Heinrich Bömers

Heinrich Ferdinand Emil Bömers (born November 2, 1864 in Bremen , † April 1, 1932 in Bremen) was a German politician ( DVP ) and Bremen senator.

biography

After childhood and attending the old grammar school in Bremen, Heinrich Bömers began a commercial apprenticeship at the Fredk company. Möller sons. He completed his year of military service with the Braunschweig Hussars . He became a wine merchant and after the death of his father in 1887, at the age of only 23, he took over the Reidemeister & Ulrichs wine shop , which he managed until the end of his life (alongside his political offices). The wine store, which under his management developed into one of the leading German wine importers, was run by descendants for a long time and merged with DC Gesellschaft für Weinimporte in 2009 . On July 7, 1903, he was one of the founders of the "Verkehrsverein der Free Hansestadt Bremen eV" , which still exists today and is a co-partner (49%) of the Bremen tourist office. He was also a member of the first board.

politics

Bömers was elected to Bremen's citizenship in 1897 and a member of the Chamber of Commerce in 1905. On January 30, 1909, he became the National Liberal Senator of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen . As a senator, he exerted a great influence in the areas of trade, shipping, transport and financial policy. As a member of the Senate's Food Commission, he became known as the “Potato Senator” because, in clever negotiations with the Reich, he ensured that the city received a disproportionate amount of these earth fruits in relation to the population. From February 1919 he worked massively towards the end of the Bremen Soviet Republic . After the end of the rule of the Workers 'and Soldiers' Council, he was again a senator for the German People's Party from April 10, 1919 to August 13, 1931 . He joined because of Nordwolle back -Konkurses because it was both involved official and privately with the Nordwolle. His son Heinz was married to the sister of the North Woolen director Lahusen . With the resignation as senator, his citizenship mandate, which had been suspended during his tenure as senator, revived. He exercised it until his death a few months after his resignation as a senator.

At Sparkasse Bremen he had been a member of the administrative board since 1897 and became second chairman in 1903 and first chairman in 1917. In 1917 he became a member of the supervisory board of Norddeutscher Lloyd, later also in Bremer Rolandmühle AG and Hansamühle AG.

He was involved in the Bremen Evangelical Church and was the builder at St. Petri Cathedral from 1912 to 1931 , which corresponds to the office of an executive parish council. The Senator Bömers Street in Bremen-Woltmershausen was named after him.

Heinrich Bömers was a member of the renowned Haus Seefahrt Foundation , in which the elite of Bremen's business bourgeoisie traditionally organizes itself exclusively, and in 1932 he was elected to the foundation's governing body as one of its heads.

Bömers was also on the board of the reading hall in Bremen , which functioned as the sponsoring association of the reading hall until 1933.

Bömers system

Towards the end of the 1920s, the so-called “Bömers system” emerged, in which private business activity was mixed with service to the state, something that was not uncommon in Bremen. Commercial principles replaced the fiscal-cameralistic principles. An expansive economic and financial policy operated on a grand scale via the Finanzhauptkasse Bremen, well-known companies such as the JF Schröder Bank, the Darmstädter and Nationalbank , whose vice-supervisory board chairman was Bömers, the North German Lloyd were intertwined with the Bremen state interest. This system contributed to the fact that in 1931, after the bankruptcy of the Norddeutsche Wollkämmerei & Kammgarnspinnerei ("Nordwolle"), the JF Schröder Bank was insolvent, restructured and taken over by the state, while the also insolvent Darmstädter and Nationalbank was placed under Reich trust. These effects of the “North Wool” collapse marked the beginning of the acute phase of the German banking crisis and ushered in the climax of the effects of the global economic crisis in Germany.

"Bömers system" in the citizenry

On October 9, 1931, the Bremen citizenship spoke about the events that had led to the endangerment and loss of considerable state funds. The basis was a communication from the Senate dated October 2, 1931, which was based on a report by the “Committee to Examine the State of the Treasury”. The meeting lasted from 4 p.m. to 3:55 a.m. the next morning. Bömers, who had already applied to serve in the Senate without a salary in the future, was asked whether he was also prepared to forego his state pension. Bömers replied that he was ready to do so, but was then told that he would have to pay gift tax on the pension that had not been paid out; he was not ready for that.

At the same meeting it was said that according to Bremen law, not the Senate, but the citizenship is responsible for the approval of bonds for extraordinary needs of the state. The bourgeoisie had, however, disempowered itself since 1923 by authorizing the finance deputation to take out loans for the state. She later renewed this authorization every two years. By using the state loans to inject liquidity into the economy, they have created a pseudo-bloom of the economy.

The deputations of the Bremen citizenship are a special constitutional feature, as they carry out both legislative and executive tasks and have the appropriate powers.

During this session, the idea arose for the first time that a “system” had been buried, a system that was once right but then turned out to be wrong. The Bömers system must disappear and be buried.

literature

• Herbert Schwarzwälder , Das Große Bremen-Lexikon , Edition Temmen , Bremen 2002, ISBN 3-86108-616-6 .
• Karl H. Schwebel : Bömers, Heinrich Ferdinand Emil. In: Historical Society Bremen, State Archive Bremen (Ed.): Bremische Biographie 1912–1962. Hauschild, Bremen 1969, pp. 60–62.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Die Maus - Society for Family Research Bremen e. V .: Local family book Bremen and Vegesack .
2. ^ Georg Bessel in: Heinrich Bömers - Ein Lebensbild , Verlag Carl Schünemann, Bremen 1964, p. 21.
3. ^ ^{A b c d} Karl H. Schwebel, In: Historische Gesellschaft Bremen and Staatsarchiv Bremen (ed.): Bremische Biographie 1912–1962 , Bremen 1969, pp. 60–62.
4. ^ Website of the Eggers & Franke Group .
5. ^ Rüdiger Hoffmann : The Schaffermahlzeit and the seafaring house in Bremen. Bremer Landesbank Kreditanstalt Oldenburg (ed.), Verlag Media Projects, Bremen 2007, p. 109, illustration of the coat of arms of the head of the house from the seafaring hall .
6. ^ Negotiations of the Bremen citizenship. Meeting on October 9, 1931.