Baltrusch joined a Christian
Woodworkers'
Union in
Essen in
1900, and from
1907 he worked as a full-time union secretary in the
Christian trade union movement. After serving in the
First World War he became the managing director of the national association in
1919 and its representative to the Weimar government and other important bodies in
Berlin. He was a close associate of
Adam Stegerwald and the German government often relied on him as an expert on both
economic policy and
social policy. During this time he served as a board member on the
Reich Food Office and worked for the
Reich Ministry of Reconstruction. In the 1930 election Baltrusch was elected as an
MP for the
Zentrum Party and was the most important
protestant representative of the trade unions, he lost his seat after the nazi seizure of power in 1933. After
World War II, he was one of the founders of
CDU. == Personal life ==