Hans Friedrichs

This article deals with the politician Hans Friedrichs. For other people see Hanns Friedrichs .

Wilhelm Kube , Hermann Göring and Hans Friedrichs at his inauguration on March 10, 1934, photo from the Federal Archives

Hans Friedrichs (born November 9, 1875 in Demmin ; † April 11, 1962 in Meran ) was Lord Mayor of Potsdam from 1934 to 1945 and temporarily also district leader of the NSDAP .

Life

From 1894 to 1929 Friedrichs was a professional soldier and took part in the First World War , initially with the 3rd Regiment of the Prussian Guard Corps . From August 1916 he was captain in command of Storm Battalion No. 7 on the Western Front, where he and his men were deployed in particular in the fighting over the Chemin des Dames . After the First World War he took over the military training area in Ohrdruf as a colonel . When he left the Reichswehr in 1929 , he was given the character of major general and moved to Potsdam. Here he campaigned for homeland security and joined the NSDAP in 1932 . In 1933 he became chairman of the finance committee of the magistrate and in 1934 mayor. As such, he was primarily active in construction and green planning.

In a speech in 1940 he reaffirmed his goals: with “tight leadership” he wanted to capture the Frederician “city personality”, avoid “individualism” and “wild growth” and preserve the “natural beauty that still remained”. For Potsdam he found “that the removal of the fruit and vegetable farmers from the Potsdam area is unimaginable. It would mean the end of the landscape and thus the character of the city. "He demanded" subordination to nature "and summarized his credo in the words:" We do not want to petrify, but remain a landscape city. "

In February 1945 he showed himself to be a Nazi loyal to the line and called on the city administration employees to denounce Wehrmacht deserters whom he insulted as "ailing brothers", "rags" and "traitors".

The new buildings created under Friedrichs are characterized by a comparatively restrained formal language in contrast to the classicist, monumental Nazi buildings, for example in Berlin. Friedrichs' conservation premises were strongly shaped by personal ideas and not underpinned by a scientific understanding of nature and monument protection.

In 1945 he fled to the west, only to settle in Menzenschwand in the Black Forest soon after . Here he continued to work for nature and homeland protection without becoming politically active again.

Urban development projects in Potsdam

• 1934–41 Adolf Hitler barracks of Infantry Regiment No. 9 , Pappelallee
• 1935 Officer's Home in Lindenallee (today Reiherweg)
• 1935 Reichsführerinnenschule Virchowstraße 34/36/43
• 1935–36 Nazi war disabled settlement Saarlandanger, Drewitzer Strasse (today Eduard-Claudius-Strasse 1–20, 39–54)
• 1935 Settlement Am Wildpark, Forststraße 3–4
• 1935–38 Friedrichsstadt on Adolf-Hitler-Platz (today Schillerplatz)
• 1936/37 Settlement of the Eisenbahnsiedlungsgesellschaft, Kleiststrasse
• 1936 Schützenplatz settlement, Am Brauhausberg 30–36, Luckenwalder (today Einstein-) Strasse 2/4/6/8
• 1936–39 Ludendorff barracks south, Nedlitzer Strasse
• 1936 NCO School, Eiche
• 1936 Equipment of the war school in Bornstedt, Kirschallee
• 1937–39 settlement, Leipziger Strasse 29–44
• 1937 GAGFAH settlement, Neubabelsberg
• 1938 Waterways Directorate in Berliner Strasse by Werner March
• 1939/40 ARADO housing estate, Neue Königstrasse (today Friedrichs-Engels-Strasse)
• 1939 Presidential building of the Dt. Red Cross, August-Bebel-Strasse 89
• 1935 The tower of the Reichsarchiv on the Brauhausberg is reduced
• 1936 The two domes of the Reichspost building on Wilhelmsplatz were cut down
• 1937–39 Silos of the Potsdam steam mills with community house, Leipziger Strasse 5
• 1938 Seekrug restaurant, An der Pirschheide 28
• 1940 Administration building of the Schultheiss brewery, Leipziger Strasse 4

Green planning projects in Potsdam

• 1934 Redesign of the park of Villa Baumgart in today's Friedrich-Ebert-Straße 67 into a public park for mothers and children, or Mother's Garden for short.
• Embankment conception for the Havel: 1933/34 riverside path at the Hinzenberg allotment garden colony, 1934–36 riverside path from Leipziger Strasse to Tornow. Starting from the settlement on Adolf-Hitler- (Schiller-) Platz, Uferpark on the Havel
• 1935 permanent allotment garden on Pfingstberg
• 1935–40 design of the Friendship Island, since 1937 with the assistance of Karl Foerster and Hermann Mattern .
• 1936 Alter Tornow riverside restaurant
• 1936–38 Green design of Friedrichsstadt, executed by Karl Foerster
• 1937 permanent allotment garden on the Oberförsterwiese
• 1937 Waldwiese permanent allotment garden
• 1937 Heldenhain at Bornstedter Friedhof with bronze sculpture by Walter E. Lemcke
• 1939 Clearance of the Lenné facilities on Luisenplatz and conversion into a car park.
• Outdoor facilities of the Adolf Hitler and Ludendorff barracks, the Potsdam War School on Bornstedter Feld, the Oak NCO School and the officers' house on Pappelallee (this garden by Hermann Mattern)
• The urban green space was increased under Friedrichs from 323,485 m² of green space (1934) to 1,876,571 m² (1940).
• The state (formerly royal) facilities then covered 2,364,500 m².

literature

• Helmut Gruber (Ed.): Ridge walks. Memoirs of Wolfgang Gruber (1886-1971). Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 2018.
• Fritz Ristow: Assault Grenadiers. Chronicle of Storm Battalion No. 7. The battle of its grenadiers, gunners and engineers on the Chemin des Dames. Stein-Verlag, Bonn 1959.
• Roland Thimme: Red flags over Potsdam 1933–1989. Paths of life and diaries. Publishing house Hentrich & Hentrich, Teetz 2007.

Web link

• http://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/literatur/rote-fahnen-ueber-potsdam/1216274.html