Arnold Friedrich
Arnold Friedrich (born October 12, 1947 in Töpen ) is a German contemporary witness of the division and reunification of Germany . He is the former mayor of the municipality of Töpen in the district of Hof in Bavaria , co-founder of the German-German Museum Mödlareuth and chairman of the sponsoring association of the same name.
Life
Arnold Friedrich was already influenced by the inner-German border as a child . From 1952 to 1966, his home community was one of the few zonal border crossing points for transit traffic between Bavaria and West Berlin.
From 1967, Friedrich worked for eight years as a civil servant at the Federal Border Guard at the Bayreuth site . His duties also included patrol duty and postings in the border section Dreiländereck (Czech Republic-Saxony-Bavaria) to Bad Steben in the immediate vicinity of his home town.
In the seventies, Friedrich moved to the Bavarian internal administration as a civil servant and became the managing officer of the Köditz community in the Hof district. In 1978 he began his local political activities as a councilor and just one year later, at the age of 31, he was elected honorary mayor of the municipality of Töpen.
The Bavarian part of the formerly divided village Mödlareuth also belongs to the municipality of Töpen. As a symbol of the division of Germany, the so-called “Little Berlin” was a media and political center of attraction. As the host mayor, Friedrich was able to personally welcome many national and international personalities. The many visitors include: George HW Bush , Otto von Habsburg , Karl Carstens , Helmut Kohl , Manfred Wörner , Georg Freiherr von Waldenfels and Anna Fisher . Friedrich was one of the co-organizers of the candle demonstration in the western part of Mödlareuth on December 5, 1989, which had the goal of promoting the opening of the wall in Mödlareuth. Construction began on December 7th and an official pedestrian crossing was actually set up on December 9th.
The national holiday of the Federal Republic of Germany on June 17, 1990 was the occasion for Mayor Friedrich and his newly elected mayor colleague from the Thuringian part of the town to tear down part of the wall in Mödlareuth. This spontaneous action, which was not agreed with the authorities and security forces, was the starting point for Arnold Friedrich and the filmmaker Arndt Schaffner to document the division of the village and to campaign for the partial preservation of the barriers. Together they began to set up the German-German Museum in autumn 1990, which Schaffner took over.
In 1992 Friedrich changed to the Thuringian administrative service and became the managing official of the city of Gefell ; Since 1998 the Thuringian part of Mödlareuth belongs to Gefell. Thus he was responsible for the town of Mödlareuth as honorary mayor on the Bavarian side and as manager on the Thuringian side.
Awards
- 1995: Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon by Federal President Roman Herzog for his life's work in the service of German reunification
- 1999: Municipal Medal of Merit of the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior in bronze
- 2002: Appointment as former mayor and honorary citizen of the municipality of Töpen
- 2010: Bavarian State Medal in bronze by the Bavarian State Minister for Food, Agriculture and Forests
swell
- House of Bavarian History, thematic eyewitness interviews with Arnold Friedrich , recorded on April 18, 2015 in Hof
- Federal foundation to come to terms with the SED dictatorship, contemporary witness profile - Arnold Friedrich ,
- Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, report: Today in the East - life behind barbed wire , broadcast in May 2014. Report on "Klein-Berlin" with pictures from Mödlareuth and an interview with Arnold Friedrich.
- Media Service East, home behind barbed wire , November 2014
- Agence France Press TV, report: The divided village - wall separated Mödlareuth , November 4, 2014
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hofer Anzeiger, US Vice President Bush in Mödlareuth ( Memento of the original from March 25, 2016 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. , February 7, 1983
- ↑ Mittelbayerische Zeitung, The Wall fell later in 'Little Berlin', December 4, 2014
- ↑ Hofer Anzeiger, Mayor of Töpen received the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon , 14./15. October 1995
- ↑ Hofer Anzeiger, Medal of Merit for Local Politicians - Commitment Appreciated , October 19, 1999
- ↑ Bavarian State Minister for Food, Agriculture and Forests, State Medals for Honorary Services , Ref .: E 2 / b-7500-1843, August 10, 2010
- ↑ Hofer Anzeiger, Honor for Special Commitment , December 3, 2010
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Friedrich, Arnold |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German local politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 12, 1947 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Pots |