Hermann Hausser

Hermann Haußer (around 1911)

Signature of Hermann Haußer (1927)

Hermann Haußer (born March 3, 1867 in Ludwigsburg , † October 19, 1927 in Tübingen ) was police officer from 1896, city school from 1897 and mayor of Tübingen from 1903 to 1927. He was a member of the Ulmia Landsmannschaft , the oldest student association at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen . He died unexpectedly of a heart attack while in office.

Urban development

In the 30 years of Haußer's term in office, the growth and modernization process of the university city has accelerated significantly. Even the First World War only halted this development for a short time. According to an official census, more than 830 structures were erected in Tübingen during Haußer's term of office, including an impressive number that were built under municipal management, for example the three large schools on Uhlandstrasse, the electricity works on Nonnengasse, and the new gasworks in Eisenhut as well as the Uhlandbad on Karlstraße, which was supplied with hot water via a modern district heating pipe.

The brisk construction activity was accompanied by a steep increase in the population from 14,000 people in 1897 to almost 22,000 in 1927. The number of students had risen to the same extent from around 1,300 to almost 2,800. The university therefore built on its “reserve areas” in Wilhelmsvorstadt, for example the new university library on Wilhelmstrasse.

The continued growth since 1877 forced the city to vigorously expand its infrastructure. According to a calculation by the city surveying office from 1927, around 20 km of local roads with 36.6 km of sidewalks were built in the previous 50 years. Streets, paths and squares were paved with 85,600 m² of paving stones, and no less than 25 km of water and 29 km of gas pipes were laid to supply the households.

The military - the fourth pillar of Tübingen's urban development alongside the university, railways and trade - was given a new barracks (Loretto barracks) in the southern part of the city. Otherwise, the development in the southern part of the city did not quite meet the expectations that had originally been cherished. In the part of the city that was planned as an industrial quarter at the end of the 19th century and which had initially grown rapidly, residential development has dominated over the years.

Homeland security dispute and avenue bickering

The Tübingen Lindenallee on the Oberen Wöhrd, which once stretched from the Hirschauer Steg, today's avenue bridge, to the Weilheimer marker border, was destroyed by the construction of the Ammertalbahn, two traffic roads and later a bypass road. Today only a few of the old giant trees are still standing. It was not only a popular promenade, but was also the scene of numerous “ natural bars ” for the Tübingen fraternity students . Every year on Corpus Christi day, the royal society Roigel from Tübingen first moved into the avenue. In the shade of the trees, she turned a drinking horn filled with beer around, and all passers-by were invited to join in the celebration.

At a meeting of the city council on December 19, 1908, in connection with the routing of the Ammertal Railway from Tübingen to Herrenberg, the council chairman announced to a citizen committee member who was urgent to protect the beautiful old linden trees that “the tree population there should be given all possible protection, finally But one shouldn't go too far in the preservation of old trees if more important interests that will exist for many decades oppose this. "

At a meeting on January 9, 1909, the Lord Mayor Hermann Haußer and the local councils vehemently rejected the demands of Prof. Konrad Lange on behalf of the University of Tübingen, who had been challenged to take a hard position. He accused the city administration of a policy of dissipating information, even suppressing it.

This “homeland security dispute”, as the dispute was soon called, split the city into two almost hostile camps for many months. Again and again the "avenue bickering" flared up. One last time, quite violently, at the end of 1910 when it came to building on Bahnhofstrasse. In the context of this dispute, the Swabian Heimatbund was founded in 1909 . At that time his aim was that industrialization should not destroy more of the old than is really necessary. It's amazing how quickly a solution was found on a factual basis. As the mayor wrote in retrospect in his administrative report from 1927, the municipal council was "not intimidated by the hostile pathos developed towards it", and built the railway line according to the old plans, but now "with the greatest possible consideration for the ideal interests of the homeland security" . The disclosure of the intentions, forms and effects of the plans made a significant contribution to the solution of the conflict, "the creation of a clear state of affairs and a secure delimitation of the company as well as the assurance of the greatest possible protection of all that exists and that is worth preserving."

Grave of Hermann Haußer in the Tübingen city cemetery

Parade to celebrate more than 2000 students in Tübingen

When the number of Tübingen students exceeded the magic number of 2000 in the summer semester of 1910, the university's senate decided to hold a celebration, which was held on June 22, 1910. The committee of the Tübingen corporations asked the mayor's office that the city should bear the costs for the beer at the celebration on the Neckar Island, "as happened on similar occasions in Marburg, Greifswald, Freiburg and Leipzig." Mayor Hermann Hausser sent this letter indignantly to the rector of the university. According to Haußer, it contained the unreasonable "expectation" that the citizens should endure the entire student body with free beer. Rector Frank was finally able to convince the committee of the Tübingen corporations to withdraw this request.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Repertory for inventory A 70, registry from 1857 ( Memento from February 21, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Stadtarchiv Tübingen, p. 13.
2. ↑ Explanations of the Tübingen city map from 1927 ( Memento from October 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). Published in the university's anniversary year 1927. Printed by Wilh. C. Rübsamen GmbH Stuttgart. 70.5 × 93.6 cm. Enclosure to: Tübingen municipal administration over the past 50 years. Tübingen 1927. Tübingen City Archives Library P 278.
3. ↑ Michael Petersen: 100 Years Ammertalbahn - Next Station Saloniki Hauptbahnhof ( Memento from June 19, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Stuttgarter Zeitung from June 15, 2009.
4. ↑ Wilfried Setzler: The dispute over the Tübinger Alleen and the homeland security movement .

Web links

Commons : Hermann Haußer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files