The new social law – social legislation and its effects in the second half of the long 19th century – with a glance to workers’ lifeconditions in Königsberg
The new social law – social legislation and its effects in the second half of the long 19th century – with a glance to workers’ lifeconditions in Königsberg

Summary/Abstract: When industrialization came to East Prussia, namely to the City of Königsberg, in the late 19th century, a huge number of people where attracted by new steady jobs and moved to the city. The city itself became more open to the surrounding periphery by grinding their fortifications. With the people a number of social problems arose: insufficient safety concerning hygiene, health and finances caused by overcrowded apartments and insecure jobs and work. These issues strengthened the social democrats, which caused a feeling of pressure within the German government. To react they invented several insurances to secure the workers’ life conditions. The first steps to a modern welfare state only applied to workers and paid treatment was very restrictive. The process of developing and evaluating the so-cial politics in the first phase of the German Reich, from the beginning to the First World War and the circumstances that made them necessary for Königsberg are explained as well as the special social structure of this city.

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