Jürgen Pföhler

Jürgen Pföhler (born June 11, 1958 in Wittlich ) is a German lawyer and politician ( CDU ). Since 2000 he has been the district administrator of the Rhineland-Palatinate district of Ahrweiler .

Life

Pföhler spent his childhood in Prüm . He studied law at the Universities of Augsburg and Trier . He then entered the preparatory service of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate in 1980 and passed the first and second state examinations there . His doctorate as Dr. iur. at the University of Trier took place in December 1986. He then went to London to complete a year-long study of European law at King's College .

Pföhler gained his first professional experience from 1987 in the policy department of the Federal Ministry of Economics in Bonn . In the CDU / CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag he was appointed for four years in 1989 as a group officer responsible for the economics working group. From February to April 1993 Pföhler was on the management team of the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology under Matthias Wissmann , whom he followed in May 1993 to the Federal Ministry of Transport . After the change of government in October 1998, Pföhler took over the management of the statistics department in the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing .

politics

On January 16, 2000, Pföhler was elected district administrator for the Ahrweiler district. In this function he has been chairman of the district council and political representative of the district as well as the head of the district administration since February 2, 2000. At the same time he is a member of the CDU district executive, the CDU district parliamentary group and the four-person supervisory board of Nürburgring GmbH. Around 2016 Pföhler was chairman of the supervisory board of the Kreissparkasse Ahrweiler for a while . In addition, he has chaired their board of directors for many years. Since 2019 he has also been the head of the regional rail passenger transport association Rhineland-Palatinate North . On June 3, 2007, he was elected to the district administrator of the Ahrweiler district for a further eight years, where he narrowly prevailed against his challenger Josef Meyer (FDP). He won the election again on May 10, 2015.

Role in the Ahr flood

After the devastating flood in the Ahr valley in July 2021 , Pföhler was accused of having declared a disaster too late and ordered the parts to be evacuated. The responsible state office for the environment had warned the district several times of the impending disaster. When Pföhler announced the disaster, the masses of water had already carried away the first houses. At that time, Pföhler still gave the motto to go to the upper floors of the houses. In the Ahrweiler district, the flood disaster resulted in more than 130 deaths. At least 12 of them were residents of a home for the mentally handicapped in Sinzig , who could no longer be saved from drowning by their night watch. The Rhineland-Palatinate Interior Minister Roger Lewentz (SPD) said that a decision on a possible evacuation was the responsibility of the district. The crisis researcher Frank Roselieb from the University of Kiel raised serious allegations against Pföhler and justified them with the fact that disaster control management belongs to the core function of every district chief. Pföhler rejected any form of blame against those involved. He protested against the accusation that he was responsible for possible failures to warn the population in the Ahr valley. The technical operations management was responsible for alerting the population.

On 6 August 2021 headed prosecutor Koblenz an investigation one against Pföhler and a member of the crisis team; there was a suspicion of negligent homicide and negligent bodily injury by omission . At the same time, she stressed the presumption of innocence until the end of the proceedings. Since August 11th, Pföhler has not exercised his office due to illness; According to the CDU district parliamentary group, he will no longer be able to exercise it in the foreseeable future. The CDU district parliamentary group also announced on August 17, 2021 that it had become apparent that there had been omissions and errors in the past and on the day of the disaster. The trust of the people is no longer given; the further exercise of office is incompatible with ongoing criminal investigations. Therefore, a new start in terms of personnel is necessary. On the same day, however, Pföhler announced that he did not intend to resign.

Personal

Pföhler is married and has one son.

Publications

• Jürgen Pföhler: On the inapplicability of the criminal law prohibition of retroactive effect in criminal procedure law from a dogma-historical point of view . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-428-06369-4 . (Writings on criminal law; Issue 73) (At the same time: Trier, University, dissertation, 1986/87). (New edition 2021 at Duncker & Humblot as a pdf online resource )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Guido Orthen: Dr. Jürgen Pföhler first directly elected district administrator in the Ahrweiler district. In: Homeland yearbook of the Ahrweiler district. 2001, pp. 24-25 , accessed on August 2, 2021 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} District Administrator & District Councilor: District Administrator Dr. Jürgen Pföhler. In: Kreis-ahrweiler.de. Ahrweiler district, June 22, 2021, accessed on August 2, 2021 . 
3. ↑ Board of Directors. In: cdu-aw.de. CDU Kreisverband Ahrweiler, May 19, 2021, accessed on August 3, 2021 . 
4. ↑ parliamentary group. (Legislative period 2019-2024). CDU district association Ahrweiler, accessed on August 3, 2021 . 
5. ↑ Claudia Renner: Control at the Nürburgring: New Supervisory Board. (No longer available online.) Rhein-Zeitung, June 9, 2010, archived from the original on January 22, 2021 ; Retrieved January 11, 2011 . 
6. ↑ Jürgen Pföhler. Manager profile. CompanyHouse, accessed August 10, 2021 . 
7. ↑ Annual Report 2018 (PDF; 9.0 MB) Kreissparkasse Ahrweiler, 2019, p. 4 , accessed on August 10, 2021 . 
8. ↑ Rhineland-Palatinate: New election of the top association of the SPNV-Nord. In: Eurailpress. August 7, 2019, accessed August 17, 2021 . 
9. ^ Günther Schmitt: Jürgen Pföhler wins just ahead of Josef Meyer. In: ga.de. General-Anzeiger Bonn, June 4, 2007, accessed on August 2, 2021 . 
10. ↑ SWR3: Koblenz public prosecutor's office investigates Ahrweiler district administrator. Retrieved August 7, 2021 . 
11. ↑ Julian Staib: Ahrweiler district was precisely warned of the flood. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, July 30, 2021, accessed on July 31, 2021 . 
12. ↑ Anke Petermann: For a future in the Ahr valley: deal with mistakes, regulate reconstruction. Deutschlandfunk, July 31, 2021, accessed on August 2, 2021 . 
13. ↑ ^{a b} No investigations into failures in severe weather warnings. In: SWR Aktuell. Südwestrundfunk, July 31, 2021, accessed on July 31, 2021 . 
14. ^ Flood in Rhineland-Palatinate: Serious allegations against Ahrweiler's district administrator. In: tagesschau.de. ARD, July 31, 2021, accessed on July 31, 2021 . 
15. ↑ Ahrweiler's district administrator outraged by allegations. (No longer available online.) In: News. Deutschlandfunk, August 1, 2021, archived from the original on August 1, 2021 ; accessed on August 2, 2021 . 
16. ↑ After the flood disaster in the Ahr valley: public prosecutor initiates investigations against the district administrator of Ahrweiler. Der Spiegel, August 6, 2021, accessed on August 6, 2021 . 
17. ↑ Investigations after the flood: Wasn't the district administrator on site? In: FAZ.net. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, August 6, 2021, accessed on August 6, 2021 .  ( Reference number of the investigation: 2030 Js 44662/21 )
18. ↑ Jessica Pfeiffer: Investigations against the district administrator of Ahrweiler. (Audio; MP3; 3:17 min) Deutschlandfunk, August 6, 2021, accessed on August 6, 2021 . 
19. ↑ District Administrator of Ahrweiler resigns from office. Breaking news. In: WDR Aktuell. Westdeutscher Rundfunk, August 17, 2021, accessed on August 17, 2021 . 
20. ↑ After the flood disaster in the Ahrweiler district: District Administrator Pföhler no longer takes his office. In: SWR Aktuell. Südwestrundfunk, August 17, 2021, accessed on August 17, 2021 . 
21. ↑ Tobias Schrörs: The district administrator that nobody wants anymore. In: faz.net. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, August 17, 2021, accessed on August 18, 2021 . 
22. ↑ District Administrator of Ahrweiler wants to stay in office. In: The world . August 17, 2021, accessed August 17, 2021 . 
23. ↑ Volker Jost: Ahrweiler District Administrator Pföhler calls his mandate "robust". In: ga.de. General-Anzeiger Bonn, December 11, 2006, accessed on August 3, 2021 . Nomination meeting of the CDU in the Ahrweiler district: incumbent Dr. Jürgen Pföhler is to become district administrator for the third time. In: Blick aktuell. December 16, 2014, accessed August 2, 2021 .