Franz Xaver Baumann

Franz Xaver Baumann (born November 29, 1880 in Bachhagel ; † February 10, 1932 in Kaiserslautern ) was Lord Mayor of Kaiserslautern from 1918 to 1932.

Life

Baumann grew up in poor circumstances in Bachhagel, Bavaria, as one of nine children of a shoemaker. Nevertheless, he attended secondary school and was then able to study law in Munich and Erlangen . In 1905 he was with the dissertation house law and state law to Dr. jur. PhD. After he passed the state examination in 1909 with excellent results, he was transferred to the Bavarian Ministry of Justice in Munich in April 1910 after holding legal positions in Augsburg and Dillingen . In December of the same year he was appointed third public prosecutor in Munich, and in 1914 he was appointed district judge. During the First World War, Baumann served in the Royal Bavarian Army , most recently in the rank of first lieutenant as regimental adjutant. During this time he received several military awards.

After the incumbent Lord Mayor Hans Küfner moved back to Munich, the Kaiserslautern city council announced the position of Lord Mayor. Baumann was elected from several candidates in February 1918, but as he was still in military service, he was only introduced to his office in September 1918. During Baumann's tenure, the French occupation of the areas on the left bank of the Rhine fell as a result of the Compiègne armistice negotiations , which were later confirmed by the Treaty of Versailles . However, this also meant that Kaiserslautern became a district-free city on March 1, 1920 through a Bavarian self-government law and Baumann thus had more leeway in local self-government. He used this to set up a university in Kaiserslautern, for example in cooperation with the French occupation authorities for the Palatinate, which is cut off from the Bavarian motherland. The project failed, but at least a so-called technical center was created as a higher technical state school. In 1921, Bau AG Kaiserslautern was founded, a municipal housing company that is still non-profit today and rents around 10% of the apartments in Kaiserslautern. During Baumann's tenure, under the direction of Oberbaudirektor Hermann Hussong, it built buildings that still shape the city today, including the residential complex in Fischerstrasse (1919 ff.), The "Colorful Quarter" in Königstrasse / Marienstraße (1924–1925) and the rotunda .

When the German government called for passive resistance in the occupied territories as a result of the occupation of the Ruhr in January 1923, including work stoppages by state employees, the French authorities reacted with reprisals. In Kaiserslautern they arrested Mayor Baumann, among others, on March 24, 1923 and imprisoned him for four months in the Landau military prison on charges of non-compliance with military requirements . He was then deported with his family to the right bank of the Rhine for over a year. It was not until November 23, 1924 that he was able to take up his post as Lord Mayor again. In his absence, Alex Müller had been in charge of official business.

In June 1930 Baumann saw the withdrawal of the French occupation troops, which until then had helped shape his term of office. He died on February 10, 1932 at the age of only 51 from the effects of meningitis. His grave monument is located in the Kaiserslautern main cemetery and was created by the sculptor Gustav Adolf Bernd .

In his honor, a street in Kaiserslautern was named after him.

Awards

• Iron Cross Second Class
• Iron Cross First Class
• Bavarian Order of Military Merit, fourth class with swords

literature

• Heinz Friedel: Kaiserslautern. From the imperial era to the founding of the university. Siblings Schmidt-Verlag Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern 1998, ISBN 3-9803986-1-7 .
• Melitta Rinnert: Mr. Karcher and Miss Benzino as well as other Kaiserslautern personalities. 4th edition. Kaiserslautern 2015, ISBN 978-3-9816186-2-4 , p. 19ff.