Heinrich Gutermuth, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetHeinrich Gutermuth
German functionary and blacksmith
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Ilbeshausen-Hochwaldhausen, Hesse, Germany
About Heinrich Gutermuth
- Heinrich Gutermuth (18 June 1898 – 28 June 1977) was a German trade union leader. Born in Ilbeshausen (near Grebenhain), Gutermuth completed an apprenticeship as a blacksmith, then served in World War I.
- After the war, he found work as a mechanic at a coal mine in Recklinghausen.
- He joined the Union of Christian Miners, and from 1926 worked full-time as a union official.The union was dissolved by the Nazis in 1933, and Gutermuth found himself unemployed, but obtained work at the Bielefelder linen factory.
- He was conscripted in 1939, and late in World War II was captured by Soviet troops.After the war, Gutermuth was a founder member of IG Bergbau, a new miners' union, working as its secretary until 1953.
- He was then elected as the union's president, but renounced the position in favour of Heinrich Imig.
- He instead served as second president of the union, finally becoming president in 1964.
- Under his leadership, the union began representing other energy workers, and changed its name to "IG Bergbau und Energie".
- In 1963, he was elected as president of the Miners' International Federation (MIF).
- He retired from domestic trade unionism in 1964, but remained active with the MIF for a few more years.Gutermuth was awarded the Great Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
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