Gerhard Hertel

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Gerhard Hertel (around 1995)

Gerhard Hertel (born June 22, 1924 in Freudenstadt ; † February 5, 2007 ibid) was a German tax officer, local politician and homeland researcher .

Life

Gerhard Hertel was the son of an independent businessman. Although he showed a great interest in history while still at school, he began a commercial apprenticeship after graduating from school. His father's illness forced him to do so. He had to interrupt his apprenticeship in 1941 because he - although still a minor - was drafted into the armed forces and was initially sent to Moldova . He did not return to his hometown until 1945 after the end of the Second World War - as a severely disabled person. There he started to work at the Freudenstadt tax office and this activity he carried out until his retirement in 1976. In 1948 he married Irmgard Bässler, with whom he had two sons.

Medal commemorating the founding of the Freudenstadt Homeland and Museum Association in 1974.

Soon he began to participate as a local politician. First he was committed to the All-German People's Party (GVP): in 1952 he was one of its founders. After the failure of this party, he played a key role in its dissolution in 1957. In the meantime he found his political home with the SPD and as a member of this party he was elected to the local council in 1956. He held this office continuously for 33 years. In 1959 he took part as a delegate at the reform party conference of the SPD in Bad Godesberg . He has been a district councilor since 1959 - apart from a break of several years, a total of 22 years. In 1969 he took part as an elector in the Federal Assembly which elected Gustav Heinemann as Federal President.

For Hertel, however, homeland research was most important, with history being the main concern. In 1974 he was a co-founder of the Heimat- und Museumverein für Stadt und Kreis Freudenstadt. He was its engine and until the end its deputy chairman and managing director. He then got involved in the construction of the museum and after its opening in 1978 he was its director and curator.

Gerhard Hertel at the unveiling of the Kaiser Friedrich II stele at Castel Fiorentino on December 13, 2000.

Gerhard Hertel wrote several books as well as numerous essays and short stories, which mainly concerned the history of Freudenstadt. In the book Experiences, Views, Insights from 80 Years , published in 2006, he succeeded in combining his autobiography with the history of the city and thus concluding his life's work. Hertel worked on the publication of the yearbooks of the Freudenstadt district and since 1980 he has been the sole editor of the "Freudenstädter Heimatblätter", a monthly supplement to the Freudenstädter edition of the daily newspaper "Schwarzwälder Bote". He wrote countless treatises for this, most of which were dedicated to the founders of the city: Duke Friedrich von Württemberg and master builder Heinrich Schickhardt . For the 400th anniversary of Freudenstadt, he organized a series of lectures in 1999. He managed to win top-class speakers for it.

In 1974 Hertel met Ernest Weiss, Secretary General of Horbourg , on a research trip . The two, who soon became warm friends, succeeded in convincing the mayors of both cities to work together to preserve Heinrich Schickhardt's work. In 1989, Hertel and Jean-Claude Voisin, then heads of the Montbéliard Cultural and Monuments Office , decided to deepen the partnership between Freudenstadt and Montbéliard , which had officially existed since 1972, by better emphasizing Heinrich Schickhardt's common cultural heritage in the former Württemberg regions. This initiative transformed the merger of Freudenstadt and Horbourg into a much broader alliance of cities that own buildings or technical constructions by Schickhardt and want to keep this cultural heritage accessible to posterity. This alliance was officially recognized in 1992 as the " Heinrich Schickhardt European Cultural Route " and its rank was raised in 2004 to the " Heinrich Schickhardt European Council of Culture ".

Appreciation

At the end of his 33 years as a city councilor, Hertel was awarded the Freudenstadt Citizen Medal in 1989. Hertel received the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class, for his extraordinary services as a city and district councilor, as a historian and, last but not least, for building bridges to France - co-founder of the Heinrich Schickhardt Cultural Route Association .

On June 22, 2007, on the day Gerhard Hertel was 83 years old. The city of Freudenstadt paid tribute to him in a ceremony by renaming the Kleiner Kursaal in the Kurhaus to Gerhard-Hertel-Saal. At the same time, a relief was placed in the foyer of the town hall on the market in memory of him. Various personal memorabilia from Gerhard Hertel were exhibited in the showcase attached below. In connection with the renovation and redesign of the museum in the town hall, the relief and the showcase with Gerhard Hertel's personal belongings were moved to the Gerhard Hertel hall in the Kurhaus in 2012.

Awards

Publications (selection)

  • The year in which not only Freudenstadt was destroyed. A diary as a report of a turning point , Freudenstadt: Gerhard Hertel 1978
  • Freudenstadt in old postcards , ed. by Gerhard Hertel, Frankfurt am Main: Flechsig 1979, ISBN 3-88189-080-7
  • Between Germany and France. The founder of Freudenstadt and his role in the European religious dispute , Freudenstadt: Gerhard Hertel 1981
  • The Bärenschlössle - a witness to Freudenstadt's history , Freudenstadt: Müller 1981, ISBN 3-88366-050-7
  • Freudenstadt in Hartranft's time; with pictures from the Freudenstadt City Archives from the years 1850–1950 , Horb: Geiger 1983
  • The destruction. The fate of Freudenstadt on 16./17. April 1945 , Horb: Geiger undated [approx. 1984]
  • Royal Oberamt Freudenstadt. Splendor and hardship of the 19th century as reflected in contemporary historical images and reports (1806–1906) , Horb: Geiger 1987, ISBN 3-89264-076-9
  • Duke Friedrich I of Württemberg. A historical story , Horb: Geiger 1989, ISBN 3-89264-409-8
  • Alt-Freudenstadt and Alt-Horb. Pictures from two senior offices in the old Württemberg region , Tübingen: Metz brothers ; Südwest-Presse undated [1989], ISBN 3-921580-83-8
  • Contributions in: Städtle and City: Dornstetten and Freudenstadt. Search for traces at the turn of the millennium; Knights and people, churches and buildings; Remembrance of the founding of the city of Freudenstadt 400 years ago, 1599–1999 , ed. by Gottlob Herbert Bidermann, Reutlingen: Steinach-Verlag 2000, ISBN 3-929652-02-1
  • Experiences, views, insights from 80 years , Horb: Geiger 2006, ISBN 978-3-86595-098-7

Notes and individual references

  1. ^ Horst Schmid-Schickhardt: Gerhard Hertel . In: Die Siegener Familie ... , p. 81 and 83.
  2. ↑ Denise Rietsch: Gerhard Hertel and Ernest Weiss ... , p. 2.
  3. ↑ a b Horst Schmid-Schickhardt: Gerhard Hertel . In: The Schickhardt family from Siegen ... , 81.
  4. ↑ The association was first founded in 1912, but it disintegrated as a result of World War II.
  5. ↑ a b c d Horst Schmid-Schickhardt: Gerhard Hertel . In: The Siegener Schickhardt family ... , 83.
  6. ↑ Kulturstrasse Heinrich Schickhardt .
  7. ↑ Denise Rietsch: European Culture Route Heinrich Schickhardt ... , p. 3.
  8. ↑ Denise Rietsch: Gerhard Hertel and Ernest Weiss ... , p. 3.

literature

  • Horst Schmid-Schickhardt : Gerhard Hertel . In: The Schickhardt family from Siegen in the 15th to 17th centuries. An attempt at a partial genealogy , Baden-Baden: Schmid-Schickhardt 2008, pp. 81–83
  • Denise Rietsch: In memoriam H. Gerhard Hertel . In: “Un pont - Eine Brücke” 6 (2007), pp. 12-14
  • Gerhard Hertel: Little farewell . In: "Freudenstädter Heimatblätter", February 2007, pp. 1–3
  • Denise Rietsch: Gerhard Hertel and Ernest Weiss, honorary members of the association . In: "Un pont - Eine Brücke" 2 (2003), pp. 1–3
  • Denise Rietsch: "European Culture Route Heinrich Schickhardt" eV Foundation and goals . In: “Un pont - Eine Brücke” 1 (2001), pp. 3–7

Web links

Commons : Gerhard Hertel  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Hertel, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German tax officer, local politician and local researcher
DATE OF BIRTH June 22, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Freudenstadt
DATE OF DEATH February 5, 2007
Place of death Freudenstadt