BRAUNS, HEINRICH
Publié le 22/02/2012
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BRAUNS, HEINRICH (1868–1939), priest and politician; Labor Minister
and promoter of the Christian Labor Movement (Christliche Gewerkschaftsbewegung).
Born to a Cologne tailor, he studied theology at Bonn and returned
to Cologne during 1886–1890 for seminary studies. In 1900, after a decade as
a pastor, he turned to social work with the Volksverein fu¨r das katholische
Deutschland, a Catholic* group headquartered in Mu¨nchen-Gladbach. Dubbed
the ‘‘red Chaplain,'' he split his time between social work and studies that led
in 1905 to a doctorate in political science. He was soon in charge of the Volksverein
and became a prewar leader of the Catholic labor movement.
Brauns enjoyed key contacts in the Center Party,* and his political interest
was activated by the war. He entered the National Assembly* in 1919 and the
Reichstag* in 1920 (he retained his seat until March 1933). Respected for his
social convictions, he assumed the Labor Ministry in June 1920 under Konstantin
Fehrenbach.* Because he was Fehrenbach's third choice for the post,
few expected him to retain office for long. But whereas Fehrenbach resigned in
1921, Brauns held his portfolio for eight years. As Chancellors came and went,
he became known as ‘‘Heinrich the Eternal'' (Heinrich der Ewige), using his
office to advance tenets held as Volksverein leader—among them, greater parity
in the workplace. To level class differences, he created factory committees with
representatives from labor and management. That his agenda came to naught
was due less to his work than to political and economic changes; throughout
the thirteen successive cabinets to which he belonged, the environment steadily
shifted to the Right. Although he opposed the Center's left wing for fear of
binding the Party too closely to the SPD, as a leader of the Volksverein (liquidated
in 1930), he was widely identified with the Left. Coalition politics forced
his replacement in June 1928.
Brauns soon became chairman of the Reichstag's social policy committee, a
responsibility he held until January 1933. Engaged in public speaking from
1928, he focused his lectures on social and political issues. During 1929–1931
he led the German delegation to meetings of the International Workers Conference
in Geneva; Heinrich Bru¨ning,* meanwhile, asked him to lead the Commission
of Investigation into the World Economic Crisis. He refused to run for
reelection in March 1933, and his work with the Catholic workers' movement
was soon proscribed by the NSDAP.
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