Emma Sachse

Emma Sachse (born Emma Claus, 8 May 1887 – 24 January 1965) was a German activist for feminist and other political causes. She was a member of the Thuringia parliament ("Landtag") and later became chair of the Workers' Welfare Organisation ("Arbeiterwohlfahrt" / AWO) in Thuringia.

Life Emma Claus was born in Göttingen, the sixth of her parents' nine recorded children. Her father was an unskilled rural labourer and the family was poor. The family atmosphere in which she grew up was strongly Christian, and she herself excelled during her six years at junior school, but it was not financially possible for her to progress to secondary school. On leaving school she worked for neighbouring families as a child care giver and helped with her own family's "home work" which involved boxing up and weighing packets of washing powder for the local soap factory. When she was 15 she moved to Leipzig and entered domestic service, developing an acute awareness of the great disparity between the life opportunities of the poor and those of the ruling classes. In the concentration camp she met the communist former Reichstag deputy : the two formed what became a lifelong friendship.

Post World War II The Second World War ended in May 1945, and there was a widespread belief that this should mean an end of one-party dictatorship in Germany. In Berlin, on 15 June 1945 Emma Sachse took part in the (re-)founding of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the establishment of the Free German Trade Union Federation ("Freier Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund " / FDGB). She then returned to Altenburg on 29 June 1945 and resumed her political engagement. She joined the board of Thuringia's social insurance organisation, the "Victims of Fascism" committee, the Refugee Committee and the Nutrition Council.

Legacy The Emma Sachse Honor, AWO Thuringia's highest honor, has been awarded once a year since 1999 for special achievements as part of the annual AWO Ball. Award winners have included:

1999 - Erika Schneider - AWO district association Sömmerda-Apolda 2000 - Werner Voigt - AWO district association Erfurt 2001 - Hildegard Fischer - AWO district association Hildburghausen 2002 - Herta Rudloff - AWO district association Wartburgkreis 2003 - Johanna Tietsch - AWO district association Saale-Orla e. V. 2004 - Teresa Kettner - AWO district association Saalfeld-Rudolstadt e. V. 2005 - Ursula Gräbedünkel - AWO district association Saalfeld-Rudolstadt e. V. 2006 - Konrad Eberitzsch - AWO district association Rudolstadt e. V. 2007 - Ilse Börner - AWO district association Hildburghausen e. V. 2008 - Gudrun Dietrich - AWO district association Saalfeld-Rudolstadt e. V. 2009 - Ilona Holz - AWO Kreisverband Gotha e. V. 2010 - Rosemarie Selle - AWO district association Greiz e. V. 2011 - Walter Thomas - AWO Regional Association South-West Thuringia e. V. 2012 - Anni Ortloff - AWO Kreisverband Ilmkreis e. V. 2013 - Wolfgang Metz - AWO Kreisverband Erfurt e. V. 2014 - Gerhard Dittel - AWO District Association Altenburger Land e. V. 2015 - Gudrun Becker - AWO district association Ilm-Kreis e. V. 2016 - Roswitha Jendrzeyewski - AWO Regional Association South-West Thuringia e. V. 2017 - Prof. Dr. med. Bernhard Maak - AWO district association Saalfeld-Rudolstadt e. V. 2018 - Lore Mikolajczyk - AWO district association Sonneberg e. V. 2019 - Dr. Karl-Heinz Stengler - AWO Regional Association South-West Thuringia e. V. 2021 - Claudia Zanker - AWO Regional Association Central-West Thuringia e. V. 2022 - Winfried Matiss - AWO Rudolstadt e. v.