People's Association for Catholic Germany
The Volksverein for Catholic Germany was founded on October 24th, 1890 by the Mönchengladbach entrepreneur Franz Brandts and the Catholic clergyman Franz Wärme with significant involvement of the central politicians Ludwig Windthorst and Franz von Ballestrem and was based on Christian- social ideas. After the original establishment in Cologne , the founding members decided to move the central office of the Volksverein to Mönchengladbach , the place of residence of the first chairman Franz Brandt. Important politicians like Helene Weber were significantly influenced by the Volksverein and were involved in it.
Goals and activity
The association should work against the social democratic worldview through broad adult education . Initially, the club management tried to solve the problem of popular education through the spoken word, lectures, meetings and working groups such as courses, courses and exercises. Later, the Volksverein also worked towards this goal through leaflets, magazines and books, which were distributed millions of times. The Volksvereinshaus in Paderborn was used for practical work in courses and working groups . Here and in Mönchengladbach, the Volksverein trained numerous leaders of the Catholic workers' associations , Christian trade unions and craftsmen's associations, many of whom later, as trade union secretaries and politicians, helped to ensure that social issues in particular were increasingly taken up by the center and that these electoral groups could be kept at the center. During the Empire, the Volksverein served de facto as a substitute for the often inadequate or even missing organization of the Center Party.
The low annual fee of 1 Reichsmark promoted the creation of a mass association. At its peak shortly before World War I , it had 805,000 members and 15,000 volunteers. Above all, the people's association offices, with their assistance in all matters relating to social laws and administrative problems, as well as the countless meetings on political, religious, social and medical issues, ensured that the association was extraordinarily effective among the Catholic population. Since the Volksverein also contributed to the democratization of Catholic associations, trained laypeople and increased their self-confidence, as well as clearly taking a position in favor of those willing to open up in the center and trade union dispute, some bishops hindered the association's work in their dioceses. The main focus of the Volksverein was in the Ruhr area , Rhineland , Westphalia and Emsland , probably the stronghold of the association at the national level.
organization
The scientific and organizational work was done in the central office of the Volksverein in Mönchengladbach. It was supported by the social science library of the Volksverein, also in Mönchengladbach, which with 74,000 volumes and 420 current journals was one of the largest social science libraries in Europe.
The so-called Lichtbilderei GmbH attached to the central office produced exemplary series of photographs for all areas of knowledge, education and entertainment. A group of seasoned professionals directed the publication of non-profit publications for agriculture, horticulture, household and personal care. All publishing works were produced in our own printing house, which was modern for the time. She also printed the many magazines published by the Volksverein. Several publishers, bookstores and art workshops joined the huge, widely branched company.
From 1909 Anton Heinen was one of the apologists and authors of the Mönchengladbach headquarters .
Crisis during the Weimar Republic
After the revolution of 1918 , the Volksverein took a short-term upswing through the fight against the first decrees of the USPD Minister Adolph Hoffmann , which were hostile to the Church and religion , but then the great mass effectiveness that the association had had in the German Empire waned to regain strength after the crisis years of the Weimar Republic. Many leaders of the people's association, such as the head and long-time Minister of Labor, Dr. Heinrich Brauns , had gone into politics as experts for the Center Party. The training of executives had led to the fact that numerous new Catholic associations emerged or flourished and took away the members and local leaders from the Volksverein, especially since they also took over old functions of the association. In many regions the Center Party built up its own organization, so that the work of the People's Association so far became superfluous. Elsewhere in the Sauerland , for example , the Christian trade unions increasingly took on the educational tasks of the association. There were also financial problems caused by inflation and mismanagement at headquarters. The fight against radicalism, especially against the National Socialists , brought new life to the association. For example, since 1932 numerous local groups have been revived in Emsland and many new members have been recruited.
Prohibition and afterlife
Before its activity was banned by the National Socialists in 1933, the Volksverein had over 6,000 local groups in Germany. The extensive library of the Volksverein could be saved and was incorporated into the Mönchengladbach city library.
The ideas of the people's association became the guiding principle for Christian social work. After National Socialism, the Mönchengladbach Volksverein followed suit .
literature
- Detlef Grothmann, "Association of Clubs"? The People's Association for Catholic Germany in the Spectrum of Political and Social Catholicism of the Weimar Republic (= Paderborn Historical Research, Vol. 9), Cologne 1997.
- Horstwalter Heitzer, The People's Association for Catholic Germany in the Empire 1890-1918 (= publications of the Commission for Contemporary History, Series B. Vol. 26), Bonn 1979.
- Heinz Kleene, The People's Association for Catholic Germany in Emsland, in: Yearbook of the Emsländischen Heimatbund, Vol. 52/2006, Sögel 2005, pp. 155–176.
- Gotthard Klein, The People's Association for Catholic Germany 1890-1933. History, meaning, decline (= publications by the Commission for Contemporary History, Series B: Research, Vol. 75), Paderborn u. a. 1996.
- Dirk H. Müller, Workers - Catholicism - State: The People's Association for Catholic Germany and the Catholic Workers' Organizations in the Weimar Republic (= Politics and Social History, Vol. 3), Bonn 1996.
- Wolfgang Löhr, The People's Association for Catholic Germany (= witnesses to the urban past, Volume 26). Mönchengladbach 2009.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cf. the call for founding, in: Collection of sources for the history of German social policy 1867 to 1914 , III. Department: Development and differentiation of social policy since the beginning of the New Course (1890-1904) , Volume 1, Basic Questions of Social Policy , edited by Wolfgang Ayaß , Darmstadt 2016, No. 54.
- ↑ Cf. the printing of some pamphlets or leaflets in: Collection of sources for the history of German social policy 1867 to 1914 , III. Department: Expansion and differentiation of social policy since the beginning of the New Course (1890-1904) , Volume 1, Basic Questions of Social Policy , edited by Wolfgang Ayaß, Darmstadt 2016, No. 66, No. 99 and No. 120.