Reiner Weinert
Mittelweg 36
Mittelweg 36
Eurozine
The last progressive union leader - Hermann Rappe
Reiner Weinert
The article discusses the career of Hermann Rappe, head of the German trade union of the chemical industry. Rappe is a "labor statesman" and a German patriot, a dedicated anti-communist as well as a passionate trade union leader representing the German model of elite consensus. He belonged to the generation that built postwar Germany. The carreer of Rappe exemplifies some general mechanisms of elite selection in German trade unions. Finally his role in developing the special social partnership for the chemical industry is discussed, and his struggle for a chemical industry in East Germany after unification.