Gustav Boess

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Böß (right) together with the Mayor of Vienna Karl Seitz
Boess at the opening of the Rehberge Park
The grave of Gustav Boess and his wife Anna in the grave of his parents in the old cemetery in Gießen.

Gustav Böß (born April 11, 1873 in Gießen ; † February 6, 1946 in Bernried ; full name Gustav August Johann Heinrich Böß ) was a doctor of law , local politician of the DDP and from January 20, 1921 to November 7, 1929 Lord Mayor of Berlin .

Life

Origin and education

Gustav Boess, son of an authorized signatory , first attended the Gießen secondary school (today: Gießen Herderschule ). He then began studying law and economics at the Ludwigs-Universität Gießen , which he completed with a doctorate . He was a member of the Corps Hassia .

Political offices

After working for the financial administration of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and the administration of the Prussian-Hessian Railway Association , he became City Councilor for Transport in Schöneberg in 1910 under the Lord Mayors Rudolph Wilde and Alexander Dominicus . In 1912, with the membership of the city of Berlin-Schöneberg in the “ Zweckverband Groß-Berlin ”, he was elected treasurer of the city of Berlin at the suggestion of the DDP .

Berlin Lord Mayor

On January 20, 1921, Gustav Böß was elected Lord Mayor by the Berlin city council with the votes of the SPD . As Lord Mayor of Berlin, he ruled one of the most important metropolises in Europe and the world in the golden twenties . He was also a member of the Prussian State Council from 1921 to 1929 .

Boess campaigned for greater centralization of the Greater Berlin Association, which, however, was repeatedly successfully fended off by the district offices. He was increasingly committed to the construction of games and sports facilities and the creation of parks, some of which could be financed by the Berlin economy. In his time the Poststadion , the German Sports Forum including the Annaheim, the sports fields in Charlottenburg, on the edge of the Grunewald and in the Jungfernheide park , the Dominicus sports field in today's Schöneberg sports center and the Mommsen Stadium were built. In addition, he campaigned for art, for example through the conversion of the “ German Opera House ” into a municipal opera and the promotion of young artists through the town hall concerts that have been held regularly since 1924. During his time there were also major construction projects such as the Berlin Exhibition Center and Tempelhof Airport , as well as the Berlin in the Light Week of Action from October 13 to 16, 1928.

Fur coat affair

Gustav Boess decided on November 7, 1929, one day after his declaration of innocence in the press, due to the loss of confidence in the course of the Sklarek scandal . In it, the Sklarek brothers illegally obtained a supply monopoly for hospitals and welfare institutions by selling cheap clothing to politicians and civil servants and committed credit fraud. Boess was involved in the scandal because his wife had received a valuable fur coat for a fraction of the actual price. The difference to the total value of the fur coat of 1,000 RM was then donated to a charitable cause. He bought a picture for 800 RM and sent 200 RM to two needy sisters-in-law. The Sklarek company was not informed about this.

Because of this so-called fur coat affair, proceedings against Boess were initiated against the management of the city administration, alleging a breach of duty, which in the first instance resulted in a conviction to be dismissed, which was later lifted. In the subsequent appeal proceedings at the Prussian Higher Administrative Court, a breach of service by the management of the city administration was denied. However, the way of paying the bill for the fur coat was assessed by the court as an official offense, for which Boess was sentenced to a fine of one month's salary. Following the appointment process, Böß retired for health reasons. After the National Socialists came to power in 1933, new proceedings were brought against Boess. He was now accused of having received too high a salary and too high costs for the conversion of a company apartment. Since the allegations turned out to be unfounded, no charges were ultimately brought and Boess was released from pretrial detention after 9 months. In 1934 Böß first went to Munich and then lived in Bernried am Starnberger See until his death on February 6, 1946 .

Trivia

There is a couplet about Mayor Boess and the Sklarek scandal based on the song " Beautiful Gigolo, poor Gigolo " (music by Leonello Casucci ):

Mayor Boess, Mayor Boess,
don't think about the times
when you were in office
went in silk and velvet,
could guide Germany's future
Position was passé, Sklarek says goodbye,
beautiful mink, you lie in fringes,
and there you get your wages
a bulky pension,
now go and stop arguing.

Honors

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List of famous corporates
  2. ↑ Regina Kusch: 90 years ago. The Berlin im Licht campaign begins. October 13, 2018, accessed August 22, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Christian Engeli: Gustav Boess Lord Mayor of Berlin 1921 to 1930 (series of publications by the Association for Communal Sciences eV Berlin) . W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart Berlin Cologne Mainz 1971, p. 226 ff .
  4. ↑ Christian Engeli: Gustav Boess Lord Mayor of Berlin 1921 to 1930 (series of publications by the Association for Communal Sciences eV Berlin) . W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart Berlin Cologne Mainz 1971, p. 247 ff .
  5. ↑ https://www.berlin.de/ba-charlottenburg-wilmersdorf/ueber-den- Bezirk/kultur-und-wissenschaft/buehnen/ artikel.179258.php
personal data
SURNAME Boess, Gustav
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Böß, Gustav August Johann Heinrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Lord Mayor of Berlin
DATE OF BIRTH April 11, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH to water
DATE OF DEATH February 6, 1946
Place of death Bernried