Alfred Fissmer

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Ludwig Wilhelm Alfred Fissmer (born April 17, 1878 in Hohenlimburg ; † December 15, 1966 in Siegen ) was a German local politician and lawyer . He was mayor from August 1919 to the end of February 1923 and then Lord Mayor of the city of Siegen until April 24, 1945 .

Empire

Fissmer, son of an upper-class Hohenlimburg entrepreneurial couple, Protestant, attended high school in Attendorn . After graduating from high school, he did military service as a one-year volunteer and became an officer in the reserve , he achieved the rank of captain . From 1897 Fissmer studied law at the Universities of Bonn , Munich and Berlin . In 1897 he joined the Alemannia Bonn fraternity in Bonn . During his legal traineeship , he worked at the Hohenlimburg and Iserlohn District Courts , the Hagen District Court , the Hamm Higher Regional Court and a Cologne lawyer. From 1906 he worked as an assistant judge at the district courts of Hohenlimburg and Bochum and then took on legal representation for ten months. In April 1908 Fissmer joined the city of Bochum as a legal assistant . There he became a paid city ​​councilor in 1909 and finally head of the police department . From 1914 to 1918 Fissmer took part in the First World War.

Weimar Republic

Fissmer was elected mayor of Siegen on April 25, 1919 by the majority of city councilors. A broad alliance from the anti-Semitic Christian Socials of the Siegerland DNVP , by far the strongest regional party, through the right-wing conservative DVP to the party of the Siegerland Catholic minority, the Center , voted for him, while the left-wing liberal DDP, which is insignificant in the region rejected him via the SPD to the USPD . The term of office was twelve years. On August 13, 1919 he was introduced to the mayor's office and took over the official business for his predecessor Anton Delius, who had been on leave until the end of September 1919 . With the appointment of Siegen as an independent city on March 1, 1923, Fissmer was appointed Lord Mayor on March 6 of the same year . Corinna Nauck characterizes him "to a large extent of Prussian-monarchist sentiments, nationally and conservatively oriented".

Although Fissmer was not party to the party, he is described as "German nationalist" and thus assigned to the opponents of Weimar democracy. In the city's political culture, which was dominated by the Christian social currents of the DNVP, he was a generous supporter of all political forces on the right of the center (“fatherland camp”). This included the National Socialists , whom he not only allowed to act undisturbed during the prohibition phase after the Hitler-Ludendorff putsch in November 1923, but under his leadership the city also took part in public mass events by right-wing opponents of the constitution, such as the German Day in June 1924 or the so-called Reich Foundation Ceremony in January 1925, which were organized and designed in the lead by the National Socialists. There is no critical word from Fissmer about Weimar right-wing extremism, which was successful in his city earlier than the average for the cities.

time of the nationalsocialism

On Fissmer's application for membership in the NSDAP (before May 1, 1933)

Shortly after the regional transfer of power to the National Socialists , Fissmer applied for membership in the NSDAP in 1933 . He was accepted immediately, but canceled for unknown reasons. Fissmer submitted a new application and was accepted a second time after the general ban on membership in 1937 ( membership number 5,889,595). He had the support of the Gauleitung. He had been a supporting member of the SS since 1933 . He also joined the Association of National Socialist German Jurists (BNSDJ), which later operated as the National Socialist Legal Guards Association. In the early phase of National Socialist rule there had been a conflict with some local National Socialists who - for their part, in conflict with the higher levels of party and administration - had tried to force Fissmer out of office. In 1934, Fissmer threatened the Catholic priest Wilhelm Ochse, who had been publicly disparaged by the Hitler Youth, for "disdaining an expression of the will of the movement". The year before, Fissmer had already ignored Ochse's request to take action against serious mistreatment of Nazi opponents by National Socialists in the basement of the Brown House in Siegen.

Soon after the seizure of power, the construction of artillery and infantry barracks (1934), the establishment of a military hospital, the construction of a supply depot for the Wehrmacht and the start of an extensive program of shelters and bunkers began in Siegen on the initiative of and in cooperation with the city leaders ( 1937ff.). In his role as local air raid protection officer, according to the local author Wilhelm Langenbach in 1954, Fissmer "understood the signs of the times in good time". According to the historian Ulrich Opfermann, he “apparently reckoned with war” as early as the 1930s “started the preparations” locally.

When the city of Siegen was able to acquire the property cheaply after the Siegen synagogue was set on fire on November 10, 1938 , Fissmer took advantage of the situation. He saw the property "as a valuable addition to our property". The purchase price of RM 5,500 minus the broker's commission went through the Reich Association of Jews in Germany to the Jews and Jewish Affairs Department of the Gestapo in the RSHA . Fissmer used the property to build a bunker.

In 1942 Fissmer was charged with responsibility for black goods shops. He was on short leave and attempted suicide . After his recovery, the case against him was dropped and he resumed his official duties. At the suggestion of Hermann Göring , he was awarded the War Merit Cross, Second Class with Swords, in 1944; He also received the First Class War Merit Cross.

post war period

Opinion on the site of the burned down synagogue

After the invasion of the US troops , Fissmer was initially left in office for a short time in favor of an orderly transition from the military authorities before he was dismissed on April 24, 1945 on the instructions of the British district commander, which was "painful" for him, as he was later explained. Formally, he was released on his own request, leaving him with a transitional allowance and the full pension that he would have lost in the other case. This regulation went back to an intervention of the district president Fritz Fries in the military government. In the denazification process, the committee suspected "the formerly highest-ranking municipal administrative lawyer of incorrect information in the questionnaire", Fissmer responded in a letter to the committee with the greeting " With German greetings" . In fact, Fissmer had suppressed his application to join the NSDAP from 1933 and his membership in the SS support group in the questionnaire. The assessments of his person varied widely in the proceedings. So it was initially classified as “unsustainable”. He had "had the full confidence of the Nazi leadership from the first day of the Third Reich " and was not just a nominal party member, so the "dismissal was inevitable". In the revision instances, he first improved to "follower" and finally in 1947 to "exonerated". The justification now included the claim that Fissmer's “long resistance to joining the party” was “generally known” and that “what one might call militarism” is based on the Pan-German upbringing “common to these people” . That doesn't necessarily have to be negative. For his part, Fissmer took a position in denazification proceedings with exoneration statements (" Persilscheine ") in favor of proven and regionally known German national and National Socialist pioneers of the takeover of power and actors of the Nazi regime. So far they have been recorded for Hans Buch, Heinrich Dönges, Rudolf Gädeke - including long-time board member of the anti-Semitic Stoecker-Gilde , the district inspector and entrepreneur Walter Heringlake , the entrepreneur Ottomar Jüngst, the Protestant pastor Ernst Krause and the teacher and teacher association functionary Albert Schnutz.

In his own denazification process, Fissmer also declared that he was "friends" with the well-known Siegerland entrepreneur Oskar Waldrich .

Fissmer was seen as unencumbered by the majority of the regional population and also by all political and cultural leaders. There was a desire to reinstate him in office. In 1947 the city council intended to name the former Horst-Wessel-Straße after him, which would have been tantamount to an exculpation and was not done on the instructions of the military authorities.

Fissmer was questioned by the Siegen public prosecutor in 1948 about the November 1938 pogrom; there were no corresponding charges against him. He testified that he had not been informed of the action and only found out about the fire in the Siegen synagogue on the morning of November 10th . After that, in his function as "Police Administrator of the City of Siegen", he informed the police and fire brigade. The survey did not reveal whether Fissmer himself was there.

Fissmer became an honorary citizen of the city of Siegen in 1953 . In the same year he was awarded the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic. A central square in the city and a "Fißmer oak" in a forest area close to the city are named after him. The Siegener Zeitung described him as "the most popular citizen of Siegen". At the Rotary Club of Siegens he was first secretary and later president. After all , he was a member of the supervisory board of Waldrich GmbH , whose supervisory board chairman he became in 1960. He also became a member of the CDU .

In the reception of National Socialism by local society and politics, it is still largely regarded as not being involved in National Socialism.

literature

  • Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Sub-Volume 2: F-H. Winter, Heidelberg 1999, ISBN 3-8253-0809-X , pp. 36-38
  • Hans Klappert: Minutes of the memories of Mayor Fissmer , “Siegerland” magazine, Volume 68, Issue 3-4 / 1991
  • Bodo-Christian Kott: The election of Alfred Fißmer as mayor of the city of Siegen , in: Siegener contributions. Yearbook for Regional History, Vol. 13/14 (2008/09), pp. 247-258
  • Joachim Lilla : Senior administrative officials and functionaries in Westphalia and Lippe (1918–1945 / 46). Biographical manual. Aschendorff, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-402-06799-4 , p. 149 ( Publications of the Historical Commission for Westphalia. 22, A, 16 = historical work on Westphalian regional research. Economic and social history group. 16)
  • Ulrich Friedrich Opfermann : “With clinking windows and yelling”. Jews and the People's Community (= Siegener Posts, special volume), Siegen 2009
  • On the other hand, “In the human body worse than the tuberculosis bacillus”. On the spread and reception of Christian-social anti-Semitism, in: Siegener contributions. Yearbook for Regional History 11 (2006), pp. 109–146, 12 (2007), pp. 81–113
  • Dieter Pfau (Ed.): End of the war in Siegen in 1945. Documentation of the exhibition 2005 (= Siegen contributions. Studies on regional history, Vol. 2), Bielefeld 2005.
  • Manfred Zabel: The native language of enthusiasm. Selected speeches and writings by Fritz Fries (1887–1967) , Siegen 1990

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to Fissmer's signatures under official documents, this spelling is his own. In addition, the spelling "Fißmer" exists in the literature. She is dominant there.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Joachim Lilla: Senior administrative officers and functionaries in Westphalia and Lippe (1918–1945 / 46). Biographical manual. , Münster 2004, p. 149
  3. ↑ Detmar Philippi: Alemanni album 1969 for the 125th foundation festival of the Alemannia fraternity in Bonn , 1969, p. 50.
  4. ↑ Detailed: Bodo-Christian Kott: The election of Alfred Fißmer as mayor of the city of Siegen , in: Siegener contributions. Yearbook for Regional History , 13/14 (2008/09), pp. 247–258.
  5. ^ Corinna Nauck: "Mit Bürgersinn und Bürgergeist": communal self-administration and urban development in the independent city of Siegen 1928 - 1961 , Scripta-Mercaturae-Verlag, St. Katharinen 1999, p. 42
  6. ↑ Dieter Pfau (Ed.): End of the war in Siegen in 1945. Documentation of the exhibition 2005 (= Siegen contributions. Studies on regional history, vol. 2), Bielefeld 2005, p. 138.
  7. ↑ Ulrich Friedrich Opfermann: "With clinking windows and hooting". Jews and the Volksgemeinschaft in Siegerland and Wittgenstein in the 19th and 20th centuries , Siegen 2009, p. 51 ff.
  8. ^ Ulrich Friedrich Opfermann: Siegerland and Wittgenstein under National Socialism. People, data, literature. A handbook on regional contemporary history (Siegen contributions, special volume 2001), Siegen 2000, 2nd edition 2001, pp. 173–180.
  9. ^ Federal Archives Berlin, holdings of the former BDC , NSDAP, Alfred Fissmer personnel files.
  10. ↑ Regionales Personenlexikon, article Alfred Fissmer .
  11. ↑ Ulrich Friedrich Opfermann: "With clinking windows and hooting". Jews and the People's Community in Siegerland and Wittgenstein in the 19th and 20th Centuries , Siegen 2009, p. 203; Dieter Pfau (Ed.), End of the war in Siegen in 1945. Documentation of the exhibition 2005 (= Siegen contributions. Studies on regional history, vol. 2), Bielefeld 2005, p. 138.
  12. ↑ Regionales Personenlexikon, article Alfred Fissmer .
  13. ^ Klaus Dietermann: The beginning of the war - 1939 in the city and district of Siegen , Siegen 1988, pp. 22–27; Joachim Stahl: Bunkers and galleries for air defense in the Siegen area , Kreuztal 1980.
  14. ↑ On Wilhelm Langenbach see: Regionales Personenlexikon, article Wilhelm Langenbach .
  15. ^ Wilhelm Langenbach: The city of Siegen in the war and post-war period , in: Siegerland. Sheets of the Siegerländer Heimatverein e. V., Vol. 31, 1954, pp. 69-83, here: p. 71.
  16. ↑ Ulrich Opfermann: December 16, 1944. "... een light as van een bliksemschicht en een slag as van de donder ..." , in: Siegener contributions. Yearbook for Regional History 10 (2005), pp. 165–177, here: p. 165.
  17. ↑ Ulrich Friedrich Opfermann: "With clinking windows and hooting". Jews and the national community in Siegerland and Wittgenstein in the 19th and 20th centuries , Siegen 2009, p. 114.
  18. ^ Kurt Schilde: Nazi crimes “on the doorstep” - November pogroms 1938. Comparison of the legal processing of 1948 in Felsberg and Siegen . In: Thomas Vormbaum (Ed.), Jahrbuch der Juristische Zeitgeschichte 12 (2011), de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2012, p. 103.
  19. ↑ Dieter Pfau (Ed.): End of the war in Siegen in 1945. Documentation of the exhibition 2005 (= Siegen contributions. Studies on regional history, vol. 2), Bielefeld 2005, p. 139.
  20. ↑ Regionales Personenlexikon, article Alfred Fissmer .
  21. ↑ Regionales Personenlexikon, article Alfred Fissmer .
  22. ↑ Manfred Zabel: The native language of enthusiasm. Selected speeches and writings by Fritz Fries (1887–1967) , Siegen 1990, p. 137; Dieter Pfau (Ed.): End of the war in Siegen in 1945. Documentation of the exhibition 2005 (= Siegen contributions. Studies on regional history, vol. 2), Bielefeld 2005, p. 139.
  23. ↑ Regionales Personenlexikon, article Alfred Fissmer: [1]
  24. ↑ Bodo-Christian Kott: The election of Alfred Fißmer as mayor of the city of Siegen , in: Siegener contributions. Yearbook for Regional History, 13/14 (2008/09), pp. 247–258, here: p. 258
  25. ↑ All information on the denazification process Alfred Fissmer: Regionales Personenlexikon, article Alfred Fissmer .
  26. ↑ Regionales Personenlexikon, article Hans Buch: [2] .
  27. ↑ Regionales Personenlexikon, article Heinrich Dönges: [3] .
  28. ↑ Regionales Personenlexikon, article Rudolf Gädeke: [4] .
  29. ↑ Regionales Personenlexikon Article Walter Heringlake: [5] .
  30. ↑ Regionales Personenlexikon, article Ottomar Jüngst: [6] .
  31. ^ Regional personal article, article Ernst Krause: [7] .
  32. ↑ Regionales Personenlexikon, article Albert Schnutz: [8] .
  33. ↑ Regionales Personenlexikon, article Alfred Fissmer .
  34. ↑ On Waldrich see also: Regionales Personenlexikon, article Oskar Waldrich: [9] .
  35. ↑ Ulrich Friedrich Opfermann: “Coping with the Past” in Siegerland. On the public handling of regional National Socialism after 1945 , in: Siegener contributions. Yearbook for regional history, 3 (1998), pp. 143–176, here: p. 175. An administrative report for the city of Siegen that was created in the 1950s suppresses the conflict with the military authorities that had arisen from Fissmer's role in the Nazi regime. He had himself retired “at his own request”: Siegen City Archives, D 524-7, Alfred Fissmer personnel file, administrative report of the City of Siegen for the period from April 1, 1945 to March 31, 1950, undated.
  36. ↑ Renaming of the streets in: Freiheit , February 18, 1947.
  37. ^ Kurt Schilde : Nazi crimes “on the doorstep” - November pogroms 1938. Comparison of the legal processing of 1948 in Felsberg and Siegen . In: Thomas Vormbaum (ed.), Jahrbuch der Juristische Zeitgeschichte 12 (2011), de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2012, p. 106.
  38. ↑ Lothar Irle , Siegerland Personalities and Gender Lexicon, Siegen 1974, p. 89.
predecessor Office successor
Anton Delius Mayor of Siegen
1919 - 1945 		Fritz Fries
personal data
SURNAME Fissmer, Alfred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fissmer, Ludwig Wilhelm Alfred (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German local politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 17, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Hohenlimburg
DATE OF DEATH December 15, 1966
Place of death Wins