Harald Fischer Verlag

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The restructuring of the loose conglomerations of independent charitable institutions into stable associations for non-statutory welfare had already started in the First World War. The more that the state became involved in welfare work through grants and regulations the more it became necessary for the newly formed independent associations to form a powerful umbrella organisation. The Reichsverband der Privaten Gemeinnützigen Kranken- und Pflegeanstalten Deutschlands (National Union of Private Charitable Hospitals and Nursing Homes in Germany), which had been in existence since 1919, developed practical measures against the financial distress of the institutions. Two years later the confessional associations (Catholic Caritas, Protestant Innere Mission, Jewish Zentralwohlfartsstelle der deutschen Juden) joined forces with the Deutscher Verein für öffentliche und private Fürsorge to found the Reichsgemeinschaft von Hauptverbänden der freien Wohlfahrtspflege (National Union of Main Associations for Non-Statutory Welfare). This still informal union was replaced by the Deutsche Liga der freien Wohlfahrtspflege (German League for Non-Statutory Welfare) at the end of 1924. This organisation contained, as well as Caritas, Innere Mission and Jewish Welfare, the newly founded Fünfter Wohlfahrtsverband (as of 1931 Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband), the Zentralwohlfahrtsausschuss der Christlichen Arbeiterschaft (Christian Workers Relief) and as of 1926 the Deutsches Rote Kreuz (German Red Cross). The League maintained regular working contact to the socialist welfare organisation Arbeiterwohlfahrt (Workers Welfare), which was politically isolated, but also recognised by the state as a central association for non-statutory welfare.

The organisational changes are clearly visible in the associated periodicals. The Mitteilungsblatt des Reichsverbandes der Privaten Gemeinnützigen Kranken- und Pflegeanstalten Deutschlands, which was published for four years from 1921 to 1926, was absorbed into the journal Freie Wohlfahrtspflege which was the common organ of the newly founded League and of the Fünfter Wohlfahrtsverband. The contents were largely determined by the functions of the associations: The league represented the central organisations in public and in dealings with the state, which further stabilised the position of the non-stautory welfare by establishing national welfare laws and regulations. The journal correspondingly not only publicised these new regulations but also increasingly presented the position of the welfare organisations and the discussion of the dynamic relations between non-statutory and public welfare. Mutual undertakings of the League were dealt with such as the Wibu-Einkaufsgenossenschaft (Purchasing co-operative), the Hilfskasse der freien Wohlfahrtspflege (today: Bank für Sozialwirtschaft), the foundation of their own trade association for health and welfare or the winter help projects of the years 1931 to 1933.

In 1933 the National Socialists broke up the welfare organisations with only the Caritas and the Innere Mission continuing to exists along side the newly founded Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt (National Socialist People’s Welfare, NSV). The League was transformed into a Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft (National Co-operative Platform) which was intended to be purely an instrument of the NSV and quickly became meaningless. The journal correspondingly ceased to be issued after the 1933/34 edition.