Johannes Timm (13.4.1866 Schashagen/Holstein – 3.12.1945 Munich)

The trained tailor joined the SPD in 1893. He held various senior positions in politics, the party and a trade union. His main job from 1891 to 1898 was Labor Secretary of the German Tailoring Association in Berlin. At that time, he wrote the publication Die Konfektions-Industrie und ihre Arbeiter (The Ready-made Clothing Industry and its Workers), in which he justified the need for labor protection laws and free trade unions based on the needs of the homeworkers and their lack of rights: “There is no majority that is even remotely willing to provide the tools for a radical social reform. In this regard, we primarily include the safeguarding of unrestricted rights of association for workers for both sexes, a factory inspection arranged in a way that really meets needs, with the involvement of the workers, and monitoring of worker protection by a Reich Labor Exchange.” (Timm, p. 72)

In 1898, he took on the role of worker and trade union secretary in Munich, where he became a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1905 to 1918, then the Provisional National Council of Bavaria in 1918/19, then the Bavarian Parliament from 1919 to 1933, where he was a parliamentary party leader for the SPD. He occupied the office of Minister of Justice in Kurt Eisner’s cabinet in 1918/19. In the SPD, his roles included chair of the SPD Southern Bavaria district from 1904 to 1919 and being a member of the parliamentary control commission from 1908 to 1919. From 1920 to 1931 he worked as chief executive of the Reich Agency for Homeland Service Bavaria (Reichszentrale für Heimatdienst Bayern).

Timm had his pension rights withdrawn on March 31, 1933, including the benefits from the Workers’ Press Association (Verein der Arbeiterpresse) support fund. After that the now completely destitute Timm couple had to agree to a settlement offered by the Labor Front (Arbeitsfront) in 1934 and move to the ‘Münchner Bürgerheim’ retirement home, where Timm died in December 1945. He had previously taken part in re-establishing the Munich and Bavarian SPD. Compensation for the blocked pension payments was refused for him and his widow.