The International Artists' Lodge (german: Internationale Artisten-Loge, IAL) is a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

section and former independent trade union, representing variety and circus performers in Germany. The union was founded on 5 April 1901, on the initiative of the magician Max Buldermann. It was a founding affiliate of the

General German Trade Union Confederation The General German Trade Union Federation (german: Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, ADGB) was a confederation of German trade unions in Germany founded during the Weimar Republic. It was founded in 1919 and was initially powerful enough to ...

in 1919, and by 1920, it had 7,531 members. In 1921, it switched its affiliation to the

General Federation of Free Employees The General Federation of Free Employees (german: Allgemeiner freier Angestelltenbund, AfA-Bund) was an amalgamation of various socialist-oriented trade unions of technical and administrative employees in the Weimar Republic. Member organizations ...

. Internationally, from 1917, it was a member of the World League of Artists' Organisations. The union was banned by the Nazi government in May 1933, but it was revived in Berlin in 1945. The post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

IAL affiliated to Union of Art and Literature in the Soviet-occupied zone, and to the Music, Film, Stage and Arts Union in the British-occupied zone. In 1949, it became a founding section of the Arts Union in West Germany, while it was dissolved in East Germany. The surviving union in West Germany affiliated to the

International Federation of Variety Artists The International Federation of Variety Artists (IFVA) was a global union federation bringing together trade unions representing entertainers other than musicians and actors. History The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) org ...

. It survives today as a section of the

ver.di (''Verdi'' (stylized as ''ver.di''; �vɛʁdiː; German: ''United Services Trade Union'') is a German trade union based in Berlin, Germany. It was established on 19 March 2001 as the result of a merger of five individual unions and is a memb ...

union.

Presidents

:1904: Max Buldermann :1926: Albert Fossil :1933: ''Union banned'' :1945: Carl Schwarz :1949: Willi Feldmann

References

{{Authority control Entertainment industry unions Trade unions in Germany Trade unions established in 1901