Gustav Ritz

Gustav Ritz on a certificate of honor from the 19th century.

Gustav Herrmann August Ritz (born February 4, 1829 in Dresden ; died November 19, 1887 in Leipzig ) was a pedagogue, member of the Dresden city council, from 1863 commander of the Dresden gymnastics fire brigade and from 1868 first fire director of the Saxon residence. Under his leadership, the permanent professional fire brigade corps was formed from 1868, a forerunner of today's professional fire brigade. At the same time, Ritz chaired the Saxon and later the German Reich Fire Brigade Association .

Life

Childhood, youth and education

Gustav Ritz was born on February 4, 1829 as the son of the button maker Traugott Eduard Ritz (1798–1882) and his wife Augusta Christina Sophia, born. Vetter (1804–1830) born in Dresden. His baptism took place on February 15, 1829 in the Kreuzkirche . The couple initially lived on Leipziger Strasse and later moved to the Ritz family's house in Kamenz . While the father continued to work in the Dresden workshop, often for weeks, his wife looked after her offspring. Gustav's mother died in 1830 after the birth of her second son, after which the two brothers grew up with their grandparents as half-orphans. The father married his housekeeper Erdmuthe Stöckhardt in 1832. From this marriage two other sons were born.

Gustav Ritz attended the Kamenz city school from 1835 to 1840, which he finished with excellent grades. His father then brought him to Dresden, where he attended the Second Citizens' School in Friedrichstadt until 1843 and also graduated with top marks. During this time, Gustav Ritz's desire to take up the profession of teacher grew. His training took place from 1844 to 1848 at the Friedrichstadt School of Education on today's Seminarstrasse. The building complex has maintained today's Dresden School Museum since 2006 . During these years Ritz received the necessary knowledge and skills of a school teacher; especially in the subject of gymnastics, which he emphasized by his membership in the General Dresden Gymnastics Club, which he has been doing since 1844 . During his time as a seminar student, Ritz lived in the school's own boarding school.

Due to the German Revolution of 1848/1849 , which also affected the Saxon royal seat and led to the Dresden May uprising , the meanwhile 21-year-old Ritz was only able to give up his legitimation as a school teacher on April 5, 1850, which he completed with the main result Good with distinction . Ritz does not have to provide evidence of active or passive participation in the May uprising.

Gym teacher, medical degree and head of the institution

After the revolution, Ritz applied as a teacher at the Dresden school of the Rath und That association and received a position as an assistant teacher. In 1851 he was permanently employed. In order to meet his aspirations to become a gymnastics teacher, Ritz attended the Royal Gymnastics Teacher Training Center at the menagerie from October 1850 to October 1851 . In December of the same year he passed their examination with good results and thus acquired the qualification to take on a gymnastics teaching post as well as to give gymnastics lessons for men and women. Then Ritz applied to the Rath und Tat association for approval to run a gymnastics institute. Approval from the responsible authorities was given by the council of the royal capital and residence of Dresden on March 30, 1855, and only after Ritz was made a citizen of Dresden on March 13 of this year.

Gustav Ritz did not just want to run a simple facility for physical exercise, but rather to create a combination of exercise and hydrotherapy with medical support. This induced him to give up his teaching post in the Rath und That association and to apply to the Royal Saxon Surgical Medical Academy in the Kurländer Palais in September 1857 , where he enrolled shortly afterwards. Here Ritz learned the basics of human anatomy and psychology. After graduation, again with very good results, Ritz opened the Ritz'sche gymnastic institute in 1858 on Oberseergasse, which no longer exists today, not far from today's Trompeterstraße . The backyard garden served as a practice area with all kinds of gymnastics equipment. Before and during his teaching post, however, Ritz also had the first health problems that were made easier by an excess of his diverse activities.

The newly opened institute acquired a good name early on and, due to its high influx, was subject to permanent expansion. Ritz then hired several assistant teachers who supported him with gymnastics lessons, gymnastic exercises and the moor and tub baths on offer - including Martha Böttcher, 22 years his junior, whom he married in 1871. Their marriage resulted in two daughters and a son.

Foundation of the gymnast fire brigade Dresden

The devastating city fires in Kamenz and Hamburg (both in 1842) as well as the Elbe flood in 1845 made Ritz realize that the coordination of the emergency services was inadequate in many places. Sometimes the firefighting teams that had been summoned stood idly by the events. During this time the first volunteer fire brigade corps were founded in Saxony, which, in Ritz's opinion, should be filled with young, sporty and courageous men, of whom there were plenty in local gymnastics clubs.

Together with Friedrich Wilhelm Scholle , the later fire-fighting inspector and head of the royal court theater fire brigade corps , Ritz founded the voluntary gymnastics fire brigade in Dresden , which was contaminated on January 23, 1863, with the assistance of the city council and members of his gymnastics club . Among the founding members, to whom Ritz did not want to count for personal reasons, was Franz Jacob Wigard as well as Scholle . The gymnast fire brigade initially consisted of 75 volunteers, most of whom were recruited from Ritz's gymnastics club. The chairmanship was initially held by master plumbers Waldmann and Scholle, who, however, soon elected Ritz as their commanding officer, who then became the first fire-fighting director to head the Turner fire department. Just one year later, it had 165 fire fighters who were distributed between the two locations in Scheffelgasse and Louisenstrasse. In the following years Ritz endeavored to fundamentally expand and expand the fire extinguishing system in Dresden. In addition to the enactment of numerous fire prevention regulations, his focus was on creating a minimum standard for the technical equipment of the fire fighting teams.

With effect from June 18, 1866, Ritz was the successor of the sick city fire extinguishing director Flössel. In 1867, under his chairmanship, the first professional fire brigade in Dresden was founded. His deputy Waldmann took over the management of the Turner fire brigade. On September 1, 1869, the city of Dresden gave him the job of community fire chief - but only after he had been assured that he could continue to run his gymnastics institute. The volunteer gymnastics fire brigade disbanded on July 31, 1881 after a city council resolution.

Fire extinguishing director of Dresden

The fire in the court theater in Dresden on September 21, 1869

A few weeks after Ritz's appointment as fire extinguishing director, the first Semper Opera burned down on September 21, 1869 . The cause was the negligent way of working of a lighting assistant while repairing the gas connection hoses of the chandeliers. On January 23, 1878, while inspecting a fire that had been extinguished in an iron forge, Ritz was seriously injured when a shelf loaded with iron parts collapsed as a result of the effects of heat and threw him to the ground. While falling, Ritz's head hit a sharp iron and broke his cheekbone. In the same year Gustav Ritz was honored for his extraordinary services with the Knight's Cross of the Royal Saxon Order of Merit, 2nd class.

The appointment of Ritz as municipal fire chief took place on April 1, 1880 by the Lord Mayor Paul Alfred Stübel ; however, with the stipulation to hand over the responsibility of his gymnasium, which his wife continued. In the same year he was elected head of the German Reich Fire Brigade Association (RFV). At the same time, Ritz continued to act as commander of the volunteer gymnastics fire brigade and the Dresden professional fire brigade. In addition, he chaired the Association of Fire Brigades Dresden and the surrounding area and was a member of the State Association of Saxony and a city councilor.

death

Gustav Ritz's grave in the Trinity Cemetery in Dresden

Gustav Ritz died on November 19, 1887 during his speech to the brigade association of voluntary fire brigades in the Leipzig area in an inn in Gohlis as a result of a stroke. Despite immediate first aid measures that had temporarily improved his health, Ritz died shortly after 10:30 p.m. as a result of cardiac arrest. The autopsy, which was still carried out on site, showed that Ritz had suffered from severe regression and slackening of the heart walls as a result of physical overload over a long period of time.

Ritz's death caused great consternation. On November 23, 1887, the burial took place in the Trinitatisfriedhof in front of several thousand people, including Lord Mayor Paul Alfred Stübel and numerous Saxon fire brigade members.

The Ritz memorial was inaugurated on the second anniversary of his death. The approximately three meter high grave column made of red Swedish granite was created by Johannes Schilling and financed by donations. At the top is a bronze bust of Ritz about 80 centimeters in size. The memorial was restored in 1935 and 1998. The care of the grave is the responsibility of the Dresden Fire Brigade.

literature

• Siegfried Däbritz: Gustav Ritz. First fire extinguishing director in Dresden. Druckerei & Verlag Christoph Hille, 1st edition 2013, published by Stadtfeuerwehrverband Dresden e. V., ISBN 978-3-939025-36-8 .

Web links

Commons : Gustav Ritz  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Siegfried Däbritz : Gustav Ritz. First fire extinguishing director in Dresden. Druckerei & Verlag Christoph Hille, 1st edition 2013, published by Stadtfeuerwehrverband Dresden e. V., pp. 13-26.
2. ^ Siegfried Däbritz: Gustav Ritz. First fire extinguishing director in Dresden. Druckerei & Verlag Christoph Hille, 1st edition 2013, published by Stadtfeuerwehrverband Dresden e. V., pp. 27-49.
3. ^ Siegfried Däbritz: Gustav Ritz. First fire extinguishing director in Dresden. Druckerei & Verlag Christoph Hille, 1st edition 2013, published by Stadtfeuerwehrverband Dresden e. V., pp. 50-53.
4. ^ Siegfried Däbritz: Gustav Ritz. First fire extinguishing director in Dresden. Druckerei & Verlag Christoph Hille, 1st edition 2013, published by Stadtfeuerwehrverband Dresden e. V., pp. 54-57.
5. ^ Siegfried Däbritz: Gustav Ritz. First fire extinguishing director in Dresden. Druckerei & Verlag Christoph Hille, 1st edition 2013, published by Stadtfeuerwehrverband Dresden e. V., pp. 58-96.
6. ^ Siegfried Däbritz: Gustav Ritz. First fire extinguishing director in Dresden. Druckerei & Verlag Christoph Hille, 1st edition 2013, published by Stadtfeuerwehrverband Dresden e. V., pp. 97-118.
7. ^ Siegfried Däbritz: Gustav Ritz. First fire extinguishing director in Dresden. Druckerei & Verlag Christoph Hille, 1st edition 2013, published by Stadtfeuerwehrverband Dresden e. V., pp. 119-132.