Union of Art

The Union of Art (German: Gewerkschaft Kunst) was a trade union representing art, media and heritage workers in East Germany.

The union was founded in 1949, when the Free German Trade Union Federation (FDGB) reorganised. The Union of Art and Literature was split up, with workers in theatre, film, television, orchestras, choirs, dance, cabaret, museums, memorials, palaces, gardens, and the visual arts, placed in the new Union of Stage, Art, Film and Music. It initially had 56,400 members. In 1951, it shortened its name to the "Union of Art".[1]

In 1953, the presidency of the union was made an honorary position, with the actual leadership coming from the vice president: Walter Maschke until 1959, then Heinz Schnabel until 1971, and Herbert Bischoff. In 1975, the presidency ceased being honorary, with Bischoff being promoted to it.[1]

Membership of the union grew only slowly, reaching 60,000 by 1964,[2] and 82,557 in 1989.

In October 1989, a group of artists in East Berlin called for protests against the ruling regime. The union decided to back the Alexanderplatz demonstration, held on 4 October, which led Bischoff to resign as president. It became independent in March 1990, and renamed itself as the Union of Art, Culture and Media. It dissolved in October, with members transferred to the Media Union.[1]

Presidents
1950: Kurt Pfannschmidt
1953: Heinrich Allmeroth
1959: Konrad Wolf
1966: Hans-Peter Minetti
1975: Herbert Bischoff
1989: Walfriede Schmitt
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gollark: Of course, if I were you, I would have predicted that issue and produced a fake list as a bluff. Since by the seventh gollarious axiom you may be me at any time, you did, so I have to ignore that, since it contains no useful information.
gollark: Indeed.
gollark: It's not 1 in 11. If I have my own ideas for which is which and they roughly align with yours, I can leverage that to approximately *find* yours.
gollark: Surely you can just line up the gap in it and find out where you are.

References
  1. "Gew. Kunst (1949-90) - Gew. Kunst, Kultur, Medien (1990)". FDGB-Lexikon. Freidrich Ebert Stiftung. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  2. Wirtz, W. Willard (1965). Directory of Labor Organizations, Europe. Washington DC: United State Bureau of International Labor Affairs. pp. 11.1–11.7.
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