Johann Contzen

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Mayor Johann Contzen
J. Contzen's grave in Aachen's Ostfriedhof

Johann Contzen (born October 25, 1809 in Aachen , † January 18, 1875 ibid) was a German administrative officer and long-time mayor of the city of Aachen.

career

Johann Contzen, son of the former adjunct and community taker Philipp Contzen and Therese Alertz, sister of the physician Clemens August Alertz , attended the universities of Bonn and Berlin after high school (matriculation examination 1829) , where he studied law and camera studies. After completing his studies, Contzen completed his preparatory period for civil service with the royal government in Aachen, where he was entrusted with the provisional administration of the Geilenkirchen and Erkelenz districts . In 1848 he was appointed acting police president and two years later, on the occasion of the mobilization of the army in the function of provincial manager, comparable to the service of a war commissioner , to Koblenz , the responsible capital of the Rhine province . Contzen represented the mayor of Aachen, Arnold Edmund Pelzer, who was delegated to Berlin at short notice, and made his first experiences in this office. In May 1851, Johann Contzen was finally elected as his successor as Lord Mayor of the city of Aachen and held this office for several electoral terms until his death. In addition, Contzen was a member of the Rhenish Provincial Parliament and a member of the Prussian National Assembly in Berlin until 1862 .

Merits

Johann Contzen took over the mayor's office in politically and economically difficult times. Even under Mayor Edmund Edmundts, the predecessor of Contzen, Aachen was considered debt-free until around 1848, but both the German March Revolution , which was an effect of the French February Revolution of 1848, and the associated decline of the textile industry, which was so important for Aachen, and others Craft businesses and rising unemployment figures put social and financial stress on the city. Contzen's most urgent task was therefore to reduce a deficit of 98,800 Reichstalers and to consolidate the city's budget. Here, however, he also benefited from the happy circumstances of the industrial revolution in Germany and the associated optimism. In his 24 years of service, Johann Contzen not only managed to pay off the deficit of the city budget, but also increased it to 32,000 thalers in savings and a further 46,000 thalers as reserve and operating funds.

Thanks to the help of financially strong sponsors such as the Aachener and Münchner Feuerversicherungsgesellschaft, and in particular the personal commitment of their General Director Friedrich Adolph Brüggemann (1797–1878), as well as the Aachen Association for the Promotion of Labor and the Sparkasse Aachen , which was founded in 1834, Johann Contzen succeeded in creating new municipal educational institutions among other things, to build a first-order secondary school , today's Rhein-Maas-Gymnasium Aachen , as well as a higher collegiate school. With the help of these sponsors, he also achieved that Aachen became the seat of a new Rheinisch-Westfälische Polytechnic, today's RWTH , the foundation stone of which was laid on May 15, 1865, the 50th anniversary of the unification of Aachen and the Rhine Province with the Kingdom of Prussia .

The merger of various hospital foundations into a hospital network, which had been planned for many years, can also be traced back to his commitment. This also goes hand in hand with his initiative to make the Aachen thermal springs more attractive for those seeking healing through the construction, expansion or expansion of spa houses and thus to promote bathing tourism. For example, the rebuilding of the Imperial Baths, the Aachen Kurhaus and the Elisengarten around the Elisenbrunnen and other parks took place during this period .

It was also important to the deeply religious Christian Johann Contzen that the churches should also benefit from the upswing. So he arranged an artistic renovation of the Aachen Cathedral and an extension of the one used by Emperor Otto III. (980–1002) and Heinrich II. (973–1024) built Sankt Adalbert's Church. But also in his residence building, the Aachen City Hall , Contzen had the imperial hall and the frescoes by Alfred Rethel (1816–1859) as well as the facade of the building reworked and completed.

In keeping with his role model David Hansemann (1790–1864) as well as industry and due to the urgent need for improved mobility due to the population growth, he had the road and rail network in and around Aachen expanded.

The era under Johann Contzen is considered to be one of the most successful times for the city of Aachen after more than 1000 years, as the mayor Carl Eduard Dahmen announced to the city administration and the public in an obituary on January 26, 1875.

Honors

literature

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Contzen, Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician, administrative officer and mayor of Aachen
DATE OF BIRTH October 25, 1809
PLACE OF BIRTH Aachen
DATE OF DEATH January 18, 1875
Place of death Aachen