Heinz Dürrbeck: Erneuerer mit alten Zielen

Abstract

Heinz Dürrbeck (1912–2001), from 1954 to 1975 member of the board of the IG Metall, was one of the linking generation (“Brückengeneration”), connecting the experiences of the “old” labour movement before 1933 with the new conditions of trade union politics after World War II. He made many efforts to organise the low unionized employees and he improved the educational system of the union by expanding the institutions and training particular shop stewards capable of instructing the union members (“Bildungsobleute”). To this end he cooperated with young social scientists like Oskar Negt and Michael Schumann, most of them members of the SDS (German Socialist Students Union). In 1975 he was suspected of being a spy of the GDR; he escaped to Italy and later to Hungary.