Fritz Wester

Fritz Wester (born June 6, 1880 in Marialinden ; † November 11, 1950 in Cologne ) was a German physician and politician ( center ).

Life

Fritz Wester was born the son of a businessman. His parents ran a farm, a general store, a herb press and an inn with a guesthouse. After graduating from the Humanistic Gymnasium in Düren , he began studying medicine and dentistry at the universities of Würzburg , Bonn , Berlin and Greifswald , which he completed with the state examination. He then worked as a medical assessor in West Prussia , Silesia , Pomerania , Saxony and Hamburg . In 1907 he established himself as a country doctor (general practitioner and dentist) in Overath . In 1908 he received his doctorate as Dr. med. at the University of Cologne . During the First World War , from which he returned home as a severely disabled person, he served in the army as a medical officer for the reserve.

Wester was the founder of the association of doctors on the right bank of the Rhine and since the 1920s a board member of the Hartmannbund . Together with his brothers, he founded the open trading company Sanitäts-Molkerei Dr. med. Wester & Co. with a subsidiary in Cologne . He joined the Center Party and was a local councilor and alderman in Overath and a member of the Mülheim district council . He also acted as a board member of the Prussian Landgemeindetag West.

He was a member of the Prussian state parliament from May 29, 1923 to 1928 and again from July 16, 1928 to 1933. In the state elections on April 25, 1932, the previous grand coalition consisting of the SPD, the center and the democrats lost its majority. The NSDAP was now the strongest parliamentary group. When attempting to elect a new president on the occasion of the first session of the new state parliament on May 24, 1932, what was probably the largest hall shaft in a German parliament came between the National Socialists and the Communists. More and more people were injured and seriously injured, especially among the numerically far outnumbered Communists. Dr. Wester immediately started emergency medical care for the injured in an adjoining room, saving many lives as they were safe under his medical care. He did this without any preferential treatment, entirely following his Christian conscience. In particular, he saved the life of the unconscious managing director of the SPD parliamentary group, Jürgen Juergensen , who was critically injured by a targeted throw .

After the National Socialists came to power, Wester was harassed because of his attitude and was finally banned from working and residing in the Rhine Province and the Province of Westphalia in 1935 . He then moved to Berlin , where he subsequently practiced as a doctor. After the assassination attempt on July 20, 1944 , he left the city, went into hiding and successfully evaded arrest. Later returned to the Rhineland. Here, after the Second World War , he took part in the rebuilding of the medical associations to which he himself belonged. In addition, he was one of the license holders of the Kölnische and Bonner Rundschau .

Dr.-Wester-Strasse in Overath is named after him.

literature

• Ernst Kienast (Ed.): Handbook for the Prussian Landtag , edition for the 5th electoral period, Berlin 1933, p. 398.
• Herrmann AL Degener (Ed.): Who is it? 9th edition, Leipzig 1928, p. 1684.