Erich Kreutz

Erich Kreutz (born September 2, 1884 in Magdeburg , † September 19, 1943 in Potsdam ) was a German politician.

Life

Erich Kreutz grew up as the son of Franz Heinrich Kreutz , tenant of the Herrenkrug Inn near Magdeburg , in a solid, middle-class family.

From the age of six he first attended preparatory school and then the renowned high school at Magdeburg Cathedral . After leaving school, he began studying law and economics in Halle (Saale) and Jena . During his studies in 1904 he became a member of the Teutonia Jena fraternity . He completed his legal clerkship at the district court in Wolmirstedt , the regional court and the public prosecutor's office in Magdeburg, the higher regional court in Naumburg and a law firm . In the meantime he received his doctorate iuris utriusque . Then he was employed in the finance and budget administration of the city of Magdeburg.

At the outbreak of war he was called up as first lieutenant in the reserve, he took part in various battles and received the Iron Cross 1st class. After a moment's front line, he was in the 1915 conquered Livonia recalled to serve as district administrator of the district Parnu to reform administratively.

After the war he held important positions in the city council of the small Thuringian town of Apolda . Although he was offered the candidacy for the mayor's office there, Kreutz refused and applied for a position in the local administration of Buer in Westphalia , in order to "go through the high school of local government" according to his own statement. At that time, this city already had more than 100,000 inhabitants. Kreutz was elected to the magistrate's council in December 1919 and a city ​​councilor in February 1920 .

At the end of 1926 he applied for the post of Lord Mayor of Cottbus , was elected with the votes of the bourgeois parties and began his service on February 5, 1927. He held this office until 1933.

In their meeting on August 24, 1933, the city ​​councilors of Brandenburg an der Havel elected Kreutz as Lord Mayor of the Chur and capital of the Mark. The arrival of Kreutz fell in the period after the takeover of the Nazis .

Described as a bulky and authoritarian character, it was not easy for Kreutz to get used to the fact that, as the mayor of a city , he was supposed to share his power with a district leader of the NSDAP . Since Kreutz's superiors in Potsdam's regional council were also functionaries of the NSDAP, Kreutz's position became increasingly unstable over the course of his tenure.

The National Socialists wanted a loyal party comrade in the Brandenburg mayor's chair who would work closely with the local organs of the NSDAP, since Brandenburg an der Havel, as a former Marxist stronghold and at the same time as the center of the heavy and armaments industry, posed a particular problem for the National Socialists.

As early as 1935, the opponents of Kreutz began to collect material against the incumbent mayor. The commission of the municipal audit in Potsdam found the first action with regard to irregularities concerning Kreutz's official residence. Here Kreutz had set a rental price for himself that was valued at 100 RM less than the housing subsidy he was entitled to.

In 1936, NSDAP agencies found out that Kreutz had been an active member of the local Masonic lodge Zum Brunnen in the desert during his term in office in Cottbus . He reached the 5th degree (September 1, 1931) and was accused of having advanced into the high degrees . He left the lodge on June 26, 1933.

Although Kreutz doggedly defended himself against the allegations and offered to cooperate with the Third Reich 's offices regarding the former lodge , he was removed from office without notice on June 29, 1937. At the same time the ban was given to re-enter his office.

After his release, Kreutz tried to get by as a representative of the lawyer and notary Z. in Potsdam. In January 1942, his Potsdam address at Burggrafenstrasse 26 is still occupied.

On August 6, 1943, Dr. Erich Kreutz arrested as a member of the conservative and monarchist casino society . The charge was "anti-subversive propaganda". A co-defendant was sentenced to death in the pending trial and executed on December 4, 1944 in the Brandenburg-Görden prison.

In anticipation of this fate, Dr. Erich Kreutz died in the Potsdam prison on September 19, 1943 and thus anticipated the trial against him.

meaning

The tragic résumé of Dr. Erich Kreutz, who saw himself as an old-fashioned Prussian civil servant and was rarely able to make a secret of his German-national and loyal to the emperor, clearly demonstrates the harshness and intolerance with which the National Socialist rulers developed their new ideology even against the resistance. enforced by conservative forces. With the no longer elected, but now appointed successor to Dr. Erich Kreutz, Dr. Wilhelm Sievers , the National Socialists then found their ideal candidate, who retained the office of Lord Mayor of Brandenburg until the collapse of the Third Reich.

literature

• Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Volume 7: Supplement A – K. Winter, Heidelberg 2013, ISBN 978-3-8253-6050-4 , pp. 594-596.
• File Pr.Br.Rep.2A Reg. I Pers. 2955, Brandenburg State Main Archives
• Heß, Klaus: The Lord Mayors of Brandenburg from 1933 to 1945 . - In: Historischer Verein Brandenburg (Havel) eV (Hrsg.): 12th annual report 2002 - 2003 . Brandenburg an der Havel 2003, pp. 35–45; here section Dr. Erich Kreutz , pp. 36–39