and the GDR ). In 2008 her autobiography was published by a small publishing house in Schwerin.

Awards

• 1962 Honored Railway Worker
• 1974 Hero of Labor

swell

• Renate Fölsch: Unique on the German railways - a woman as President of the Reichsbahndirektion Schwerin (Writings on the History of Mecklenburg, Volume 22). Publishing house K.-U. Keubke, Schwerin 2008. ISBN 978-3-00-024262-5
• Rita Pawlowski: “Our women stand by their husbands” - women in the People's Chamber of the GDR 1950 to 1989: A biographical handbook. trafo Wissenschaftsverlag, Berlin 2008. ISBN 978-3-89626-652-1 . Page 69
• The People's Chamber of the German Democratic Republic. 9th legislative term. State publisher of the GDR. Berlin (East) 1987. ISBN 3-329-00119-4 . Page 264

Individual evidence

1. ↑ On Hahues see Werner Hahues as "unbek. Flieger" buried - www.plettenberg-lexikon.de (accessed on April 5, 2011).