Luise Ermisch (born Luise Thürmer; 20 May 1916 in

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

– 17 January 2001 in

Mühlhausen Mühlhausen () is a city in the north-west of Thuringia, Germany, north of Niederdorla, the country's geographical centre, north-west of Erfurt, east of Kassel and south-east of Göttingen. Mühlhausen was first mentioned in 967 and ...

(

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

) was a German political activist and later a senior politician in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), who balanced her political career with an ongoing involvement in the clothing industry. She became known for the "Luise Ermisch Method" (''"Luise-Ermisch-Methode"''), an approach to industrial production involving detailed planning that subdivided the manufacturing process into individual work station segments and allowed for quantity and quality of output to be precisely measured, evaluated, bench-marked and attributed. The resulting statistical output could be used to feed a system of incentives and rewards. Because East Germany operated with a centrally directed

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with t ...

, it was possible to disseminate the "Luise Ermisch Method" relatively easily.

Life

The daughter of a master butcher, Ermisch was apprenticed in the dress-making business between 1930 and 1933, after which a period of unemployment followed. Between 1937 and 1939 she was working as a seamstress. During the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

she was conscripted to work as a welder until 1945. After the war she worked as a seamstress in the

VEB VEB may stand for: * Venturing and Emerging Brands, a division of Coca-Cola * Virtual business * Venezuelan , currency of Venezuela between 1879 and 2007, ISO 4217 code VEB * ' (German for "People-owned enterprise"), a state-owned workplace or est ...

VEB = Volkseigener Betrieb = (literally) Peoples' Own Business/Operation Halle Dress factory. She joined the Free German Trade Union Federation (FDGB /''"Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund"'') in 1947. She then, in 1949, received further training at the FDGB's regional school and at the Technical High School in

Neugersdorf Neugersdorf ( hsb, Nowe Jěžercy) is a town in the district Görlitz, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the border with the Czech Republic, 4 km south of Ebersbach, and 17 km northwest of Zittau. Since 1 Janu ...

. She became a member of the trades union leadership and was a co-founder of the first "Brigade of Outstanding Quality" (''"Brigade der ausgezeichneten Qualität"''). By now she was marked out as a political activist, and in 1950 she joined the country's ruling SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany/''Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands'') From 1954 Luise Ermisch started to roll out the "Luise Ermisch Method" to deconstruct industrial production process within the framework of socialist competition principles. Within a factory an operating plan was developed to breakdown and identify production quantities and quality for each individual worker and team. When quantities and quality had been identified and valued the results were used to identify recipients of awards. Between 1951 and 1971 Ermisch was responsible for operations at the Halle Dress Factory, after which, until her retirement in 1976, she took over the

Mühlhausen Dress Factory. In 1966 she undertook a correspondence course that qualified her as a Clothing Industry Engineer. Between 1966 and 1970 she served as the Chairman of the Clothing Industry Business Council. Ermisch's political appointments during the 1950s appeared to place her in positions of very considerable influence. Between 1954 and 1981 she was a member of the party's central committee. From 1958 till 1963 she was the Politburo candidate for the party's central committee. Between 1950 and 1981 she sat as a deputy in the People's Chamber (''"Volkskammer"''/ national legislature). Her good standing with the political establishment was confirmed in 1960 when she was sent for advanced training to the Communist Party High School (''"Высшая партийная школа"'') in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. From 1960 till 1963 she was a member of the

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative autho ...

Recognition

Ermisch was awarded a number of high level awards: *

Hero of Labour (GDR) The title Hero of Labor (german: Held der Arbeit) was awarded by the German Democratic Republic for supporting the socialist economy, usually by increasing factory output or agricultural yields. It was instituted on 19 April 1950 and was limited t ...

(1950) *

Banner of Labor The Banner of Labor () was an order issued in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was given for "excellent and long-standing service in strengthening and consolidating the GDR, especially for achieving outstanding results for the national ec ...

(1955) * Patriotic Order of Merit (Bronze) (1966) *

Order of Karl Marx The Order of Karl Marx () was the most important order in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The award of the order also included a prize of 20,000 East German marks. The order was founded on May 5, 1953 on the occasion of Karl Marx's 135th ...

(1976)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ermisch, Luise 1916 births 2001 deaths People from Halle (Saale) People from the Province of Saxony Candidate members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany Members of the State Council of East Germany Members of the 1st Volkskammer Members of the 2nd Volkskammer Members of the 3rd Volkskammer Members of the 4th Volkskammer Members of the 5th Volkskammer Members of the 6th Volkskammer Members of the 7th Volkskammer Democratic Women's League of Germany members Free German Trade Union Federation members Female members of the Volkskammer 20th-century German women politicians Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze Recipients of the Banner of Labor

Life

Recognition

Further reading

References