Franz Meinow

Franz Meinow (born August 2, 1910 in Breslau , Lower Silesia ; † March 12, 1947 in Ochsenfurt , Lower Franconia ) was a Bavarian mayor and district administrator .

Life

The son of an insurance director in Breslau attended the König-Wilhelm-Gymnasium and, after graduating from high school, studied political science at the universities of Vienna , Berlin and Breslau and obtained his doctorate in Dr. rer. pole. in 1934. The dissertation of March 1, 1934 at the law and political science faculty had the topic "The economic significance of group insurance " (Eschenhagen publishing house, Ohlau 1934) , in keeping with his father's occupation .

Meinow married Ruth Blümel on April 21, 1936 in Breslau . On February 12, 1939 and September 1, 1940, the Meinow couple had a daughter each.

Because of a serious heart defect, which he contracted from blood poisoning, he was unfit for service in the Wehrmacht . Before the Russian troops marched in, Meinow fled on March 25, 1945 with his wife and two children from the Breslau Fortress to Würzburg , where he got a job as a hotel manager in the "Russian Court". On March 16, 1945 , Würzburg was bombed and the Meinows moved on to Bad Kissingen , where he became head of the municipal food office B due to his acquaintance with the first Lower Franconian district president of the post-war period, Adam Stegerwald , and his language skills. But already on June 28, 1945, the military government appointed him First Mayor of Bad Kissingen.

The first session of the new city ​​council formed by the military government on July 17, 1945 was opened by Meinow u. a. with the words (excerpt): "..... All of us who fought against Hitler in the period before 1933 and after 1933 ..... Nobody who has even remotely contributed to this should apologize that you couldn't know beforehand what was coming. Because in fact everyone could know this. .... and (I) came to the conclusion that there can only be one thing: to fight this man (Adolf Hitler) with all means, because he is not just a dilettante, but a criminal ... . "

Meinow was elected district administrator for the district of Ochsenfurt on May 25, 1946 and was confirmed by the military government in August. After this quick entry into politics, Meinow went downhill again just as quickly. As early as February 15, 1947, Meinow was arrested by the state police on suspicion of falsifying questionnaires, perjury and various economic crimes as a district administrator of the Ochsenfurt district . In the following three weeks Meinow was released twice on bail and was eventually arrested again.

The reason for the arrest was false information that he had already given in Bad Kissingen in 1945 in his questionnaire on denazification and in his personal information sheet. Meinow had indicated his membership in the National Socialist People's Welfare from 1937 to 1945, the German Labor Front and the Lawyers' Association from 1934 to 1945. However, he had kept quiet about his membership in the local branch of the NSDAP in Breslau since May 1, 1937 (membership number 5.594.761).

The Würzburg Intermediate Military Court in Ochsenfurt tried Meinow in March 1947 for forging questionnaires and sentenced him to four years in prison. Meinow then decided to commit suicide and hanged himself in prison in the morning hours of March 12, 1947.

literature

• Peter Weidisch: Dr. Franz Meinow . In: Peter Weidisch, Thomas Ahnert (eds.): “1200 years Bad Kissingen (801-2001). Facets of a city's history ”. Festschrift for the anniversary year and book accompanying the exhibition. Verlag TA Schachenmayer, Bad Kissingen 2001, ISBN 3-929278-16-2

Web links

• Literature by and about Franz Meinow in the catalog of the German National Library