Hans Böckler was a German politician and union leader.

Biography

Böckler was born in Trautskirchen

Trautskirchen

Trautskirchen is a municipality in the district of Neustadt -Bad Windsheim in Bavaria in Germany....

 near Neustadt an der Aisch

Neustadt an der Aisch

Neustadt an der Aisch is a small town in the northern part of Bavaria , within the Franconian administrative region Middle Franconia,...

 and grew up in a family with limited means. When his father died in 1888 he quit school and worked as an apprentice Goldbeater

Goldbeating

Goldbeating is the process of hammering gold into an extremely thin unbroken sheet for use in gilding.- History :5,000 years ago, Egyptian artisans recognized the extraordinary durability and malleability of gold and became the first goldbeaters and gilders. They pounded gold using a round stone to...

 to support his family. In 1894 he joined the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands and the Deutscher Metallarbeiter Verband

IG Metall

IG Metall is the dominant metalworkers' union in Germany. Analysts of German labor relations consider it a major trend-setter in national bargaining. As a metalworkers' union, it represents workers in the motor vehicle industry...

.

From 1914 to 1915 he fought in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. He was badly injured and relieved from military service. He worked for the unions in Danzig, Kattowitz und Siegen until the end the war.

From 1924 to 1926 he was Stadtverordneter of the SPD in Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

. In 1928 he was elected to the Reichstag

Reichstag (Weimar Republic)

The Reichstag was the parliament of Weimar Republic .German constitution commentators consider only the Reichstag and now the Bundestag the German parliament. Another organ deals with legislation too: in 1867-1918 the Bundesrat, in 1919–1933 the Reichsrat and from 1949 on the Bundesrat...

 where he remained until 1933.

In 1945 he was instrumental in the reorganisation of the unions in the British Zone of Occupation

Bizone

The Bizone, or Bizonia was the combination of the American and the British occupation zones in 1947 during the occupation of Germany after World War II. With the addition of the French occupation zone in March 1948, the entity became the Trizone...

. In April 1947 several unions joined to form the Gewerkschaftsbund in der britischen Besatzungszone and elected Böckler as the president. In 1949 he became the first president of the Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB).

On January 25, 1951 Böckler signed an agreement about the Co-determination with German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer

Konrad Adenauer

Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...

.

He died of a heart attack in Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...

. The Hans-Böckler-Stiftung is named after him.

Works

• 1906: Es werde Licht! In ernster Zeit - Ein ernstes Wort an die Hüttenleute und Metallarbeiter im Saargebiet - Verlag von J. Böckler, Saarbrücken

Literature

• Ulrich Borsdorf: Hans Böckler. Arbeit und Leben eines Gewerkschafters von 1875 bis 1945. Köln: Bund-Verlag, 1982. ISBN 3-7663-0497-6
• Joachim Heinz, Die Hunde des Herren führen ein schöneres Leben als Ihr, St. Ingbert 1992
• Hans Böckler, Ein Leben für die Gewerkschaft, Köln 1950

External links

• Hans-Böckler-Stiftung