Günther Grzimek (lawyer)

Günther Grzimek (painting)

Günther Grzimek (born October 24, 1887 in Breslau , Province of Silesia , † August 9, 1980 in Friedrichshafen ) was a German lawyer , notary , from 1924 to 1931 a member of the Prussian state parliament in Berlin and an art collector .

family

Grzimek came from the Silesian family Grzimek and was the son of Richard and Maria Grzimek. He married Emmy Jansen (* 1888; † 1983) on November 14, 1911 in Bonn . The couple had six children Ingeborg, Gisela, Günther , Olga, Waldemar and Emmy-Maria. Günther and Emmy are buried in the Biberach an der Riss city cemetery, created by their son Günther , on whose grassy mound the larger than life plastic rider on stumbling horse of son Waldemar stands.

Life

After graduating from the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gymnasium in Breslau in 1906, Grzimek began studying law at the Universities of Breslau and Munich . In the first semester he became a member of the Wroclaw student union Wratislavia (today Königstein-Wratislavia ). He received his doctorate in 1910 with the dissertation The legal principles of the granting consortia at the University of Breslau for Dr. juris . During his legal clerkship, he worked at the Cologne Regional Court. In a tennis club there he met his future wife Emmy Jansen, to whom he was engaged from January 1911.

Already in October 1906 he was drafted into the field artillery regiment "von Peucker" (1st Silesian) No. 6 and was appointed lieutenant in the reserve the following year. On March 3, 1908, Grzimek rescued a drowning man during a flood from the Oder , for which he was awarded the Prussian Rescue Medal on a yellow and white ribbon.

The First World War , in which he took part as a reserve officer, initially interrupted his legal career, but in the final years of the war he was able to open a law practice in Rastenburg ( East Prussia ), which he devoted himself entirely to after the war. After the Kapp Putsch of 1920, the Prussian state government appointed him to the government of the province of East Prussia as senior councilor with the rank of regional president as deputy to the new senior president Ernst Siehr . The two succeeded in restoring the situation in the province, which had been criticized after the coup and during the period of the vote on whether the southern part of East Prussia should remain with Germany. Another threatening situation arose when the 4th Soviet Army entered East Prussian territory after the Polish victory in the Polish-Soviet War in August 1920. Contrary to the provisions of the Versailles Treaty and on its own responsibility, the provincial government set up armed local and border guards for internment purposes . After the political situation had stabilized, he left the government after a year and a half in order to pursue his actual profession.

After Grzimek was elected member of the Prussian Landtag as chairman of the German Democratic Party of East Prussia in 1924 , he moved with his family to Berlin in 1925, where he opened a new law practice. Grzimek was a member of the Prussian state parliament until 1931.

Due to his strong criticism of the propaganda of National Socialism , even after 1933, his activities were severely curtailed and the notary's office was withdrawn. He then turned mainly to non-political criminal trials. After the bombing in 1944, he moved with his family to Württemberg, where he again set up a law practice at the district and regional court in Ravensburg .

After the Second World War , he confirmed his good name as a criminal defense lawyer in over 900 representations at the French occupation courts and in countless criminal proceedings. He joined the CDU and became district chairman (later honorary chairman) in Ravensburg. In the European Union , of which he also belonged, he was deputy chairman of the Baden-Württemberg regional association .

From 1966 to 1968 he was a member of the documenta council for the 4th documenta in 1968 in Kassel .

Art collection

In addition to his legal and political activities, Grzimek devoted himself to art with particular devotion, with the Mannerists being his special preference. For many years he collected the European masters from 1520 to 1640 , which, as the Grzimek family's collection with around 160 pieces, is a unique one, as this art movement was neglected for many years. In the 1950s, the first loans were placed in Montfort Castle . In 1983, the municipality of Langenargen bought 35 paintings from the collection, 31 of which are in Montfort Castle. 7 pictures hang as a mannerist collection of the Grzimek family in Wilhelmshöhe Palace in Kassel . The remaining pictures were distributed among the family after his death.

Orders and decorations

• Iron Cross 2nd class
• Silesian eagle 2nd stage
• Prussian rescue medal on ribbon
• Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Works

• The legal principles of the issuing consortia. Korn, Breslau 1910
• European masters from 1520 to 1640. From the rise of modern times. Mannerists. Collection of the Grzimek family. Self-published, Ravensburg 1956
• From the rise of the modern age. Handbook of paintings of European mannerism. Catalog of the Grzimek family. Self-published, Ravensburg 1965
• Bunch of flowers for the partner on her 80th birthday. Self-published, n.d. 1968
• Grzimek's lives. Memories of an ancestor. Podzun, Dorheim 1972

literature

• Gerhard Grzimek and Rupprecht Grzimek: The Grzimek family from Oberglogau in Upper Silesia. n.d. 1986

Web links

Commons : Günther Grzimek  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Günther Grzimek in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature list in the online catalog of the Berlin State Library