Gerhard Weisser

Gerhard Weisser
Born	9 February 1898 Lissa, Posen, Prussia, Germany
Died	25 October 1989 Bonn, West Germany
Occupation(s)	Social Scientist University researcher & teacher Co-architect of post-war SPD
Political party	SPD
Spouse	Dr. rer. pol. Gerda von Dresier und Scharfenstein (1896-1981)
Children	3 s., 1d.

Gerhard Weisser (9 February 1898 - 25 October 1989) was a social scientist, university teacher, Social Democrat and expert policy advisor. He was one of the founding fathers of the Godesberg Program which in 1959 relaunched the political centre-left in West Germany.

His academic work is closely associated with the so-called Lebenslage concept and not-for-profit housing.

Life

Growing up

Gerhard Weisser was born shortly before the end of the nineteenth century in Lissa, a mid-sized town in the Prussian Province of Posen. His father, Rudolf Weisser, was a district court official. He attended the "Humanist Gymnasium" (secondary school) in Magdeburg, passing his School final exams in 1917. While at school he became a member of the Wandervogel youth organisation. On leaving school he was conscripted into the army, but was released after a year when the war ended towards the end of 1918. He was released back into civilian life on 4 January 1919.

He now moved in to Göttingen where he studied social and economic sciences. He also worked intensively on philosophical aspects, initially coming under the influence of the Neo-Kantians surrounding the charismatic Leonard Nelson, with whom by the end of his time at Göttingen, Weisser would break decisively, reflecting both philosophical and personal differences between the two of them. He received high marks from his doctorate in 1923 for work on the theme of "Economic Policy as Science" ("Wirtschaftspolitik als Wissenschaft").

Early years

In 1923 Weisser took a post as a research assistant with the city council in Magdeburg. He was quickly promoted, becoming a deputy head of the city housing department. He was promoted again in 1927 when he became the Financial Director for the Municipal Executive ("Magistrat"). It was while he was working for the city council that he married, on 7 July 1924. His wife Gerda was the daughter of a senior military officer.

It was also during this period that he joined the Social Democratic Party: in 1930 he was elected mayor of Hagen, an industrial city in the west of the country. He was relieved of his office under the provisions of Paragraph 4 in the new Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service ("Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums") during 1933, after the Nazis took power and converted the German state into a one-party dictatorship. As a Social Democrat, Gerhard Weisser was a member of the "wrong" party. During the twelve Nazi years he worked for a succession of publishing businesses, at one stage employed as the Chief Executive Officer (Geschäftsführer) of Otto Schwartz & Co in Göttingen.

The doctorate he had received in 1923 had pointed the way for a future academic career, and after an unusually varied career in public service, local politics, and the private sector, Weisser returned to the academic world, obtaining a habilitation (higher academic qualification) from Rostock University in 1943 for a piece of work which was published only six years later, in 1949, under the title "Structure and nature of individual economies. Theory and strategy of their approaches" ("Form und Wesen der Einzelwirtschaften. Theorie und Politik ihrer Stile"). His qualification was not accompanied by a teaching permit. Two years later, on 19 February 1945, he submitted an application for a teaching position covering what had become a speciality, "Housing economics and community structures" ("Wohnungswirtschaft und Genossenschaftswesen"), but was turned down due to the war.

After the war

War ended in May 1945 and Weisser immediately took on the leadership of the regional finance end economics ministry in what was then the state of Braunschweig, most of which had ended up in the British occupation zone. On 6 March 1946, now based in Hamburg, he was elected General Secretary of the administrative advisory board ("Zonenbeirat") for the British zone. Later that year he became President of the General Association of communal housing development, a position he held on an honorary (unpaid) basis. In the meantime, still in the British occupation zone, between 1948 and 1950 he was Secretary of State in the Finance Ministry for North Rhine-Westphalia.

Directly after the war Weisser gave particular focus to monetary and currency matters. He was invited to participate in the meetings of the SPD (party) economic policy committee, chaired by de. The committee worked rapidly, and within it Weisser played a leading role in producing what became the detailed party manifesto proposal, presented at Hanover to the crisis wracked first postwar SPD party conference in May 1946.

Cologne university

In 1950 Weisser finally accepted an academic post, becoming Professor for Social Policy and Communal Methods ("Sozialpolitik und Genossenschaftswesen") at Cologne. Between 1954 and 1970 he also served as chairman of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation which had been relaunched after the war. Following his retirement from this post he would remain honorary president till his death. During the 1950s he was also working for the SPD Basic Values Commission ("der SPD-Grundwertekommission") and precursor programme commissions to the Godesberg Program, of which at least one source decribes him as the "spiritual father".

Acrive retirement

WEisser retired in 1966 and went back to Göttingen, where he taught as an honorary professor. In the same year, jointly with de, he founded the Research Institute for Social Policy and Social Sciences Consultancy ("Forschungsinstitut für Gesellschaftspolitik und beratende Sozialwissenschaft e.V." - but subsequently renamed).

„Forschungsinstitut für Gesellschaftspolitik und beratende Sozialwissenschaft e.V.“ (heute: „Institut für beratende Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften – Gerhard-Weisser-Institut e.V.“),

Nach der Emeritierung

Nachdem Weisser 1966 emeritiert wurde, ging er nach Göttingen, um hier als Honorarprofessor zu lehren. Im gleichen Jahr gründete Weisser zusammen mit Friedrich Karrenberg und anderen das „Forschungsinstitut für Gesellschaftspolitik und beratende Sozialwissenschaft e.V.“ (heute: „Institut für beratende Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften – Gerhard-Weisser-Institut e.V.“), dessen wissenschaftlicher Direktor er wurde. 1968 erhielt Weisser das Bundesverdienstkreuz mit Stern. 1983 verlieh ihm die Fakultät der Sozialwissenschaft der Ruhr-Universität Bochum die Ehrendoktorwürde. Im Oktober 1989 verstarb er in Bonn. Er war mit Gerda von Dresler und Scharfenstein (1896–1981), einer Tochter des Generals der Infanterie und Pour le Mérite-Trägers Hermann von Dresler und Scharfenstein verheiratet, die er bereits in der Wandervogelzeit kennenlernte. Das Ehepaar hatte vier Kinder.