Albert Osswald
Albert Osswald (born May 16, 1919 in Gießen - Wieseck , † August 15, 1996 in Schwangau ) was a German politician ( SPD ). From 1969 to 1976 he was Prime Minister of the State of Hesse .
Life and work
Osswald was born the son of a bricklayer . After attending elementary school and completing secondary school in 1935 at the commercial school in Gießen , he completed a commercial apprenticeship . He then worked briefly as a businessman. From 1939 to 1945 he took part in the Second World War as a soldier and was most recently a prisoner of war . After his return from captivity, he worked as a self-employed businessman. He passed exams as an accountant and tax specialist and then worked as a specialist teacher for shorthand and typing .
Political party
After the end of the war, Osswald joined the SPD in 1945. In 1967 he took over the chairmanship of the SPD district association Hessen-Süd and was elected state chairman of the SPD Hessen in 1969. In 1977 he resigned from all party offices.
MP
Osswald was elected to the City Council of Giessen in 1949 and has been the head of the city council since 1952. From 1954 to 1978 he was a member of the Hessian state parliament .
Public offices
Osswald served as mayor and treasurer from 1954 to 1957 and as lord mayor of the city of Gießen from 1957 to 1963 .
After the state elections in 1962, Osswald was appointed to the state government led by Prime Minister Georg August Zinn on January 30, 1963 as the successor to Gotthard Franke as Hessian Minister of State for Economics and Transport . After Wilhelm Conrad left, he moved to the office of State Minister of Finance and on June 11, 1969, he was also appointed Deputy Prime Minister.
After Georg August Zinn resigned , Osswald was elected Prime Minister of the State of Hesse on October 3, 1969. At first he continued the sole government of the SPD, but after losing votes in the 1970 state elections, he had to enter into a social-liberal coalition with the FDP . In 1975/76 he officiated as President of the Federal Council .
In addition to his role as Prime Minister, Osswald was also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hessische Landesbank (Helaba). After several details about financial irregularities at the Hessische Landesbank became known, he came under criticism of the public and that of the parliamentary opposition . On October 3, 1976, the day of the federal election , in which the SPD / FDP coalition achieved a very narrow election victory (42.6% for the SPD and 7.9% for the FDP versus 48.6% for the CDU / CSU ), he announced his resignation as Prime Minister after the polling stations had closed, thereby assuming political responsibility for the so-called Helaba scandal . His successor was the then federal manager of the SPD, Holger Börner .
Numerous projects in Giessen and throughout Hesse were connected with Albert Osswald, e. B. the congress hall in Gießen, the Gießener Ring, the foundation of the state letter of honor , the partnership with the US state Wisconsin as well as the foundation of the Hessenpark in Neu-Anspach (Taunus). During his term of office, the regional reform in Hesse was carried out from 1972 . Rural districts were restructured or merged, 2674 independent municipalities became only 421. The vision of the city of Lahn between Gießen and Wetzlar , which Osswald persistently pursued, attracted a lot of resistance and led to the loss of the absolute majority of the SPD in Central Hesse .
State letter of honor
In 1973, Albert Osswald donated the "State Letter of Honor" from the State of Hesse for services to the common good. This honored volunteer citizens of Hesse who had made outstanding contributions to clubs, social and cultural institutions for at least twelve years.
Honors
Osswald's hometown of Giessen honored him in 1989 with the award of the Hedwig-Burgheim Medal and in 2005 with the renaming of Lindenplatz to Albert-Osswald-Platz in the Wieseck district, where Osswald was born.
The AWO Hessen honored Osswald by naming the AWO home in Gießen in Albert-Osswald-Haus.
Osswald is the recipient of the two highest awards in Hessen - the Wilhelm Leuschner Medal and the Hessian Order of Merit . In 1975 he was also awarded the Federal Cross of Merit with a star and shoulder ribbon.
literature
- Jochen Lengemann : The Hessen Parliament 1946–1986 . Biographical handbook of the advisory state committee, the state assembly advising the constitution and the Hessian state parliament (1st – 11th electoral period). Ed .: President of the Hessian State Parliament. Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1986, ISBN 3-458-14330-0 , p. 345 ( hessen.de [PDF; 12.4 MB ]).
- Albert Osswald , in Internationales Biographisches Archiv 49/1996 of November 25, 1996 (gi), in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of article freely available)
See also
Web links
- Literature by and about Albert Osswald in the catalog of the German National Library
Rudolf Mueller (1945–1946) | Werner Hilpert (1946) | Harald Koch (1946–1949) | Albert Wagner (1949–1951) | Heinrich Fischer (1951–1955) | Gotthard Franke (1955–1963) | Albert Osswald (1963–1964) | Rudi Arndt (1964–1970) | Heinz-Herbert Karry (1970–1981) | Klaus-Jürgen Hoffie (1981–1982) | Ulrich Steger (1984–1987) | Alfred Schmidt (1987-1991) | Ernst Welteke (1991–1994) | Lothar Klemm (1994–1999) | Dieter Posch (1999-2003) | Alois Rhiel (2003-2009) | Dieter Posch (2009–2012) | Florian Rentsch (2012–2014) | Tarek Al-Wazir (since 2014)
Wilhelm Mattes (Greater Hesse, 1945–1946) | Robert Philipp Nöll von der Nahmer (Greater Hesse, 1946) | Werner Hilpert (1947–1951) | Heinrich Troeger (1951–1956) | Wilhelm Conrad (1956–1964) | Albert Osswald (1964–1969) | Erwin Lang (1969–1970) | Rudi Arndt (1970–1972) | Heribert Reitz (1972–1984) | Hans Krollmann (1984–1987) | Manfred Kanther (1987–1991) | Annette Fugmann-Heesing (1991–1994) | Ernst Welteke (1994–1995) | Karl Starzacher (1995–1999) | Karlheinz Weimar (1999–2010) | Thomas Schäfer ( 2010–2020) | Michael Boddenberg (since 2020)
Wilhelm Knothe (1945–1947) | Georg-August Zinn (1947–1969) | Albert Osswald (1969–1977) | Holger Börner (1977–1987) | Hans Krollmann (1987–1989) | Hans Eichel (1989-2001) | Gerhard Bökel (2001–2003) | Andrea Ypsilanti (2003-2009) | Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel (2009–2019) | Nancy Faeser (since 2019)
Wilhelm Knothe (1945–1951) | Heinrich Fischer (1951–1954) | Willi Birkelbach (1954–1963) | Heinrich Hemsath (1963–1967) | Albert Osswald (1967–1975) | Rudi Arndt (1975–1980) | Willi Görlach (1980–1988) | Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul (1988–1999) | Gerhard Bökel (1999–2001) | Gernot Grumbach (2001–2019) | Kaweh Mansoori (since 2019)
August Bramm (1875–1889) | Feodor von Gnauth (1890–1901) | Anton Mecum (1902–1914) | Karl Keller (1914–1934) | Heinrich Ritter (1934–1942) | … | Karl Dönges (1945–1946) | Albin Mann (1946–1948) | Otto Heinz Engler (1948–1954) | Hugo Lotz (1954–1957) | Albert Osswald (1958–1963) | Bernd Schneider (1963–1977) | (1977 to 1979 Gießen was part of the city of Lahn) | Hans Görnert (1979–1985) | Manfred Mutz (1985-2002) | Heinz-Peter Haumann (2003–2009) | Dietlind Grabe-Bolz (since 2009)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Osswald, Albert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German politician (SPD), Prime Minister of Hesse, Minister of State, MdL |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 16, 1919 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Giessen - Wieseck |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 15, 1996 |
| Place of death | Schwangau |