Georg Lewandowski

Georg Lewandowski (born August 19, 1944 in Schmidtsdorf , East Prussia ) is a German politician ( CDU ). He was Lord Mayor of Kassel from 1993 to 2005 .

Life and education

After elementary school (1951–1959) and commercial school (1959/60), Georg Lewandowski trained as a wholesale merchant from 1961 to 1964 and served as a soldier from 1965 to 1971. After his time in the armed forces , he studied at the technical college for economics from 1971 to 1973 and graduated as a state-certified business economist . From 1973 to 1974 he worked as a commercial clerk, then from 1974 to 1988 as head of personnel support and since 1988 as head of personnel.

politics

Georg Lewandowski has been a member of the CDU since 1970 and has held various board positions there since 1976. Since 1990 he was district chairman of the CDU Kassel-Stadt. Georg Lewandowski was a city councilor in Kassel from 1973 to 1977 and from 2006 to 2016. From 1977 to 1993 he was deputy chairman of the CDU parliamentary group.

Georg Lewandowski had been a member of the Hessian state parliament since April 5, 1991 . After being elected Lord Mayor of Kassel, he left the state parliament on July 22, 1993.

His election as Lord Mayor of Kassel in 1993 attracted nationwide attention. Kassel has always been a stronghold of the SPD . The SPD has provided the city's mayor since the end of the Second World War. Also in 1993 there was a broad red-green majority in the city council. The election of Georg Lewandowski was only made possible by the direct election of mayors, which was introduced into the constitution of the State of Hesse in 1991 .

Election campaign topics with which Lewandowski was able to score points against his predecessor Wolfram Bremeier (SPD) in 1993 were the abolition of the beverage tax and the removal of unpopular traffic calming measures.

He again received nationwide attention for the demolition of Gustav Lange's work of art of a huge wooden staircase on Königsplatz, which he ordered . This work of art, which was erected in 1992 as part of documenta 9 , was viewed by broad sections of the public as a disguise of the square. In 2000, Georg Lewandowski had it torn down in a "night and fog" event, despite copyright concerns and applauded by the public. The following criminal proceedings against Lewandowski for breach of trust were discontinued by the regional court after paying a monetary fee of 15,000 euros; The background to the indictment was that it had "endangered the city's assets", as the city of Kassel had risked a fine of over 200,000 euros with the demolition, which however did not have to be paid due to a settlement with Lange.

During his tenure, he was President of the Hessian City Council from 1999 to 2001 and from 2003 to 2005 .

After twelve years in office, he was voted out of office as Lord Mayor in 2005. His successor was Bertram Hilgen ( SPD ).

Web links

• Literature by and about Georg Lewandowski in the catalog of the German National Library
• Georg Lewandowski at the city of Kassel

swell

1. ↑ https://www.kassel.de/buerger/rathaus_und_politik/rund-ums-rathaus/rathaus-geschichte/buergermeister-der-stadt/georg-lewandowski-1993-bis-2005.php .
2. ^ FAZ (February 19, 2002): After the "documenta" staircase was torn down