Albert Mertés

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The mausoleum of the Mertés family in Bad Breisig

Albert Mertés (born April 2, 1853 in Cologne , † 1924 in Berlin ) was a German hat manufacturer who gained notoriety because he took action against the entry of his name in the Düsseldorf and Cologne “ pink lists ” of “homosexual suspects”.

biography

Albert Mertés was a wealthy businessman who ran a hat factory with several shops, including in Cologne's Schildergasse and Hohe Strasse . In 1881 he was Prince in the Cologne triumvirate under the motto music from all countries . He was married to Hermine Habig from Vienna , whose father was also a hat manufacturer. The couple had a daughter, Mimi, and at least one son. Mertés later settled in Berlin on Kurfürstendamm .

In 1896, 100 marks - a large sum at the time - were found in a soldier's locker in a barracks in Cologne; he stated that he had received the money from a man "with whom he had had unfair relationships". Mertés was suspected of being this man because he had spoken to soldiers near the barracks and the description applied to him. He was arrested for violating Section 175 of the Criminal Code. He was released after a confrontation, but the incident became public. Mertés summoned one of the people who had spread the rumors to appear before the arbitrator , and she was fined 100 marks for a good cause.

In December 1901, Mertés was arrested again for suspicious behavior in a men's toilet, but the proceedings were discontinued. Most likely, this incident led to his being entered on the list of "homosexual suspects", since the Cologne criminal police established "that Mertés is referred to as a comrade in the circles of homosexual people". In 1909 there were renewed suspicions against Mertés in connection with investigations against First Lieutenant Albrecht von Trotha , who should have had "immoral relations" with him. The detective commissioner Hans von Tresckow , who is responsible for the Berlin homosexual scene, received information from Cologne that Mertés was "suspicious of homosexuality [...], but that there were no particular facts against him". Two years later, inquiries were made again from Berlin to Cologne, and the information was given that Mertés was on the list of “homosexual suspects”. It was also reported from Düsseldorf that the “Hutkönig” - Mertés's nickname - was in frequent contact with Uhlans , but that criminal acts could not be proven.

When Mertés was questioned as a witness in the trial against von Trotha, he learned of the entries of his person in the Cologne and Düsseldorf lists. In Düsseldorf he was able to achieve the deletion, but not in Cologne. In 1914 his name was mentioned again in public because a police officer in a trial against the journalist Wilhelm Sollmann suspected that Mertés had bribed a former police officer. Mertès now wanted to defend "his publicly exposed honor" and contacted the Prussian Interior Minister Hans von Dallwitz directly through his lawyers to have his name deleted from the lists. The interior minister decided against his own conviction and that of the Cologne police chief "for reasons of equity" that Mertés should no longer be treated as "homosexual suspect".

During the First World War , Mertés changed the French spelling of his name and removed the accent. He had a summer residence in Bad Breisig , where he became very involved in social issues after the war. The suspicion that he might be homosexual was not known there. In 1921 he was made an honorary citizen of Bad Breisig. In 1911/12 he had a mausoleum built in the local cemetery for his daughter Mimi, who died early , in which he and one of his grandsons were buried and which is now a listed building; his wife was buried in Vienna. A street was also named after him.

Mertes' son Albert Peter was arrested several times in the 1930s for violating Section 175. In 1941 he was transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp , where he died on February 20, 1942 under unexplained circumstances.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Chronicle of the Cologne Carnival. From 1823 to 1938. (No longer available online.) Koelner-karneval.info, archived from the original on March 29, 2014 ; Retrieved March 23, 2013 .
  2. Erwin In het Panhuis: Different from the others. Gays and lesbians in Cologne and the surrounding area 1895–1918. P. 165 ( PDF p. 94)
  3. a b Erwin In het Panhuis: Different from the others. Gays and lesbians in Cologne and the surrounding area 1895–1918. P. 167 ( PDF pp. 94–95)
  4. a b Erwin In het Panhuis: Different from the others. Gays and lesbians in Cologne and the surrounding area 1895–1918. P. 168 ( PDF pp. 95–96)
  5. Erwin In het Panhuis: Different from the others. Gays and lesbians in Cologne and the surrounding area 1895–1918. P. 169 ( PDF p. 96)
  6. a b Erwin In het Panhuis: Different from the others. Gays and lesbians in Cologne and the surrounding area 1895–1918. P. 170 ( PDF pp. 96–97)

literature

  • Erwin In het Panhuis: Different from the others. Gays and lesbians in Cologne and the surrounding area 1895–1918. Edited by Center for Gay History . Hermann-Josef Emons-Verlag, Cologne 2006, pp. 165-173 ( PDF pp. 94-98), ISBN 978-3-89705-481-3

Web links

Commons : Mausoleum of the Mertes family (Bad Breisig)  - collection of images, videos and audio files