August von Hergenhahn

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Carl Friedrich August Hergenhahn , von Hergenhahn since 1883 , (born March 14, 1830 in Wiesbaden ; † July 7, 1903 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German lawyer , district administrator and police chief .

Life

Hergenhahn was the eldest son of the Nassau politician August Hergenhahn and his wife Pauline, née Sulzer.

He became the second police chief of Frankfurt on October 23, 1872, succeeding Guido von Madai . The population of the Free City of Frankfurt , annexed by Prussia in 1866 , found it difficult to come to terms with the loss of sovereignty . According to the municipal constitution law for Frankfurt am Main of March 25, 1867, the municipal constitution was introduced in Frankfurt. The role of the district administrator fell to the royal police president, urban affairs were regulated in accordance with the Prussian city regulations.

After the Peace of Frankfurt , the city experienced rapid growth. The population rose within a few years from almost 80,000 to 100,000 inhabitants, mainly due to the influx of industrial workers. The city's social institutions, some of which were still from the Middle Ages, were not able to cope with the influx.

While his predecessor, despite reservations about Prussian rule, was popular with the population due to its cooperative style and the modernization of the outdated Frankfurt administrative structures, Hergenhahn did not succeed in building on this tradition. A few months after he took office, the Frankfurt beer riot broke out on April 21, 1873. Triggered by an increase in the price of beer from four kreuzers (one lump ) to 4½ kreuzers by the Frankfurt brewery restaurants, a demonstration of around 100 people formed around 4 p.m. the battle cry “I want Batzebier” through the city center, leaving a trail of devastation. The Frankfurt police were completely overwhelmed by the situation. Only six police commissioners, five sergeants and 53 policemen were available for a population of around 100,000 people. Towards evening the Frankfurt garrison , Infantry Regiment No. 81 , intervened and violently suppressed the uprising. Twenty people were killed, including an old woman and a ten-year-old boy. Around 300 people were arrested, 47 of whom were sentenced to prison terms, some of which were long.

Hergenhahn reinforced the Frankfurt police with 120 men, including a mounted section with ten horses. His entire term of office was marked by conflicts, for example in the enforcement of the May Laws during the Kulturkampf of 1873, and the Socialist Law of 1878. On July 22nd, 1883, at the funeral of the Social Democrat Hugo Hiller in the main cemetery, the "Frankfurt cemetery riot" broke out. Hiller gave a final conduct to a crowd of over 200 people, including women and children . The mourning congregation was monitored by a unit of the protection police. Although the authorities had banned speeches and the wearing of red paints, one of the mourners began to speak. The police commissioner then immediately had his team move against the crowd with sabers drawn and disperse them. There were over twenty injured. Due to the public outrage the incident sparked, the uncontrolled police superintendent was suspended and some police officers tried and sentenced, but soon pardoned.

In the 1880s there were several anarchist attacks , including on October 30, 1883 on the police headquarters in the medieval Clesernhof near the Römer and on January 13, 1885 on the Frankfurt Police Council Ludwig Rumpff , who had successfully investigated several anarchist cases. On Hergenhahn's initiative, a new police prison was then built on Klapperfeldstrasse and a new police headquarters on Zeil .

In 1883 the Prussian king raised him to the nobility . In 1885, as Frankfurt police chief, he also became district administrator of the newly formed district of Frankfurt , which took in the former Frankfurt rural communities that had previously belonged to the urban district of Frankfurt am Main .

Hergenhahn retired in 1887. The criticism of his administration and the laborious progress in modernizing the Frankfurt police, which did not meet his own requirements, had put a strain on his health. From 1889 to 1891 he was a member of the Prussian state parliament .

Hergenhahn was married twice: from his marriage to Euphemia Fritze (1834-1875) on September 23, 1858, there were two daughters, Pauline (* 1861) and Maria-Luise (* 1863). On July 28, 1877, he married Bertha Johanna Hohenemser (1838–1916).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Municipal Constitutional Law for the City of Frankfurt am Main . (No. 6597). In: Law Collection for the Royal Prussian States . No. 27 . Issued in Berlin on April 9, 1867, p. 401-422 ( digitized version ).
personal data
SURNAME Hergenhahn, August von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hergenhahn, Carl Friedrich August (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer, district administrator and police chief
DATE OF BIRTH March 14, 1830
PLACE OF BIRTH Wiesbaden
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 1903
Place of death Frankfurt am Main