Roman Chwalek

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Roman Chwalek laying the foundation stone for the University of Transport, Dresden 1954

Roman Chwalek (born July 24, 1898 in Woinowitz , † November 27, 1974 in Berlin ) was a German trade union official and politician ( SED ). He was Minister of Labor and Minister of Railways in the GDR .

Life

The son of a railroad worker and head of a small railway station in Upper Silesia completed an apprenticeship as a locksmith in a machine factory from 1912 to 1914 . From 1915 to 1918 he was a soldier in World War I , most recently as a non-commissioned officer . From 1919 to 1930 he worked as a fitter in the Reichsbahn repair shop in Opole , where he became a member of the forerunner organization of the Union of German Railway Workers and in 1926 was elected chairman of the works council. In 1923 he became a member of the district works council of the Reichsbahndirektion Opole and in 1927 a member of the main works council of the Reichsbahn . At the same time he was a member of the ADGB -Ortskatell Opole .

In 1918 Chwalek joined the USPD , with the left wing of which he moved to the KP Oberschlesien in 1920 and to the KPD in 1922 . Chwalek took on various functions for the KPD, including a member of the local group and district leadership of Upper Silesia. At times he was an employee of the trade union department of the Central Committee of the KPD. From 1924 to 1930 he was also a city councilor for the KPD in Opole. In the course of the beginning politics of the Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition (RGO), Chwalek took over the position of Reichsleiter of the RGO's Railway Industry Group from 1929 to the end of 1932. From 1930 to 1933 Chwalek was also a member of the Reichstag for the KPD.

On July 13, 1925, he married Martha Wende .

Chwalek took an active part in leading positions in the communist resistance. Above all, he developed extensive illegal activity for the RGO in the first months of National Socialism. From the beginning of 1933 he took over the function of Reich Organization Leader in the illegal RGO Reich Committee. On September 1, 1933, he was arrested in Berlin. Chwalek came into custody and was temporarily incarcerated in Columbia concentration camp . On August 21, 1934, the People's Court sentenced him to three years in prison for “preparing to commit high treason ” . Chwalek served his sentence until April 21, 1937 in Luckau prison. The Gestapo then took him into “ protective custody ”, which is why he was transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp , where Chwalek was imprisoned until May 1939. In September 1939 he was briefly re-imprisoned in connection with the outbreak of the Second World War. He then worked as a locksmith in Berlin-Neukölln until 1945 . At the beginning of 1945 the Gestapo again took Chwalek into custody for allegedly illegal political activity, but he was no longer brought to justice because the war was approaching.

After the end of the war, Chwalek helped build the FDGB in Berlin from May 1945 . He became first chairman of the FDGB district board in Berlin and between 1949 and 1951 led the IG Eisenbahn in the Soviet Zone / GDR . In 1946 he joined the SED , where he took on a number of functions. Chwalek was a member of the city ​​council of Greater Berlin from 1946 to 1948 and a member of the People's Chamber from 1949 to 1954 .

In November 1950 he was appointed Minister for Labor in the 2nd Grotewohl government (successor to Luitpold Steidle ). In April 1953 he was entrusted with the formation of a railway ministry and on May 1, 1953 appointed Minister for Railway Affairs (successor to Hans Reingruber ). When the 3rd Grotewohl government was formed in November 1954 , he had to hand over this office to his previous deputy Erwin Kramer . From November 1954 until his retirement in 1968 he was on the board of the Association of German Consumer Cooperatives , most recently from 1957 as the first deputy of the president.

Chwalek was in the grave conditioning Pergolenweg the memorial of the socialists at the Berlin Central Cemetery Friedrichsfelde buried.

Awards

Publications

  • Berlin trade unions. Your role and responsibilities. Berlin 1948.
  • Current trade union issues in Berlin 1948. Berlin 1948.
  • The tasks of the railway workers in the struggle for peace. Berlin 1950.

literature

Web links

Commons : Roman Chwalek  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Portrait of the new railway minister in Berliner Zeitung from June 13, 1953.
  2. ↑ Cf. Stefan Heinz : Moscow's mercenaries? The “Unified Association of Metal Workers in Berlin”: Development and failure of a communist union . Hamburg 2010, p. 325 ff.
  3. ^ New Germany of April 18, 1953.
  4. ^ New Times from May 1, 1953.
  5. ^ New Germany of November 20, 1954.
  6. ↑ Grandstand from September 22, 1972.
  7. ↑ SIGNAL 3-04 / 1996 (May 1996), pages 9-13
personal data
SURNAME Chwalek, novel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politicians (USPD, KPD, SED), MdR, MdV, Minister for Labor of the GDR
DATE OF BIRTH July 24, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Woinowitz , Upper Silesia
DATE OF DEATH November 27, 1974
Place of death Berlin