Helga Adler

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Helga Adler (born Helga Obuchoff: 21 December 1943) spent the earlier part of her career as an

build up to German reunification, but in November 1991 resigned, sidelined and disillusioned, from what had by then become the Party of Democratic Socialism,[2] Since then she been formally unaffiliated politically, but very far from uninterested.[3]

She has been a committed feminist through most of her career, and was the director of the Paula Panke Women's Centre ("Frauenzentrum Paula Panke e.V.") in Berlin-Pankow between 1998 and 2009.[4]

Life

Helga Obuchoff was born in

party dictatorship.[1] As a young mother in a war-ravaged country with a desperate shortage of working age males, Obuchoff's mother was able to benefit from education and other practical career support that would not have been available to German women of earlier generations, and later became the Operations Manager at Genthin's large sugar refinery.[3]

By the time she was old enough to attend secondary school, the education system had been reconfigured. Between 1950 and 1958 Obuchoff attended the Polytechnic Secondary School (Polytechnische Oberschule / POS) in Wernigerode and then, when the family relocated, moved on to the POS in Genthin. Between 1958 and 1962 she attended Genthin's well respected Extended Secondary School ("Erweiterte allgemeinbildende polytechnische Oberschule" / EOS) which was where, in 1962, she passed her School Final Exams (Abitur), opening the way to university level education.[1] However, her immediate next step, in 1962/63, was a training in Magdeburg as a draftswoman for the construction sector.[1]

It was only to be expected that, as the daughter of a dedicated party official, Helga Obuchoff had been a member of the party's youth wing, the

German Federal Republic (West Germany), such as the "new political platforms in the struggle against nuclear power" among which she identified students, women, gays and lesbians.[3]

1989 was a year of increasing street protests in East Germany, mirrored by a loss of self-confidence within the party leadership which reflected uncertainty over the extent to which any traditional hard-line government response to the protestors would be supported by

the leadership in Berlin.[3]

The

sad experiences back in 1953. This triggered a series of events which presaged political change and which, as matters turned out, culminated in German reunification, formally in October 1990. There were those who thought the survival of East Germany's ruling SED (party) in doubt. At the end of 1989 Helga Adler was one of those who took a lead in insisting that the old party could and must be reformed in order to preserve socialist values through an uncertain future, as part of which she took a lead in establishing what one source defines as the "Initiative Movement" ("Initiativbewegung") which was part of the process leading to the emergence of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), which as the discredited authoritarianism of the German Democratic Republic crumbled, could evolve into something better able to operate under democratic structures.[3] Between March 1990 and November 1991 Helga Adler served as a member of the PDS party executive ("Parteivorstand").[1] Within the leadership team, reflecting her years of academic research, she headed up the Commission on Foreign Policy, Pressure Groups and Labour Associations.[1] In February and March 1991 Helga Adler also served as spokesperson for the party executive.[1] Nevertheless, in November 1991 she resigned from all her party offices, also resigning her party membership. She complained of a monolithic approach by the new party leadership under Gregor Gysi, that left insufficient room for discussion, even though he was keen, for external consumption, to present the party as something colourful, diverse, feminine, punky and youthful ("... als etwas Buntes, Vielfältiges, Weibliches, Punkiges, Junges").[3] Several of the party's "more progressive" comrades resigned at the same time, apparently for broadly the same reasons.[2]

From December 1991 till the start of 1993 Adler worked as a researcher in "Netzwerk Wissenschaft" in Berlin. Between 1992 and 1999 she was a member of the executive board with the Marburg based Association of Democratic Scientists and Scholars ("Bund demokratischer Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler"), a left-leaning think tank / pressure group.[1] In 1997 she accepted the directorship of the Paula Panke Women's Centre ("Frauenzentrum Paula Panke e.V.") in Berlin-Pankow, running the centre with energy and commitment[6] till 2008[3] or 2009.[4] She also, in 1999, became spokeswoman for the "Berlin Women's Network" ("Berliner FrauenNetzwerk").[1]

Since 2011 Adler has represented The Left (party) in the Berlin-Pankow local council, although formally she remains unaffiliated politically.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Helmut Müller-Enbergs. "Adler, Helga geb. Obuchoff * 21.12.1943 PDS-Politikerin". Wer war wer in der DDR?. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin & Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Magdeburger Strudel: Die alte SED-Riege lähmt die PDS - Reformer geben resigniert auf". Der Spiegel (online). 9 December 1991. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Peter Steiniger (6 October 2009). "»Der Westen war für mich was ganz Schlimmes«  ..... Ein Gespräch mit Helga Adler. Über den Abfall vom Glauben, verpaßte Reformchancen in der DDR und weibliche Selbstbestimmung heute". linke perspektive This source includes a photo-portrait. junge Welt. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Projekte-Rückblick". Frauenzentrum Paula Panke e.V., Berlin. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Dr. Helga Adler Listenplatz 3 für die Bezirksverordnetenversammlung Pankow von Berlin". biographical summary in connection with 2011 local council election. This source includes a photo-portrait. Die Linke Landesverband Berlin – Landesvorstand. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  6. ^ Jan Thomsen (11 September 2007). "ZWEITER ARBEITSMARKT - Berlins Gegenmodell zum Ein-Euro-Job heißt "öffentlich geförderter Beschäftigungssektor". Mit Bundeshilfe will die rot-rote Koalition so Tausenden neue Arbeit und Perspektiven geben. Ob die Idee funktioniert, ist offen. Perspektiven zweiter Klasse". Berliner Zeitung. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
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