Werner Hartenstein (politician)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Werner Hartenstein (born May 6, 1879 in Saarburg , Reichsland Alsace-Lorraine , † February 11, 1947 in the special camp Jamlitz ) was a German administrative lawyer. As Lord Mayor of Freiberg in May 1945, contrary to orders, he arranged for the city to be handed over.

Life

Hartenstein attended the Royal High School Dresden-Neustadt . He then studied law and economics at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg . In 1899 he was reciprocated in the Corps Suevia Freiburg . As an inactive he moved to the University of Leipzig , which made him Dr. iur. PhD . He then worked at the district court in Radeberg and at the district court in Pirna . He became a government assessor and police officer. During the First World War , Hartenstein served as a captain on the staff of Field Marshal August von Mackensen . After the war, Hartenstein was Deputy District Chief of Bautzen .

On February 13, 1924, as a conservative candidate, he was elected Lord Mayor of Freiberg with 25 of 40 votes in the city council. He took office on March 5, 1924. On May 1, 1933 , Hartenstein joined the NSDAP . In a speech on March 21, 1933, Hartenstein, as Lord Mayor, had unconditionally supported the nationalist nationalist goals of the NSDAP. Without need he proclaimed the exclusion and violent persecution of all political opponents and those who “are not Germans, who have no feeling for the spirit that makes up a people, who do not want to know a fatherland.” Documents and testimonials from those affected can be proven that Hartenstein is by no means just a harmless follower of the NSDAP, as has long been claimed. With a strong assertiveness and without hesitation, he played a decisive role in the “cleansing” of the public service, was actively involved in the “de-Judging” of Freiberg and years later persecuted Jews who were expelled with anti-Semitic letters. Hartenstein operated the use of forced laborers, prisoners of war and finally also of concentration camp prisoners in Freiberg.

When the Red Army stood at the gates of Freiberg at the beginning of May 1945 , Hartenstein opposed the defense order and refused to use the Volkssturm . On May 7, 1945, he raised a white flag on the Petriturm . Hartenstein initially stayed in office. On June 2, 1945 he was dismissed from his position as a former member of the NSDAP. At the beginning of August 1945 the NKVD secret police arrested him and imprisoned him in Freiberg prison. In mid-September 1945 he was deported with about 30 other prisoners to special camp No. 4 in Bautzen . A year later, Hartenstein finally came to the Jamlitz special camp , where he died at the age of 68.

Honors

Memorial plaque for Werner Hartenstein

On February 7, 1995, the city of Freiberg put an honoring plaque on his official residence on Beethovenstrasse. In September 2009 Freiberg's building mayor, Holger Reuter, gave a commemorative speech in honor of Hartenstein at the Jamlitz memorial. In 1931, Hartenstein was made an honorary senator of the TH Dresden .

Varia

As Lord Mayor, Werner Hartenstein surrendered Freiberg without a fight, contrary to Nazi orders, and thus saved his city from destruction. A short time later he died after internment in a special camp. He shares this fate, for example, with the mayors of Wurzen , Armin Graebert , and von Stendal , Karl Wernecke - they had also surrendered their cities without a fight.

Works

  • The preservation of the city of Freiberg from destruction during the invasion of the Russians on May 7, 1945. Minutes in 1945, printed in: Mitteilungen des Freiberger Altertumsverein . Volume 72, 1992, pp. 108-117

literature

  • Werner Hartenstein. In: Messages from the Freiberg Antiquities Association. Volume 92, 2003, pp. 45-48 ( online as PDF ; 2.8 MB)
  • Volker Bannies, Dorothee Sippel: Dr. jur. Werner Hartenstein (1879–1947) - a life for Freiberg. In: Messages from the Freiberg Antiquities Association. Volume 72, 1992, pp. 100-117
  • Klaus Rümmler: Honor for Freiberg's rescuer Dr. Werner Hartenstein. In: The yearbook: Region Freiberg. Volume 14, 2004, pp. 160-161
  • Annette Kaminsky (Ed.): Places of Remembrance: Memorial signs, memorials and museums on the dictatorship in the Soviet occupation zone and GDR. Ch. Links Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-86153443-3 , p. 341
  • Michael Düsing : "My way, Lord Mayor, is already determined". Persecution of Jews in Freiberg 1933–1945. Dresden 2011
  • Michael Düsing: Forced labor for the final victory. How Jewish girls in Freiberg were forced to help build Hitler's “miracle weapons”. Dresden 2015
  • Michael Düsing: “The best possible collaboration”. How a mayor and his administrative elite mastered "critical times". In: Messages from the Freiberg Antiquities Association. Volume 109/110, 2016, pp. 311-392

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1930, 36 , 525
  2. ↑ Dissertation: The liability for animals according to § 833 of the German Civil Code .
  3. ^ Hanns-Heinz Kasper, Eberhard Wächtler: History of the mountain town Freiberg. Hermann Böhlaus Nachf., 1986, ISBN 3740000511 , p. 271
  4. ↑ Careerist and Freiberg's savior. In: Blick from February 26, 2014. Online ( Memento of the original from March 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 26, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.blick.de
  5. ↑ Michael Düsing: "My way, Lord Mayor, is already determined". Persecution of Jews in Freiberg 1933–1945. Dresden 2011; Michael Düsing: Forced labor for the final victory. How Jewish girls in Freiberg were forced to help build Hitler's “miracle weapons” . Dresden 2015; Michael Düsing: “The best possible collaboration”. How a mayor and his administrative elite mastered "critical times". In: Messages from the Freiberg Antiquities Association. Volume 109/110, 2016, pp. 311-392
  6. ^ Commemoration of the victims of Jamlitz. In: Märkische Oderzeitung . September 13, 2009, accessed August 12, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Hartenstein, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German administrative lawyer, Lord Mayor of Freiberg
DATE OF BIRTH May 6, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Saarburg , Lorraine
DATE OF DEATH February 11, 1947
Place of death Special camp Jamlitz