Theodor Lohmann

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Theodor Christian Lohmann (born October 18, 1831 in Winsen an der Aller, died August 31, 1905 in Tabarz/Thüringer Wald) was a 19th century German administration lawyer and social reformer, second in importance only to Otto von Bismarck in the formation of the German social insurance system. He is considered to be one of the major forces advocating for legislation for occupational safety and health, as co-architect of Bismarck's social security and as a seminal figure in the relation of Diakonie and social politics.

Private life, education and early career

Theodor Lohmann grew up as the seventh of eight children in an Evangelisch-Lutheran household. His father, Ernst Heinrich Lohmann (1797–1856), was a merchant and owner of a brickyard. His mother, Johanna Juliana Lohmann (born Hardegen), died early. Thedodor Lohmann attended the Gymnasium in Celle and from 1850 studied jurisprudence and political science at the University of Göttingen. After graduation he became a member of the Burschenschaft Germania of Göttingen, a special form of fraternity. Four years later Lohmann entered the civil service of the Kingdom of Hanover. In 1858 he passed the second Staatsexamen. Subsequently he was active in different roles in the royal administration of Hanover.

In 1862 Theodor Lohmann married Louise Wyneken (1839–1879), and the couple had three children. In private life he engaged himself with the development of the inner mission in Hanover. Together with the theologian Gerhard Uhlhorn and others he played an important role in the establishment of the Evangelischer Verein ("Evangelisch Association") and the Stephansstift, a Hanover fund created in 1869 for the promotion of religious freedom. He belonged to the ?????? faction of the regional Evangelisch-Lutheran church in Hanover and was involved in the assistance of youth and old people as well as vocational training.

Lohmann's work as a social reformer

During the Austro-Prussion War the Kingdom of Hanover was occupied in 1866 by Prussian troops, and Hanover became a Prussian province. For the administrative lawyer Theodor Lohmann this presented a major fork in his career path: In 1871 Lohmann moved to Berlin and assumed a position in the Prussian Ministry of Commerce working on matters concerning industrial workers. In this capacity he participated in the drafting of various bills, including the amendment of the German Trade, Commerce and Industry Regulation Act, which introduced the factory inspection, the basis for the current day Gewerbeaufsicht ("industrial, commercial and business inspectorate").

In 1880 Lohmann transferred to the Prussian Ministry of Interior. In this position he played a key staff role in support of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck during the passage of legislation that established the German social security system, the first system in the world based on principles of social insurance. Lohmann’s objectives, however, were distinct from Bismarck’s: Whereas the famous chancellor was interested in creating a social insurance that transformed the workpeople into dependent "state pensioners", Lohmann sought to broaden the workers' rights of self-determination and local self-governance. Bismarck’s concept of state socialism built upon a close linkage of the workers to the state contradicted Lohmann’s vision of the mündiger Arbeitnehmer ("mature and responsible worker"). In the end these two approaches proved to be irreconcilable.

In the development of the legal health insurance program Lohmann had at least partial success: Workers were given a role in the financial determinations of the health insurance companies. Also despite Bismarck's opposition, the traditional role of German benevolent funds in the program was considerably strengthened. In 1883 their broad differences brought about a major schism between Lohmann and Bismarck, and ended Lohmann’s role in social insurance reform in Germany. The immediate cause of the rift was disagreement over provisions of accident insurance coverage. While Lohmann favored participation of the workers in the control of the accident insurance program through employees' professional associations, Bismarck sought a compulsory insurance system controlled completely by the state bureaucracy. Lohmann tried for awhile to block Bismarck's plan. In September 1883 the issue came to a head in a confrontation between the two, following which Lohmann was removed from any further role in the formulation of this social legislation. Robert Bosse, the Director of the Ministry of the Interior at the time, noted in his memoirs: "In this conflict, Lohmann risked his office and his future. For this I salute him. It is another question entirely whether this was that essential an issue. I don’t believe it was.”

The success of the 1884 reforms in strengthening the accident insurance program and the advancement of the professional associations confirmed this estimate by Bosse and disproved Lohmann’s reservations at least partly. For his part, Lohmann said he was relieved that he no longer had a role in which he previously "had operated", labeled the result "completely unworkable"

The later years

After his career in government Lohmann immersed himself in domestic religious work in Germany, among other things in the Society for the Advancement of Christianity among the Jews (der Gesellschaft zur Beförderung des Christentums unter den Juden), whose president he served as from 1876 to 1898, and in the Society for the Advancement of Evangelistic Missions among Unbelievers (Gesellschaft zur Beförderung der evangelischen Missionen unter den Heiden). By 1880 Thedor Lohmann became a member of the central committee for internal missions of the German Evangelical Lutheran church (Central-Ausschuß für die innere Mission der deutschen evangelischen Kirche), a position he held until his death in 1905.

After Bismarck's departure from his position as Reichs Chancellor in 1890 Lohmann was recalled by the new Minister of Trade, Hans Hermann of Berlepsch, to work on the continuing problem of worker legislation. One of his first responsibilities was the planning and execution in the same year of an international conference on protection of workers held in Berlin. Subsequently, he was in at times involved in amending of the trade and industrial regulations, which brought further improvements for the workers, for example the prohibition of night work for women and young people. After several transfers Lohmann was promoted in 1900 to the director of the trade department in the Ministry of Trade. In 1904 he was recognized on the occasion of the fifty-year old diamond jubilee of the department with the (Kaiser) William medal for special social political contributions.

Theodor Lohmann died on August 31, 1905 at the age of seventy-three in Tabartz. in Thüringen. Despite his substantial contributions to the protection of German workers and the social security Lohmann the social reformer today remains in the shadow of Bismarck.