Johannes Stepkes

Johannes Stepkes (born January 9, 1884 in St. Tönis ; † August 5, 1966 in Krefeld ) was a German administrative lawyer and local politician ( CDU ).

Career

Stepkes attended elementary school in St. Tönis and then the Collegium Augustinianum Gaesdonck up to high school . He then studied law in Freiburg, Münster, Munich and Bonn. In 1906 he passed the first state examination in law. In the following years he prepared his doctorate in Leipzig in 1908, served as a one-year volunteer in the army and completed a legal clerkship at the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court . After the second state examination in 1912, he came to the Krefeld District Court as a court assessor . During the First World War he was a company commander and regimental adjutant.

After the end of the war, on October 1, 1918, he accepted a position as a legal assistant with the city of Krefeld. On May 1, 1920 he moved to Mönchengladbach as a magistrate and on September 16, 1920 he became an alderman of the city of Krefeld. On April 14, 1932 he was appointed mayor of the city of Kleve . After the National Socialists came to power, Stepkes, who was a member of the left wing of the center, was given leave of absence on May 19, 1933 and prematurely retired on January 4, 1934. Until the collapse of the Third Reich, he worked as a lawyer in Krefeld.

After the city was liberated, he was appointed mayor of the city of Krefeld on March 4, 1945 ( Mayor from May 30, 1945) by the American military government . On February 28, 1946, the commander of the military government Pownall appointed him senior city director. With six unencumbered employees, he set up a new administration. The main tasks of his tenure were to initiate the reconstruction of the city and the integration of 30,000 citizens evacuated during the war and around 15,000 refugees. He retired on March 31, 1949.

Honors

• 1954: Cross of Merit (Steckkreuz) of the Federal Republic of Germany

Web links

• Dr. jur. Johannes Stepkes near the city of Krefeld (with illustration)