Helmut Foerster

This article covers the home explorer; on the Air Force officer, see Helmuth Förster .

Helmut Förster (born January 31, 1922 in Lengenfeld (Vogtland) ; † November 11, 1993 in Bruchsal ) was a German local researcher and founder of the local history museum in Epfenbach and co-founder of the Kraichgau home association . He has received many awards for his commitment to local history.

Life

He learned the profession of printer and typesetter in Vogtland and was then drafted into the Wehrmacht in World War II , where he took part in combat operations in France , near Demyansk and in northern Italy. After brief captivity , he was in Epfenbach for the first time from August 1945 to August 1946, where he met his future wife Erna Heckmann. He then worked in uranium mining in the Ore Mountains for almost a year , but returned to Epfenbach in August 1947, where he married in November of the same year. He then worked again as a printer and typesetter, from 1948 to 1952 in Epfenbach, later at Dietz-Druck in Heidelberg , where he passed the master typesetter examination in 1963. In 1985 he retired.

In Epfenbach he was a member of the local council for 28 years and was appointed to the board of several associations.

In 1965 he founded a working group for local history in Epfenbach. In 1968 he set up the first local museum in the old Protestant rectory. The working group had around 180 members in 1973 and was then converted into an association. In 1989 the association was finally able to move the local history museum to the restored Zapf house (Kreisental 4) across from Förster's house.

In 1972 he was one of the co-founders of the Kraichgau Heimatverein, of which he was a member of the board from 1982. After the unexpected death of chairman Hans Benz in November 1984, Förster took over as deputy head of the association. He remained deputy chairman until his death and was instrumental in founding the Kraichgau library in Gochsheim . In addition, he was on the editorial staff of the Kraichgau yearbook from 1977 and passed on his specialist knowledge of the production and layout of printed matter in an advisory capacity for further publications.

As a member of the board, he was also a member of the North Baden Home Care Working Group , where he advised on the planning and development of village museums.

On October 30, 1993, he suffered a heart attack in Ubstadt-Weiher , the consequences of which he died a few days later in Bruchsal hospital.

Awards

Helmut Förster has received many awards for his local history work. He was u. a. Bearer of the Badge of Honor of the State of Baden-Württemberg and was awarded the Medal of Honor of the Municipal Day and the Medal for Services to the Homeland of Baden-Württemberg . Since 1989 he also wore the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon .

literature

• Michael Ertz and Arnold Scheuerbrand: Helmut Förster (1922–1993) , in: Kraichgau. Contributions to landscape and local research , volume 13, 1993, pp. 323–326.