Rudolph Walther

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Rudolph Walther (born February 10, 1891 in Mainz ; † October 31, 1973 there ) was Lord Mayor of Mainz from March 25, 1945 to August 16, 1945.

Life

Walther was the son of the director of the Stadtsparkasse Mainz Wilhelm Walther. After attending grammar school in Mainz, he studied law and economics in Munich, Leipzig, Freiburg im Breisgau, Berlin and Giessen . During the First World War he was promoted to lieutenant and received the Iron Cross 1st class.

With his studies on the Hessian Police Criminal Law of October 30, 1855 , he received his doctorate in the summer of 1919 as a doctor of "both rights", that is, secular and ecclesiastical law. He passed the assessor exam in 1920 and then joined the administration of the People's State of Hesse . From 1924 he worked in the Mainz district office, from 1931 in Offenbach am Main and from 1938 to 1943 again in the Mainz district office. From July 1943 on he worked as a councilor at the war damage offices in Darmstadt and Mainz.

Lord Mayor of Mainz

On the day Mainz was conquered on March 22, 1945, the Americans appointed the wine merchant Hans-Georg Kuhn, two days later the locksmith Heinrich Schunk from the Mainz Aktien Bierbrauerei , and finally, on the 25th, the government councilor and lawyer Rudolph Walther was appointed Lord Mayor. Despite his position in a senior position in the administration, Walther remained a staunch liberal and did not join the NSDAP.

Due to his in-depth knowledge, he was able to ensure continuity between the old administration and the new city administration. On the day after the three Rhine bridges were blown up, he prevented Heinrich Ritter's attempt to evacuate all of Mainz. He tried to create the elementary living conditions for the people of Mainz in the 80% destroyed city (drinking water, electricity, gas) from the provisional town house at the Powder Tower . He campaigned for the relocation of many Mainz residents to the countryside and for a ban on immigration , which came into force in August 1945.

After the French took over the role of the occupying power on July 9, General Bouley replaced Rudolph Walther with Emil Kraus on August 17, 1945 .

Further career

After a few months of unemployment, he found a job in the regional council in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse . In March 1947 he was appointed to the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of the Interior. His last position was in the Ministry of Finance from April 1952 until his retirement in April 1956.

Private

His hobby was collecting coins. For several years he headed the Numismatic Society in Mainz / Wiesbaden. As early as 1939 he published a study on the development of coin technology. His collection of Mainz coins was auctioned in Frankfurt in 1971. The Busso Peus auction catalog is still regarded today as a reference work for this area. He was a member of several historical associations, e.g. B. the Mainz antiquity association . Since 1957 he was the holder of the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany .

literature

personal data
SURNAME Walther, Rudolph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German local politician and Lord Mayor of Mainz
DATE OF BIRTH February 10, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Mainz
DATE OF DEATH October 31, 1973
Place of death Mainz