Hermann Clajus

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Hermann Clajus (born February 17, 1881 in Leisnig , † March 18, 1933 in Berlin ) was a German local politician ( SPD ). From 1924 until his death he was director of the Wannsee lido . After the National Socialist seizure of power he was illegally persecuted as a democratic politician and supporter of social democracy by the Berlin city administration, which was dominated by the Nazis. He committed suicide in view of his impending release.

Life

Clajus was the youngest of twelve children and learned to paint. He served in World War I and was badly wounded. From 1920 he was a city ​​councilor in Berlin, first for the USPD , then for the SPD. At first he became special commissioner for the bathroom, improved the hygienic situation and took care of the serving of drinks; from 1924 he was acting head of the lido, from 1926 managing director of the non-profit GmbH. He planned and implemented the expansion of numerous buildings in the lido. Since the beginning of the 1930s there were physical disputes between NSDAP members and social democrats in the lido , which Cajus had to mediate . Sometimes one or two cars of the Berlin police raid were stationed at the bath. After the Reichstag elections of March 5, 1933, and above all the local elections of March 11, 1933, Social Democrats, Communists, Democrats of all stripes and Jews in the city administration of Berlin were unlawfully persecuted and often dismissed. This was changed by the Prussian Minister of the Interior, Hermann Göring , to State Commissioner z. b. V. appointed in Berlin, Julius Lippert carried out. When Clajus was informed by friends that he was threatened not only with dismissal from office but also with arrest by members of the SA , he committed suicide. In the Vossische Zeitung of March 18, after the reference to the suicide with “barely disguised criticism” one could read, among other things, “With Hermann Clajus, the Berlin city administration is losing one of its most capable employees […] Clajus, a staunch supporter of social democracy, enjoyed it great reputation for all parties ”. Several more obituaries appeared in which the work of the deceased was very much praised.

Posthumous honors

  • Stumbling block in front of the house at Schützallee 45, since 2009
  • Memorial plaque in the Wannsee lido, since 1948

literature

  • Matthias Oloew: Hermann Clajus and the construction of the public bath. in: The same: 100 years of the Wannsee lido. Nicolai, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-89479-375-3 , pp. 35-60.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Short biography on stolpersteine-berlin.de, accessed on August 3, 2015
  2. ^ Helmut Engel, Dörte Döhl, Reinhard Demps, Stefan Grell: Masterpieces of Berlin architecture. The Wannsee lido. BWV, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-383051352-0 , p. 43.
  3. ↑ Christiane Hoss: Put in front of the door. Berlin city councilors and members of the magistrate persecuted during National Socialism from 1933 to 1945. Exhibition catalog, Active Museum Association, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-30001-8931-9 , p. 89.
  4. ^ Jürgen Dettbarn-Reggentin: Strandbad Wannsee. Eighty years of bathing history. Nishen, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-889-40-011-6 , p. 34
  5. ^ Cordula Ludwig: Corruption and National Socialism in Berlin 1924–1934 . With a foreword by Peter Steinbach (historian) , Peter Lang, Frankfurt 1998, ISBN 3-631-32961-X , p. 208. Quotation reproduced there.
personal data
SURNAME Clajus, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German local politician (SPD)
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Quietly
DATE OF DEATH March 18, 1933
Place of death Berlin