Bruno Georges

Bruno Georges (born December 15, 1892 in Hamburg ; † May 31, 1968 in Reinsehlen near Soltau ) was a German police officer and from 1945 to 1952 police chief and from 1952 to 1958 police chief in Hamburg.

Life

After attending elementary school (1899 to 1906) and the seaman's school (until 1907), Georges went to sea on the sailing ship “Bellas” from 1908 to 1910. As a volunteer, he served from 1910 for four years in the Imperial Navy . In 1914 he became a senior seaman , during the First World War he became a fireworks mate in 1915 and a senior fireworks mate in 1916. Georges was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class . He was wounded in the Battle of the Skagerrak and switched to submarine weapons in 1918 . In 1918 he became 2nd chairman of the Supreme Marinerate of the Lower Elbe in Hamburg and was head of the port and security forces from December 11, 1918 to July 19, 1919. In 1918 he joined the SPD . In December 1919 he resigned from the navy and initially worked at the Reichhardt chocolate factory in Wandsbek .

In 1920 Georges joined the regulatory police as a sergeant. After passing the senior civil servant examination, he was promoted to lieutenant in December 1920 and to lieutenant in April 1923. In 1922, Georges was one of the founders of the Vereinigung Republik , the predecessor organization of the Reich Banner Black-Red-Gold , the fighting organization of the democratic forces in the Weimar Republic . He wrote numerous papers for the Reichsbanner and, along with Theodor Haubach, was one of the most famous speakers and officials of the banner. Since July 1927 he was a police captain a. a. active as watchman. From 1930 to 1933 he headed the field service of the port and shipping police (Haschipo).

After the National Socialist " seizure of power ", Georges was given leave of absence by Senator Alfred Richter on March 7, 1933 and dismissed in June 1933 on the basis of the " Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service " because it offered "no guarantee in the least" for National Socialism to enter. From 1933 to 1945 he worked in the commercial area at Wulff, Fürst & Co. In February 1933, Georges married Gertrud Schäfer. He had a daughter with her.

After the liberation from National Socialism , he was commissioned by the British military government on May 26, 1945 to succeed Lothar Danner with the management of the Hamburg police. On August 1, 1945 he became the police commander. This office was renamed "Police Chief" by the British military administration in December 1945. In 1952 this was converted into the newly created office of police chief , also because Georges would otherwise have had to retire as an active police officer at the age of 60. As police chief and thus as an administrative officer, he remained in office until March 31, 1958.

A special focus of his work was preventive work and the support of needy children in the immediate post-war period. Georges took great care of the relatives of the police officers who died on duty. Through his activities, the population was able to gain new confidence in the work of the police. Heart disease severely restricted his further activities until his death in 1968. He died in the hospital in Reinsehlen.

The forecourt of the new Hamburg police headquarters in Winterhude was named after Bruno Georges on September 7, 2001.

literature

• Erwin B. Boldt: The reform that was given away. The reconstruction of the Hamburg police between the Weimar tradition and the requirements of the British occupying power 1945–1955 (= publications of the Hamburg working group for regional history. Vol. 12). Lit, Münster 2002, pp. 286-289, ISBN 3-8258-5945-2 .
• Wolfgang Kopitzsch : Georges, Bruno. In: Hamburgische Biografie , Vol. 2, ed. by Franklin Kopitzsch and Dirk Brietzke , Hamburg 2003, pp. 138-140, ISBN 3-7672-1366-4 .
• Sebastian Merkel: Bruno Georges, sailor. In: Olaf Matthes, Ortwin Pelc : People in the Revolution. Hamburg portraits 1918/19. Husum Verlag, Husum 2018, ISBN 978-3-89876-947-1 , pp. 38-40.