Adolf Schmidt (18 April 1925 – 26 November 2013) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

trade union leader and politician. Born in , Homberg, Schmidt became a mechanic at a coal mine, then in 1942 was drafted into the navy as a submarine mechanic. He was taken as a prisoner of war and released at the end of the war, returning to the pit. In 1947, he joined the

Union of Mining and Energy The Union of Mining and Energy (, IGBE) was a trade union in West Germany which existed from 1946 until 1997. History In the early 20th-century, there were several miners' unions in Germany, the most important being the Union of Miners of Germany. ...

(IG BE), and immediately won election to the works council at the mine. In 1949, he joined the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

(SPD), and the following year he studied in Frankfurt. In 1951, Schmidt began working full-time for IG BE, as its

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

youth secretary, then he successively ran the union's offices in

Breisgau The Breisgau () is an area in southwest Germany extending along the Rhine River and enveloping portions of the Black Forest. Part of the state of Baden-Württemberg, it centers on the city of Freiburg im Breisgau. The district of Breisgau-Hoch ...

and

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, before in 1965 he became head of the union's Hesse-Rhineland-Palatinate district, and also won election to its executive. In 1969, Schmidt was elected as the president of IG BE, on a platform of improving working conditions in coal mines, and preserving jobs in coal mining and at nuclear power stations. In 1971, he was additionally elected as president of the

Miners' International Federation The Miners' International Federation (MIF), sometimes known as the International Federation of Miners, was a global union federation of trade unions. History Wirtz (1962) documented that the Miners International Federation (MIF) 'had its origin i ...

, and in 1972 he was elected as an SPD member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

. Schmidt stood down from his international post in 1984, as president of the IG BE in 1985, and from the Bundestag in 1987.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Adolf 1925 births 2013 deaths Kriegsmarine personnel of World War II German trade unionists Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany German prisoners of war in World War II Works councillors