Reinhold Kraetke

Reinhold Kraetke (born October 11, 1845 in Berlin ; † April 14, 1934 there ) was State Secretary of the Reich Post Office .

Life

As Posteleve, he joined the Prussian postal service in 1864. In 1881 he was promoted to post office and was appointed to the Reich Post Office at the same time. In 1882 Reinhold Kraetke became a senior post councilor, in 1884 a secret post councilor and lecturer in the imperial post office and in 1887 a secret post councilor. During his work in the Reich Post Office, he was involved in setting up the Reich Post Steamer lines and was involved in the colonial postal service.

From March 1, 1888 to October 31, 1889, Kraetke was provisional governor in the protected area of ​​the New Guinea Company and was therefore on leave from his position as Secret Chief Post Councilor. Friedrich Rose was the indirect successor in the newly created office of Imperial Commissioner. Kraetke, who had no high school education (Königstädtische Realschule 1st order), reached the highest offices of the empire through his work in the protected area.

In 1890 he resumed his work in the Reich Post Office, became Director of the 1st Department in 1897 and, on May 4, 1901, State Secretary of the Office. On October 3, 1906, Kraetke opened the world radio conference in the Berlin Reichstag .

In 1911 Kraetke became a member of the Prussian manor house , and a year later in 1912 he was granted membership for life. He retired on August 8, 1917.

During his tenure as head of the postal and telecommunications system, things included the start of postal checks, the introduction of the postal vehicle for passenger transport ( Kraftpost ), the first use of airships and airplanes for the transport of mail, the introduction of the postal protest procedure , the postal ID card and the reply coupon and the Postkreditbriefes ( Postreisescheck ), the introduction of voter technology and the beginning of the construction of the German long-distance cable network ( Rheinlandkabel ).

Reinhold Kraetke toured the main European countries, the United States of America , Australia , British and Dutch East Indies and was appointed to the Colonial Council in 1891 .

Honors

Reinhold Kraetke received an honorary doctorate (Dr. E. h.). Because of his activities in Berlin, Kraetkestrasse in Friedrichsfelde ( Lichtenberg district ) and Kraetkestrasse in Kaulsdorf ( Marzahn-Hellersdorf district ) were named after him. The Kraetkegebirge , a mountain range in the part of Papua New Guinea that belonged to the former German colony of German New Guinea, also bears his name. A ship, the State Secretary Kraetke , built in 1905 , was named after him.

literature

• Erwin Müller-Fischer:  Kraetke, Reinhold. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 641 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Handheld dictionary of postal services . 2nd edition, p. 387

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gustav Meinecke (ed.): Colonial yearbook , third year. Heymann, Berlin 1891, p. 252; Jakob Anderhandt: Eduard Hernsheim, the South Seas and a lot of money: biography . MV-Wissenschaft, Münster 2012, Volume 2, p. 387.