Franz Mariaux

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Hermann Franz Mariaux (born June 24, 1898 in Cologne , † March 24, 1986 in Königswinter ) was a German journalist and writer .

Live and act

Mariaux studied economics and social sciences at the University of Cologne after the First World War . After graduating as Dr. pole. he got a job as a full-time journalist at Ullstein Verlag : for two of its newspapers, the Vossische Zeitung and - until July 1, 1930 - the Kölnische Zeitung , Mariaux reported on the meetings of the League of Nations, especially from Geneva.

In addition, Mariaux, who is counted among the young conservative opponents of the Weimar Republic, worked as a freelance publicist. He maintained close professional and friendly ties, in particular with the right-wing publicist Edgar Jung . Like Jung, Mariaux represented right, conservative and imperialist views: He defined the empire as the political form “appropriate” to the German people, in which their own order would prove itself as a guarantor of the order of the mainland. In Mariaux's opinion, Germany had a right to its empire. In his opinion, this was derived from the regulatory law under which the continent as a whole stands.

Mariaux expressed his opposition to the political system of the Weimar Republic particularly clearly in 1931 when he published the much-read book Der Schutthaufen in 1931 , the title of which tried to banish the Weimar state to the rubbish heap of history.

From 1932, Mariaux took on managerial tasks in the capital's broadcasting operations as head of the " Zeitfunk und Sport" department at Funk-Stunden AG in Berlin, but had to vacate his post in 1933. Instead he went to Paris as a representative of the Ullstein press.

After the National Socialists came to power in the spring of 1933, Mariaux was in close contact with the resistance group that was organized in the office of Hitler's conservative Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen at the time . On behalf of his friend Jung, who formed the spiritual center of this "office group" (also called "Jung- Bose - Ketteler - Tschirschky group" or "Papen circle"), Mariaux participated in the attempts of the group allies for a planned anti-Nazi group Advertise coup in the Reichswehr. In particular, Mariaux had acted as the group's middleman from April 1934 to the two discharged generals Kurt von Schleicher and Ferdinand von Bredow , who were hoped to be drawn into the conspirators' camp.

On the evening of June 28, 1934, Mariaux was arrested by Gestapo officials in Edgar Jung's apartment, where he was going to spend the night as his guest. Jung himself had already been arrested on June 25. The fact that Mariaux was not arrested during a first visit to Jung's apartment at noon that day - when he left his suitcase there and then went back to a few appointments - later raised numerous suspicions that he was in truth with the Gestapo had worked together and betrayed the office group to them: The long-time French ambassador in Berlin and Bonn, André François-Poncet , said in 1955 to a survivor of the Jung group: “ You [the office group] had a traitor, Mr. Mariaux! " Edmund Forschbach , who witnessed Mariaux's arrest, expressly doubted the correctness of these and similar allegations: " Mariaux was not a traitor, even if he was journalistic self-importance. During the critical hours I saw him as a friend of Edgar Jung so clearly that I would like to rule out any art of disguise . ” Forschbach attributed Mariaux's survival to the fact that several Swiss newspapers reported his arrest on the morning of June 30th. Since Mariaux had been well known to the representatives of the Swiss press since his time as a correspondent in Geneva, the latter had raised their voice in his favor: “In response to their protests, perhaps also to a demarche from the French embassy, ​​the Gestapo apparently did not dare to kill Mariaux as well . "

Joseph Goebbels included Mariaux as a nameless journalist in the radio address with which he justified the murder of Kurt von Schleicher : In the address, the Propaganda Minister spread the false claim that Schleicher had committed treason by allying himself with the French government against the imperial government . The assertion by Goebbels that the connection between Schleicher and the French was made "by a German journalist" was aimed at Mariaux.

During the Second World War Mariaux was a correspondent for the Kölnische Zeitung in Paris . After 1945 Mariaux advised the former mayor of Cologne and later Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer at times on his newspaper activities.

In the 1950s and 1960s Mariaux was active in the economy, a. a. he wrote a commemorative publication for the 75th birthday of Paul Silverberg . His estate is in the Rheinisch-Westfälische Wirtschaftsarchiv.

marriage and family

On October 10, 1938 Mariaux married in Breslau Ursula Irmgard von Richthofen (* July 9, 1914 in Breslau; † January 8, 1989 in Bad Honnef), a daughter of Hermann Otto Friedrich von Richthofen (* August 12, 1872 in Dürrjentsch; † December 24, 1920 in Breslau).

Archival material

Mariaux's estate is kept in the Rheinisch-Westfälische Wirtschaftsarchiv. There is also a ruling chamber file on him in the NRW State Archive (NW 1049, No. 4043).

Fonts

Writings as an author:

• The economic policy of the German Empire in the 16th century , 1921.
• The rubble heap. Riot of a world - people in space - the becoming of the Reich , Berlin 1931.
• National foreign policy , Oldenburg 1932.
• The Interim Diocesan Government, in particular the Kapitularvika. Legal historical and legal dogmatic appraisal of his interregnum, taking into account the diocesan instructions and the relationships between state church law and canon law when the bishop's seat was settled , 1940.
• The form of the legal transaction in the jurisprudence on German international private law since 1935 , 1951.
• Commemorative address for the 50th anniversary of the Otto Wolff company on June 25, 1954 with the assistance of friends and employees , 1954.
• Commemorative word for the centenary of the Harpener Bergbauaktiengesellschaft , Dortmund 1956.
• Commemorative word for the centenary of the Bochum Chamber of Commerce and Industry , Bochum 1956.

Writings as editor:

• Paul Silverberg: Speeches and Writings , Cologne 1951.

literature

• Obituary in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of March 25, 1986.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Genealogical handbook of baronial houses. Vol. 19. Starke, Limburg 1996, p. 276 ( online ).
2. ^ Franz Mariaux: National Foreign Policy , Oldenburg 1932, p. 67.
3. ^ Rita Thalmann : Jochen Klepper a life between idylls and catastrophes , 1977, p. 85.
4. ^ Dieter Marc Schneider: Johannes Schauff, 1902-1990. Migration and "stabilitas" in the age of totalitarianism , 2001, p. 66. Also Ernst Lemmer: Some was but different. Memories of a German Democrat , 1968, p. 194.
5. ^ ^{A b} Edmund Forschbach: Edgar Jung. A Conservative Revolutionary June 30, 1934 , 1984, p. 125.
6. ^ ^{A b} Edmund Forschbach: Edgar Jung , 1984, p. 126.
7. ↑ Ernst Jünger : Works , 1960, p. 391.
8. ↑ Cologne History Association: Yearbook No. 66, 1995.
9. ↑ Legacies in the Rheinisch-Westfälische Wirtschaftsarchiv ( Memento of the original from April 21, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .