Hubert Albertz Collection

Hubert Albertz was born on July 2, 1902, in Antwerp, Belgium. During World War I, Albertz was separated from his family and was forced into labor by the Germans. He worked on German railroad yards connected to coal mines. After the war, France imposed a harsh occupation on the Rhineland and Germany. Albertz experienced the effects of post-war occupation, witnessing fights in the streets between different political factions that were vying for control of Germany after the 1917 revolution in Russia.

Albertz worked in railroad yards until the end of World War I in 1918. Poor, he stayed in Germany for a while, but eventually immigrated to the United States. His father and older brothers, who had already emigrated from Germany to New York City, managed to find Hubert and invite him over. When he finally arrived in New York City in 1926, he learned that his father had passed away. In 1927, Albertz married his German-born wife Krescenz. They had a son, George, and a daughter, Elizabeth. In 1936, Hubert Albertz became a U.S. citizen.

Albertz took a job as a superintendent in Brooklyn and he became a union official in Building Services Employees Union (BSEIU) Local 32K. Joining the union resulted in losing his job, since his employer refused to work with unions. Albertz then moved to the Bronx, where he found another job as a superintendent and joined the BSEIU Local 32-E.

In 1947 Albertz fell out of favor with officials in AFL-CIO Services Employees’ Union Local 32-E when he spoke out against a dues increase and publicly questioned how funds were used and distributed. Fired from his job as a building supervisor and expelled from the union, Albertz moved again to seek new employment. Despite his relocation, he continued to endure harassment and attacks, which he believed were orchestrated by Thomas Lewis, head of Local 32-E.

From about 1948 to 1963, Albertz was an active part of the New York City chapter of the Association of Catholic Trade Unionists, which helped him campaign for reforms in Local 32E. For the last 25 years of his life, he was the superintendent of an apartment building in Jackson Heights, Queens. The National Right to Work Committee awarded Albertz the John Seeley Memorial Award.