Franz von Papen as an honorary citizen

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Franz von Papen (1933)

Franz von Papen became an honorary citizen of numerous German municipalities.

prehistory

After a devastating parliamentary defeat, the Reich government under Papen's leadership as Reich Chancellor was already considered to have failed on September 12, 1932. In the Reichstag election on November 6, 1932, the NSDAP did not yet obtain a qualified majority, but only a 33.1% share of the vote. In order to form a government, it was dependent on the help of other, mostly bourgeois-conservative and nationally minded forces. With the so-called “national uprising”, the “ handover of power to the National Socialists ” on January 30, 1933, numerous municipalities of the German Reich went over to it, leading politicians of the NSDAP, but also from the political environment that tolerated the installation of the regime and This made it possible for them to be named honorary citizens with or without a direct reference to the location. The failed Chancellor Papen was a Vice Chancellor in the Hitler cabinet from January 1933 to July 1934.

Franz von Papen, who as a politician of the Catholic Center Party was closer to moderate, bourgeois-conservative circles than to the radical National Socialists, experienced a primarily negative reception in post-war history in his role. The best-known stigma that is repeatedly attributed to him is " Hitler's stirrup holder" and runs almost like a prayer wheel through almost all of the depictions. Although he was indicted by the International Military Tribunal in the Nuremberg trial of the main war criminals on the items “joint plan or conspiracy ” and “ crimes against peace ”, he was acquitted. In a trial chamber procedure under the occupying power on February 24, 1947, he was then classified as the "main culprit" in the course of his own denazification and was convicted with final and absolute judgment.

Honorary citizenship is usually granted for life and expires with death. For war criminals, a directive from the Allied Control Council in Germany also stipulates the loss of honorary citizenship. Whether honorary citizenships should or can be formally withdrawn against this background is constantly controversial. Some municipalities categorically avoid the discussion in the sense described, especially since the majority of the questionable people had already died at the end of the war or died soon afterwards. Most municipalities also - not without pride - keep historical lists of honorary citizens that go back many centuries. Individual municipalities have also recently given honorary citizenships to deserving people after their death . Occasionally, historians also put forward the argument that , in the interests of preserving authenticity, a subsequent revocation should not be made, as otherwise one would be exposed to the charge of falsifying history . Another reason given for the inactivity of the municipal bodies is that files were burned during the war and that the unclear file situation alone prevents a decision.

The conflict over the question of whether and how certain people burdened by the Nazi era should be denied honorary citizenship has continued until very recently.

Honorary citizenships (selection)

The honorary citizenships of Franz von Papen were also discussed in the arguments described. Although he could not be classified as a “ war criminal ” due to the lack of a final conviction, he was hardly inferior to this consideration in the assessment of his time as the “main culprit” of the crimes of the National Socialists - if not as a perpetrator but as a pioneer. With this, his honorary rights were already forfeited in some municipalities, and corresponding applications for revocation were not even negotiated. In some cases, Franz von Papen's honorary citizenship was explicitly revoked while he was still alive. Many continued to exist at least until his death on May 2, 1969. Individual communities honor his memory to this day, even by naming streets and places after him. Others again passed resolutions that posthumously withdrew his honorary citizenship .

Werl 1933-1945

In 1933, Papen was made an honorary citizen in Werl , the town of his birth . The former market street wore off in May 1933 after his name Von Papen-shore - there was also his birthplace . In the wider district of Soest , the former Kuhstrasse (today's Cranestrasse ) in Geseke was renamed Von-Papen-Strasse . As early as 1945, shortly after the end of the war, his honorary citizenship was expressly revoked and both streets were renamed again by June 7th. In a later statement in 1964 Franz von Papen expressed his regret at this decision.

Olpe 1933-1946

On August 18, 1933, the councilors' assembly of Olpe unanimously named Hermann Göring and Franz von Papen honorary citizens. Both were withdrawn from the city committee on February 1, 1946. At that time, both were still under indictment before the International Military Court in Nuremberg, the verdicts were given eight months later.

Iburg 1933-1948

On May 25, 1933, Papen became an honorary citizen of Bad Iburg . Nevertheless, on March 4, 1948, under the heading “Miscellaneous”, the municipal council unanimously decided to withdraw his honorary citizenship.

Dülmen 1933-2010

The Dülmen city council appointed Papen an honorary citizen of Dülmen on May 26, 1933 . The former Borkener Strasse was now called Von-Papen-Strasse . It was renamed on February 22, 1946. However, it was not until December 15, 2010 that the city of Dülmen, along with Hitler and Hindenburg , removed him from the list of its honorary citizens. The SPD parliamentary group in the city council had formulated a corresponding motion on September 26, 2010. An identical motion by the Greens was rejected back in the 1980s.

Merfeld 1933-2010

In 1933 Papen became an honorary citizen of Merfeld (today a part of Dülmen). He had settled there in the Merfeld house in 1919 and was even the honorary mayor of the place. His expense allowances for this office were criticized by the then District President Rudolf Amelunxen as being too high and drastically reduced. Then Papen left Merfeld in 1930 and moved into his country residence in Wallerfangen in the Saarland . In the 1950s, Merfeld, which was then self-governing at the time, declared itself an honorary citizen because Papen lived there for a long time and did a lot for the village.

Frankenholz

Since November 20, 1933 Papen was an honorary citizen of the Saarland community of Frankenholz , today a district of Bexbach . The Saar then stood as a mandated territory under the League of Nations administration and should be a first on 13 January 1935 referendum to decide on its further government affiliation. The tribute to well-known Nazi figures and their political environment carried out in many places on the eve of the Saar vote can undoubtedly be understood as a clear positioning for the desired affiliation to the German Reich .

Catfish catch

Grave of the von Papen family
Galhau Castle before its destruction in 1944
Road dedication in Wallerfangen

By marrying Martha von Boch-Galhau (1880–1961), one of the heiresses of the ceramic dynasty Villeroy & Boch in 1905, Papen was wealthy in Wallerfangen and lived there from 1930 until the end of the war in 1945. In addition to considerable financial resources, his wife also brought an estate into the marriage. It was known as Galhau'sches Schloss , built in the 1860s by Nicolas Adolphe de Galhau (1814–1889), who had bequeathed it to his brother-in-law , Martha's father, for lack of his own descendants . Today the remains of the complex are known locally as Gut Papen and are owned by the family.

Franz von Papen also made the community of Wallerfangen an honorary citizen in 1933.

In the post-war period, Papen was banned from entering the semi-autonomous Saarland . However, as a locally wealthy “Exile Saarlander” , he was entitled to the second plebiscite on the Saar Statute on October 23, 1955, to exercise his voting rights at the place of his last residence in Wallerfangen. The honorary citizen of the community was given a reception that day by the local association. In a thank you speech, Papen emphasized that he had just voted “No”. With this, Papen opposed the Saar Statute (with a majority of the voters), which was generally seen as a vote for the subsequent accession of the Saarland to the Federal Republic of Germany. In Wallerfangen, 1,012 eligible voters had voted “Yes”, while in 1917 eligible voters had voted “No”. The Saarland national average of the no-sayers was 67.7%.

After the Saarland became part of the Federal Republic of Germany, his family returned to the estate in 1957. He found his final resting place in the family grave in the Wallerfang cemetery. A street in Wallerfangen was named after his son (Friedrich) Franz von Papen .

reception

Hardly any of the subordinate biographies about him deal with his honorary citizenship, with the exception of the one in his native Werl.

literature

  • Karlheinz Spielmann : Honorary Citizens and Honors in Past and Present, a Documentation on German and Central European History , Volume I and II, 3rd Edition, Dortmund 1967.
  • Marcus Weidner: The street naming practice in Westphalia and Lippe during National Socialism , online on the portal of the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c "City of Dülmen removes Hitler from the list of honorary citizens" ( Memento from February 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) T-Online , Regionales NRW from December 15, 2010, 5:47 pm, last accessed on February 9, 2015
  2. ↑ a b "Franz von Papen" in: The street naming practice in Westphalia and Lippe during National Socialism , on the portal of the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association (last accessed on February 10, 2015)
  3. ^ "Application in Dülmen: Hitler should no longer be an honorary citizen" ( Memento from February 9, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ) in: Ruhr Nachrichten from December 13, 2010, last accessed on February 9, 2015
  4. ↑ "Stadt Olpe" in: The street naming practice in Westphalia and Lippe during National Socialism , on the portal of the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (last accessed on February 17, 2015)
  5. ↑ "a noble carp for the Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen" in: Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung of 13 June 2008, last downloaded February 9, 2015
  6. ↑ a b "Anger over honorary citizens" in: Dülmener Zeitung of August 3, 2012, accessed on February 9, 2015
  7. ↑ "Honorary Citizen Hitler as a Heavy Load" ( Memento from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) in: Südwest Presse from December 16, 2010
  8. ^ "City of Dülmen removes Hitler from the list of honorary citizens" in: Merkur Online from December 15, 2010, last accessed on February 9, 2015
  9. ↑ Silvia Schenk, Hans-Joseph Britz: " Scrolled through the city ​​archives, honorary citizens Hitler, Hindenburg and others: Often suppressed or hushed up" ( Memento from February 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) in: Es Heftche, Das Stadtmagazin für Homburg und Umgebung, 24 April 2013 (last accessed on February 6, 2015)
  10. ^ "Franz von Papen visits his home community Wallerfangen as a voter" in: DER SPIEGEL 45/1955 of November 2, 1955 (last accessed on February 6, 2015)
  11. ↑ Gerhard Franz: The victory of the naysayers - 50 years after the vote on the Saar Statute , Blieskastel 2005, p. 181

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