Anton Storch (1 April 1892 – 26 November 1975) was a German trade unionist, politician, a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the minister of labor from 1949 to 1957.

Early life

Storch was born in

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the city hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

, in 1892. He was trained as a carpenter and served in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Career

Storch was the functionary of Woodworker's Christian Trade Union from 1920 to 1933, trade union chairman of

Hanover region Hanover Region () is a districts of Germany, district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Heidekreis, Celle (district), Celle, Gifhorn (district), Gifhorn, Peine (district), Peine, Hildeshe ...

from 1931 to 1933 and insurance agent until 1939. From 1939 to 1945 he served as a member of air raid police. He contributed to the reestablishment of the trade unions in Hanover (British Zone) in 1945 and 1946. From 1946 to 1948, he served as the chief of department for social policy of British Zone trade unions. He became a member of Bizonal Economic Council in 1947 and was named its director of labor in 1948. He was the director of the workers' union (Verwaltung für Arbeit (VfA)) until 1949. He was a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and one of the CDU representatives in 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 ...

. He became a member of the Bundestag in 1949 and served there until 1965. In the party he served at the social affairs committee. Then he was appointed minister of labor and social affairs to the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

led by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman and politician who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of th ...

on 20 September 1949. He was in office until 29 October 1957 when

Theodor Blank Theodor Anton Blank (19 September 1905 – 14 May 1972) was a German politician of the CDU. He was one of the founders of the CDU in 1945. Blank was born in Elz an der Lahn. He was the third of ten children of a carpenter. His family was R ...

replaced him in the post.

Views

Storch was an advocate of "far-reaching social welfare programme" and of

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

political economy Political or comparative economy is a branch of political science and economics studying economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and national economies) and their governance by political systems (e.g. law, institutions, and government). Wi ...

. He argued that the reason for two world wars was the "exaggerated liberal-capitalistic economic order of the last one hundred years."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Storch, Anton 1892 births 1975 deaths Ministers of labor of Germany Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany Members of the Bundestag for Lower Saxony Members of the Bundestag 1961–1965 Members of the Bundestag 1957–1961 Members of the Bundestag 1953–1957 Members of the Bundestag 1949–1953 People from Fulda People of the Cold War Social affairs ministers of Germany