John Horion

Johannes Horion (born March 27, 1876 in Marienforst near Godesberg , † February 19, 1933 in Düsseldorf ) was a German politician and governor of the Rhine Province .

Life

Professional

Horion grew up in Sinnersdorf near Cologne , where the family had acquired a farm in 1879. After graduating from high school in Cologne, Horion studied economics and law in Bonn , Munich and Berlin . At the places where he was studying, he joined the KV Catholic student associations : Arminia Bonn , Askania Berlin (now K.St.V. Askania-Burgundia ) and Saxonia-Munich. After graduating as Dr. jur. Horion was appointed as assessor in the Rhenish provincial administration . Initially department head of the state poor, he was appointed state councilor in 1904 and thus head of the entire welfare system in the Prussian Rhine Province .

The commitment to the poor and socially disadvantaged characterized Horion's life. So he had a large share in the poor legislation. After the beginning of the First World War , he established the welfare work for war survivors and war victims - services that were copied in other parts of the country. After the war, Horion continued his social work. He was also involved in arranging the implementation of the armistice and the peace treaty. He refused a position as State Secretary for the occupied territories in order to continue working in the provincial administration. He also refused to accept a candidacy for the post of Prussian Prime Minister that was later proposed to him in order not to have to give up his work in the Rhineland .

At the suggestion of the then Mayor of Cologne Konrad Adenauer , Horion was elected Governor of the Rhine Province in 1922 with an overwhelming majority. In this function, which he held until 1933, he devoted himself to cultural work in addition to his social commitment; so he is considered the "father of monument preservation".

The first European motorway between Cologne and Bonn, which opened in 1932, is thanks to Horion's initiative and his work.

After Horion's death in 1933, Heinrich Haake became governor.

Private

• Father Johannes (1839–1910), mother Sibylla (1839–1914), sister Sophia (1878–1953)
• first married to Maria Krahe; three children, one of whom died early
• married in second marriage to Emma Abeck , rel. Kürten
• leading employee at German Catholic Days
• leading member of the Rhenish Center Party
• Co-founder and 1924–1926 chairman of the Catholic Academic Association
• Board member in the Volksverein for Catholic Germany
• Member of other associations of the KV: Honorary Philistine of Merovingia-Rhineland Düsseldorf, today Rheno-Merovingia zu Bochum, 1929 of Langemarck-Bonn

Honors

A selection of honors that Johannes Horion received:

• 1917: Iron Cross, second class, on a white ribbon with a black border
• 1919: Honorary medical doctorate from the University of Bonn for his services to the welfare of war invalids
• 1925: Honorary doctorate in political science from the University of Bonn
• 1926: President of the German Catholic Day in Breslau
• Award of the title and order of the "Comtur St. Gregorius Order with Star" by Pope Pius XI. for his services to the church
• 1928: Awarded honorary citizenship of the Technical University of Aachen for his services in promoting and supporting the student body in their charitable matters

Naming

Several institutions were named after him in memory of Johannes Horion. A selection:

• The " Villa Horion " in Düsseldorf on Horionplatz (today: Johannes-Rau-Platz) was until 1998 the seat of the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia . Today it is the seat of the President of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia .
• In his home town of Sinnersdorf , a street (before 1933) and the primary school were named after Johannes Horion.
• A central building of the Rhineland Regional Council (LVR) in Cologne-Deutz bears the name "Horion House".

Fonts

• The Rhenish provincial administration, its development and its current status (1925).
• Memorandum on the expansion of the through roads on the right and left of the Rhine between Cologne and Koblenz (1930).
• Problems of the Reich Reform (1931).

literature

• Ewald Grothe : From Catholic Day to the Festival of Generations. The history of the Landeshaus and Villa Horion 1909 to 2009 , Düsseldorf 2009.
• Eckhard Hansen, Florian Tennstedt (Eds.) U. a .: Biographical lexicon on the history of German social policy from 1871 to 1945 . Volume 2: Social politicians in the Weimar Republic and during National Socialism 1919 to 1945. Kassel University Press, Kassel 2018, ISBN 978-3-7376-0474-1 , pp. 84 f. ( Online , PDF; 3.9 MB).
• Siegfried Koß: Horion, Johannes . In: Siegfried Koß, Wolfgang Löhr (Hrsg.): Biographisches Lexikon des KV. 2nd part (= Revocatio historiae. Volume 3). SH-Verlag, Schernfeld 1993, ISBN 3-923621-98-1 , p. 59 f.
• Sinnersdorfer Heimatkunde (1984): Dr. John Horion.

Web links

• Literature by and about Johannes Horion in the catalog of the German National Library
• Death note from Johannes Horion. Association for History Pulheim e. V., as seen on July 27, 2016.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Stadtchronik Düsseldorf , accessed on February 23, 2012.