Hans Eisele (diplomat)

Hans Eisele (born March 3, 1876 in Metlangen , today a district of Schwäbisch Gmünd , † March 19, 1957 in Saulgau ) was a German journalist, diplomat and writer.

Life

childhood

Hans was the first child of Xaver Franz Eisele, carpenter and farmer, and Mathilde Eisele, nee. Blessing. The family lived in Metlangen near Schwäbisch Gmünd at the foot of the Rechberg . Until 1890 Eisele attended elementary school in Straßdorf. The 14-year-old then became a student in Switzerland in the Benedictine monastery Engelberg , later in the collegiate school in Einsiedeln monastery . Already in Engelberg he was called the "leaf writer" because of his essays.

Career

In the fall of 1897 Eisele began studying political science at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. He received his doctorate in the winter semester 1900/01. In June 1901 Eisele got a job as editor-in-chief at the Offenburger Zeitung and married the daughter of a manufacturer, Maria Theresia Lichtel from Munich. During his studies he became a member of the Aenania Catholic fraternity . In 1922 he was one of the founders of the Trifels Catholic student association in Munich, which he took over as chairman in the years following its establishment.

The stations of his first professional years are Offenburg , Regensburg, Ellwangen, Saarbrücken and Koblenz. In May 1906 Eisele was called to Cologne as representative and editor-in-chief of the Kölnische Volkszeitung , in October 1906 he went to Berlin in the same position . This was an eminently political position, an "envoy post" as he himself said, with a political nose in all imperial offices and Prussian ministries, in the parliaments and especially in the central factions of the Reichstag and Prussian Landtag. Wherever there was an international congress or a major political event abroad, he was now a participant and reporter. He himself said that after 1906 there was no Catholic Day, no party congress from the Federation of Farmers to the Social Democrats at which he did not sit in the press and write reports. He was probably the only Catholic journalist to receive the Prussian Order of the Crown .

After a short time as editor-in-chief of the Allgemeine Rundschau in Munich , Eisele was commissioned by the State Ministry for Foreign Affairs in February 1921 to set up and manage the Bavarian official press office in Munich. Eisele headed the press office of the Bavarian State Ministry under five different Prime Ministers and - until his impeachment by the National Socialists in April 1934 - played an outstanding role in the political, cultural and religious life of Germany. He was given the title of senior government councilor and through his position came into contact with leading political and church personalities. The office of Nuncio Pacelli (Pope Pius XII from 1939 ) was in the immediate vicinity of the press office (Promenadeplatz 22). He advised the nuncio several times in the formulation of his letters and sermons. On the occasion of Eisele's 25th anniversary as a journalist and in recognition of his services as a publicist at the conclusion of the Bavarian Concordat , the Pope awarded him the Knight's Cross of the Order of St. Gregory , one of the highest honors that the Pope bestows on laypeople.

When the National Socialists came to power at the beginning of 1933, the professional situation became increasingly difficult. On July 1, 1933, the SA demolished his house. He was threatened again and again. On the night of April 23rd to April 24th, the SA attacked his house again. “When two hundred SA heroes had ravaged my house, the Bavarian state paid for the material damage, even when they repeated the attack. But I couldn't take this nerve mill any longer. I was no longer certain of life day and night. My children lost their jobs or were transferred to prison sentences. 'For him and his family, for his house, I give Dr. Eisele no protection, 'said Interior Minister Wagner . Prime Minister Siebert advised me to leave Bavaria as soon as possible and go underground somewhere. "

Eisele withdrew to Saulgau . In the years 1939 to 1945 he was drafted into service as an air raid protection officer, from 1943 to 1945 he was also active as a temporary worker for the maintenance of the evacuation family.

In September 1945 Hans Eisele was appointed district administrator of the Saulgau district by the French military government . In his activity reports, Eisele vividly describes the situation in the post-war months. Looting and theft were the order of the day, malnutrition, tuberculosis and lack of shelter were major problems. He described the deprivations and limitations and appealed to moral responsibility. He was convinced that common good should go above self-interest. In April 1947 - now 71 years old - he handed over his office to his successor.

Now he found the time to devote himself entirely to his free writing. Ten years later, on March 19, 1957, Hans Eisele died.

He has published over 30 short stories, novels and short stories in newspapers and magazines. Many of his stories were printed in the "Katholisches Sonntagsblatt", the diocese of Rottenburg. The political report "Pictures from Communist Hungary" (1920) and two novels at the beginning of the 1950s: "Love is stronger than guilt" (1951) and "When saints have to wander" (1954) were published as books. Another 20 unpublished stories and novels can be found in his estate in the Ostwürttemberg written archive . He published numerous stories under his pseudonym Johannes Stuifenberger. Eisele's works are out of print today.

Honors

• 1956: Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Federal Republic of Germany

literature

• Susanne Lange-Greve: Writing Landscapes. Hans Eisele - journalist, diplomat, writer . Edited by the Foundation for Literary Research in East Württemberg. Schwäbisch Gmünd: Einhorn-Verlag, 2007. ISBN 978-3-929947-09-0
• Wolfram Angerbauer (Red.): The heads of the upper offices, district offices and district offices in Baden-Württemberg from 1810 to 1972 . Published by the working group of the district archives at the Baden-Württemberg district assembly. Theiss, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-8062-1213-9 , pp. 231-232 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Hans Eisele in the catalog of the German National Library