Hermann Otto Reimarus

Hermann Otto Reimarus

Hermann Otto Reimarus (born September 29, 1857 in Stettin , † April 21, 1920 in Magdeburg ) was a German politician and Lord Mayor of the city of Magdeburg.

Life

Reimarus was born the son of a merchant. Between 1876 and 1879 he studied law in Leipzig , Tübingen and Greifswald . In 1876 he became a member of the Leipzig fraternity Germania . After completing his legal clerkship , Reimarus went to Magdeburg in 1886 and was elected a paid city councilor. The main task was the urban parks .

At the beginning of 1907 he was appointed mayor . The then Mayor August Lentze was then appointed to the Prussian government in 1910 . Reimarus, described as modest but also closed and poor in contact, was elected as the new mayor by the city council, after some hesitation on the part of the city council.

During his tenure in 1910, the towns of Cracau , Fermersleben , Lemsdorf , Prester , Salbke and Westerhüsen were incorporated into Magdeburg . The rapid development of Magdeburg into an industrial city, including spatial and structural expansion, which had already begun under his predecessors in office, was continued by him. Municipal facilities were modernized, a marshalling yard was built in Rothensee and a new industrial site was created on the Elbe . Further plans for the city, which has grown to almost 300,000 inhabitants, such as the construction of the Magdeburg town hall, a new town hall and the creation of a general development plan could not be continued due to the beginning of the First World War in 1914. The city showed itself to be able to cope with the difficult supply tasks during this time, not least thanks to the income from the trade tax of the local armaments industry .

Reimarus found the German defeat in 1918 and the strong political and social changes that went with it very painful. There were also health problems. He was said to be tired of office . He was severely criticized when, at the end of 1918, he did not appear on Cathedral Square to receive a regiment returning from the Western Front . At the end of January 1919, for health reasons, he asked for his retirement. At the end of April of the same year, he actually passed it.

He died a year after giving up his office. Reimarus' special merits are the reorganization of the city's finances and the expansion of the Herrenkrugpark , the Rotehornpark and the Vogelgesang-Park .

Honor

While he was still alive, a path in the Rotehorn Park, which he helped design, was named Reimarusweg in his honor .

literature

• Manfred Wille: Reimarus, Hermann Otto. In: Guido Heinrich, Gunter Schandera (ed.): Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon 19th and 20th centuries. Biographical lexicon for the state capital Magdeburg and the districts of Bördekreis, Jerichower Land, Ohrekreis and Schönebeck. Scriptum, Magdeburg 2002, ISBN 3-933046-49-1 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Sub-Volume 5: R – S. Winter, Heidelberg 2002, ISBN 3-8253-1256-9 , p. 36.