Gerhard Wolf (Consul)

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Memorial plaque on Ponte Vecchio , which reminds of Gerhard Wolf

Gerhard Wolf (* 12. August 1896 in Dresden , † 23. March 1971 in Munich ) was consul in Italian Florence . There he managed to protect politically persecuted people (e.g. Bernard Berenson ) and cultural assets (e.g. the Ponte Vecchio ).

Life

Gerhard Wolf was born in Dresden in 1896 as the seventh and youngest child of a family of lawyers. After military service, he studied philosophy, art history and literature and completed his studies with a doctorate in philosophy.

In 1927 Wolf entered the diplomatic service under Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann , and when Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, he worked in Rome . In that year he was asked to join the NSDAP for the first time . Although he initially refused, he joined the company on March 1, 1939 for career reasons after the consequences of a further refusal had been made clear to him: recall from his post abroad, no further transfer abroad or immediate dismissal.

From 1940 to 1944 Wolf was the German consul in Florence . During the years of German occupation in 1943/44, he saved numerous lives with the support of Rudolf Rahn (Deputy German Ambassador and later Reich Plenipotentiary in Italy). This was testified by the American art historian Bernard Berenson in 1946 , who was living in Florence as a foreigner of Jewish descent in order to preserve art treasures and the library. In 1944, Wolf, together with Ludwig Heinrich Heydenreich , head of the Art History Institute , thwarted the planned transport of numerous Florentine art treasures to Germany.

Other anti-fascist witnesses reported that Consul Wolf was known as "a moderate man and an opponent of all excesses of the Nazi regime" .

Ten years after his retirement, Gerhard Wolf died on March 23, 1971 in Munich.

Out of gratitude, the Florentines called him "Il Console di Firenze" (Consul of Florence) and in 1955 granted him honorary citizenship of the city. A marble plaque on the Ponte Vecchio has been commemorating him since 2006 . It was unveiled by the incumbent mayor of Wolf's native city, Dresden. Florence has been Dresden's Italian twin city since 1978 .

literature

  • Johannes Hürter (Red.): Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service 1871 - 1945. 5. T - Z, supplements. Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service. Volume 5: Bernd Isphording, Gerhard Keiper, Martin Kröger: Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2014, ISBN 978-3-506-71844-0 , p. 321 f.
  • David Tutaev: The Consul of Florence. Saving a city. Düsseldorf 1967.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wolf, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH August 12, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH March 23, 1971
Place of death Munich