Association of German Professional Firemen

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The Association of German Professional Firemen (VDB) was a trade union organization of members of the professional fire departments in Germany . It existed from 1908 until the unions were broken up in 1933.

Founding time

The association to represent the interests of the professional fire brigade's ranks in particular was founded on October 1st, 1908. The initiative came from members of the Dortmund fire brigade . It was also founded there. In the beginning there were 13 local associations with 877 members. Co-initiator Max Laaser became chairman . Laaser was basically loyal to the emperor. But since he repeatedly came into conflict with the conservative right of coalition, he left the Dortmund professional fire brigade in 1909 and worked for the factory fire brigade of the Hüstener union . From 1909 the journal “Der Berufsfeuerwehrmann” appeared as an association organ. Like other union organizations of public employees, there was strong resistance from the authorities, in particular from Berlin fire director Maximilian Reichel and from Berlin police chief Traugott von Jagow . Because of this, the entry of the Berlin professional firefighters failed. In 1911 the association had a total of almost 3,000 members. In 1913 there were over 4,000. As early as 1912, efforts were made to join the social democratically oriented free trade unions . This failed, among other things, because of the chairman's resistance. The efforts exacerbated the conflict with von Jagow. Ultimately, he asked the Minister of the Interior to dissolve the association because of “social democratic activities”. The denial of the right of association by von Jagow occupied the Prussian state parliament several times . There was actually a certain closeness to social democracy among some members and functionaries. The professional firefighters often came from the skilled workforce. Quite a few were secretly SPD members. It was only towards the end of the First World War that the rejection by the authorities began to change.

Time of the Weimar Republic

After the November Revolution guaranteed Weimar Constitution and the right of association of civil servants. The VDB did not join the German Association of Officials, which was founded in 1918 . Rather, the Association Day of 1919 decided to join a free trade union top organization. Paul Neumann from Berlin became chairman, Laaser became the first salaried association secretary. The seat of the association became Berlin. First he joined the trade union federation of municipal officials and employees of Prussia in 1920 . A short time later the trade union federation dissolved again. Therefore, the VDB joined the free trade union ADGB on April 1, 1921 . After the founding of the General German Civil Service Federation in 1922 as the new top free trade union organization for civil servants 'associations, the civil servants' section of the VBD also joined it. At times the association organized 90% of the professional fire fighters. In the same year the VDB also joined the working group of municipal workers. In 1924 the VDB became a member of the Prussian Fire Brigade Advisory Board. The VDB tried on the one hand by cooperation in cartels, on the other hand by rejecting mergers with larger organizations to maintain its independence.

Chairman Neumann's social-democratic course met with resistance from members with a German national and communist orientation, particularly in Berlin. Also because of a dispute over contributions, numerous Berlin members resigned in 1928. After the establishment of the General Association of Employees in Public Enterprises and the Movement of People and Goods in 1929, the VDB also joined it as the Reich Fire Department. He played only a very small role numerically in the umbrella organization. At the end of the 1920s, it comprised 6,000 municipal professional firefighters. This meant a degree of organization of 60%. Among the members of the plant fire brigade, it was even 72%. The accession led to a loss of membership, especially among communist-oriented firefighters in Hamburg. Relations with other fire service organizations were tense because the VDB also criticized the mostly conservative associations. The association advocated the dismantling of military-like elements in the fire brigades and the assumption of professional fire brigades in municipal responsibility where this was not the case.

Since 1931, the number of National Socialist company cells in the professional fire departments has increased more and more. The NSDAP instructed its members to record the active trade unionists in a file. After the resolution of the Enabling Act , chairman Erich Grollmus rejected the adaptation to the new political situation at the beginning of April 1933. He was removed from active duty and had to give up his home. After the unions were broken up on May 1, 1933, many VDB officials were also dismissed from the professional fire services.

literature

  • Andreas Linhardt: Fire brigades in air protection 1926–1945. The restructuring of public fire fighting in Germany from the point of view of civil air protection. Braunschweig, 2002 pp. 50-54
  • Horst Tüttelmann: A hundred years of the fire service union. From the Association of German Professional Fire Fighters to the Fire Brigade Section in ver.di. Berlin, 2008 PDF file