Anton Hammerbacher

Anton Marian August Hammerbacher (born July 22, 1871 in Munich , † October 22, 1956 in Erlangen ) was a German cooperative member, trade unionist and politician ( SPD ) and from 1945 to 1946 Lord Mayor of Erlangen.

In the German Empire and the Weimar Republic

Anton Hammerbacher completed an apprenticeship as a glove maker. In 1890 he joined the Association of Leather Workers, which delegated him to the Erlangen union cartel, of which he later became chairman. In 1901 Hammerbacher founded the Erlangen consumer cooperative, on whose board he remained until 1933. From 1919 he was also chairman of the Association of Bavarian Consumer Associations . In 1910 Hammerbacher was involved in the establishment of the Erlanger building cooperative, which from 1913 built apartments for workers in the area around Nürnberger Strasse south of Erlangen city center.

From 1909 Hammerbacher belonged to the college of municipal representatives (a forerunner of the city council), from 1911 to the magistrate (the "city government"). During the Weimar period, from 1919 to 1933, he was a member of the Erlangen city council and the Central Franconian district council, the forerunner of today's district council . In 1918/19 he was a member of the Provisional National Council of the Free State of Bavaria.

During National Socialism and the post-war period

After the National Socialists came to power, Hammerbacher was removed from office, arrested and imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp for six weeks . After that he lived withdrawn during the Nazi regime.

On April 28, 1945 Hammerbacher was appointed mayor of Erlangen by the military administration, and shortly afterwards on July 22, 1945 as successor to Herbert Ohly , who had been deposed, he was appointed mayor. With effect from September 30, 1946, he resigned from his office; The Erlangen City Council elected Michael Poeschke as his successor on September 4th . Hammerbacher played a key role in the re-establishment of the Erlangen consumer cooperative on October 17, 1946.

Anton Hammerbacher died on October 22, 1956 at the age of 85.

Honors

Memorial plaque on the old town cemetery in Erlangen

At the end of his term of office, the city of Erlangen granted him honorary citizenship on September 30, 1946 . On July 22, 1951, the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg made him an honorary citizen. In 1953 he was awarded the Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany. He was also honorary chairman of the Association of Bavarian Consumer Cooperatives and the Erlangen non-profit association. In 1960 the city of Erlangen named a street after him.

literature

• House of Bavarian History: History of the Bavarian Parliament 1819 - 2003 Keyword "Hammerbacher, Anton"
• Schweigert, Walter / Treuheit, Klaus (ed.): ... that man is a helper to man. 120 years of social democracy in Erlangen; Erlangen 1990.
• Christoph Friederich: Hammerbacher, Anton Marian August . In: Christoph Friederich, Bertold Freiherr von Haller, Andreas Jakob (Hrsg.): Erlanger Stadtlexikon . W. Tümmels Verlag, Nuremberg 2002, ISBN 3-921590-89-2 ( complete edition online ).
• Gertraud Lehmann: Consumer and savings cooperative . In: Christoph Friederich, Bertold Freiherr von Haller, Andreas Jakob (Hrsg.): Erlanger Stadtlexikon . W. Tümmels Verlag, Nuremberg 2002, ISBN 3-921590-89-2 ( complete edition online ).
• Andreas Jakob : Cooperative housing estate . In: Christoph Friederich, Bertold Freiherr von Haller, Andreas Jakob (Hrsg.): Erlanger Stadtlexikon . W. Tümmels Verlag, Nuremberg 2002, ISBN 3-921590-89-2 ( complete edition online ).