August Seeling
August Seeling (born May 19, 1906 in Duisburg ; † August 14, 1998 there ) was Mayor of Duisburg for the SPD from 1948 to 1969 . He is considered to be one of the most famous mayors in the Rhineland after the Second World War.
biography
As a man from the very beginning, Seeling had a lasting influence on his hometown Duisburg in the period after the Second World War and set the course for the future of the city. He was born on May 19, 1906 in the former old town of Duisburg at Ulrichstrasse 4. During the Nazi era , he was persecuted and interned for his political convictions and union activities. He had been a member of the SPD since 1924 and saw himself as a socialist throughout his life . In 1948 he was elected to the City Council of Duisburg in the first democratic local election for the SPD. On November 9, 1948, at the age of 42, he was elected Germany's youngest mayor. He held this office until his departure in 1969; He was the longest serving Lord Mayor of Germany.
Memberships and Earnings
In 1949, his significant influence led to the reopening of the Duisburg Theater . The theater group Deutsche Oper am Rhein was established in 1956 together with the city of Düsseldorf . In a speech on May 2, 1950, August Seeling successfully appealed to the Allies not to endanger the reconstruction of the city by dismantling the August Thyssen ironworks .
He initiated and accompanied the construction of the Mercator Hall , which was inaugurated in 1962 and demolished in 2005 because it had to make way for a new building complex. In 1964 he founded the Lehmbruck Museum with important works by the great son of the city of Duisburg Wilhelm Lehmbruck . On his initiative, the town twinning for Portsmouth and Calais was established, and he initiated worldwide contacts for the Port of Duisburg .
In addition, he was chairman of the cultural committee of the German Association of Cities , chairman of the Broadcasting Council of West German Broadcasting , member of the German UNESCO Commission and of the German National Academic Foundation . In the German Youth Hostel Association , which is very to his heart, he has the same commitment as in the Sauerland Mountain Club and the German Forest Protection Association , which he headed for many years.
Honors
- In 1968 he was awarded the Great Cross of Merit and in 1969 the Star of the Federal Republic of Germany.
- In 1969, the city council elected him former mayor.
- He was awarded the Marie Juchacz plaque from the Arbeiterwohlfahrt in 1969.
- In 1975 he received a special honor from the Adolf Grimme Prize
- In 1976 he received honorary citizenship of the city of Duisburg.
- In 1986 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia .
source
- Press release of the city of Duisburg from May 19, 2006 on the 100th birthday of August Seeling.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Merit holders since 1986. State Chancellery of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, accessed on March 11, 2017 .
Gottfried Schlegtendal (1851–1863) | Otto Keller (1863–1873) | Friedrich Wilhelm Wegner (1873–1879) | Karl Lehr (1879–1914) | Karl Jarres (1914–1933) | Ernst Kelter (1933–1934) | Just Dillgardt (1934–1937) | Hermann Freytag (1937–1945) | Heinrich Weitz (1945–1947) | Leo Storm (1947-1948) | August Seeling (1948–1969) | Arnold Masselter (1969–1974) | Ernst Ermert (1975) | Josef Krings (1975–1997) | Bärbel Zieling (1997-2004) | Adolf Sauerland (2004–2012) | Sören Link (since 2012)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Seeling, August |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German politician (SPD), Lord Mayor of Duisburg (1948–1969) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 19, 1906 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Duisburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 14, 1998 |
| Place of death | Duisburg |