Jann Berghaus

Jann Berghaus

Jann Janssen Berghaus (born August 19, 1870 in Schirum , † February 18, 1954 in Aurich ) was a liberal East Frisian politician. From 1922 to 1932 he was the district president of the Prussian administrative district of Aurich and after the Second World War President of the East Frisian Landscape .

Life

Berghaus came from a small family and before his political career was a teacher in Werdum , Oldeborg and Norderney . In 1908 he ran unsuccessfully for the liberal Progressive People's Party for the Prussian state parliament. After the First World War he became the full-time mayor of Norderney and finally entered the Prussian state assembly in 1919 for the liberal German Democratic Party .

His appointment as regional president in Aurich in 1922 was unexpected . This was not least due to his party's participation in the governing coalition. Many civil servants with an undemocratic background were also removed from their high positions during this period. Nevertheless, it was also considered a clever political move by the Prussian government to finally commission an East Frisian with the district government in East Friesland. However, Berghaus couldn't do very much. His term of office fell during the period of recession, inflation and the political conflict between left and right. In doing so, he also had to put up with the accusation from the democratic side of not acting decisively enough against the terror of the National Socialists. On the other hand, the right-wing political spectrum reproached him for not exercising his office impartially.

As part of the Prussian strike , he was finally removed from office in 1932 and retired. His ten years of service were not taken into account in his pension, which he felt was a deep insult. In the following time of National Socialism he lived secluded in Aurich. After the war there were first efforts to reinstate him in his old office as district president. However, he was simply too old for the office. For this, his son Mimke Berghaus was the district president from 1945 to 1951. He himself became a member of the appointed Hanover State Parliament from August 23, 1946 to October 29, 1946 and its senior president.

Furthermore, Jann Berghaus belonged to the appointed Lower Saxony state parliament for the FDP from December 9, 1946 to March 28, 1947. As the age president of the appointed Hanover State Parliament , he opened the first meeting of the body.

Jann Berghaus was commissioned to rebuild the East Frisian landscape in 1945 and was initially provisional and then regular president of this former council. Thanks to the integrity of his person, his love of homeland and the acceptance that it achieved in all camps, he succeeded in modernizing the East Frisian landscape and giving it the status it still has today. Berghaus was in charge of the landscape until his death.

Honors

• 1952: Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• The Jann-Berghaus-Brücke in Leer and the Jann-Berghaus-Strasse in Norderney and Borkum as well as in Aurich and Wittmund are named after him.

literature

• Harm Wiemann: Jann Berghaus 1870-1954 . In: Otto Heinrich May (ed.): Niedersächsische Lebensbilder, Vol. 3, Hildesheim: Lax 1957, pp. 20–35.
• Barbara Simon : Member of Parliament in Lower Saxony 1946–1994. Biographical manual. Edited by the President of the Lower Saxony State Parliament. Lower Saxony State Parliament, Hanover 1996, pp. 34–35.

Web links

• Stefan Pötzsch: Jann Janssen BERGHAUS . Ed .: East Frisian Landscape - Regional Association for Culture, Science and Education. ( PDF document ; 88 kB [accessed on August 14, 2017]).

References and individual references

1. ^ Grave of Jann Janssen Berghaus (August 19, 1870 - February 18, 1954), Aurich-Stadt cemetery . In: www.grabsteine-ostfriesland.de . Upstalsboom Society for Historical Person Research and Population History in Ostfriesland eV. Retrieved January 12, 2014.