Josef Schmelzer

Josef Schmelzer

Josef Schmelzer (born July 30, 1876 in Oberhundem in the Kirchhundem office ; † October 8, 1962 there ) was a German farmer and politician ( center , CDU ).

Live and act

After attending elementary school in Oberhundem and the rectorate school in Olpe , Schmelzer did an agricultural training and since 1900 has been managing his father's estate in Oberhundem. From 1898 to 1899 he did military service with Infantry Regiment No. 143 in Strasbourg . Between 1914 and 1917 he was a soldier in World War I and was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class. After the war he took on numerous offices in the field of agricultural organizations. He was the deputy chairman of the Olpe agricultural district association and chairman of the Kirchundem forest farmers' association. Nationwide, he was a member of the board of the Westphalian Farmers' Association and, from 1922, Reich Forestry Council.

Politically, Schmelzer belonged to the Center Party and sat in the Prussian Landtag from 1921 to 1933 and in the German Reichstag from 1930 to 1932 . In the state parliament he was temporarily deputy chairman of the agriculture committee and 1932/33 chairman of the committee for agricultural settlements. He played a decisive role in the reform of the Fideikommiss dissolution, the "Lex Schmelzer" named after him. He was also from 1901 to 1933 community, official and district representative. When the National Socialists came to power, Schmelzer lost all offices and was arrested several times. In 1944 he was temporarily arrested as part of the grating action .

Immediately after the war, Schmelzer was one of the founders of the German Farmers' Association . Politically, he joined the CDU, was one of the founding members in Westphalia-Lippe and was a member of the state executive in this region. He was also a member of the district council of the Olpe district and the Oberhundem municipal council. In 1946, Schmelzer belonged to the advisory Provincial Parliament for Westphalia and the appointed state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia on. After that he was also a member of the elected state parliament until 1950.

literature

• Bernd Haunfelder : North Rhine-Westphalia. Country and people 1946-2006 . Düsseldorf, 2006. pp. 412f.
• 60 years of the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. The country and its deputies . Düsseldorf, 2006. p. 562
• Ernst Kienast (Ed.): Handbook for the Prussian Landtag , edition for the 5th electoral period, Berlin 1933, p. 379.
• Herrmann AL Degener (Ed.): Who is it? 9th edition, Leipzig 1928, p. 1364.

Web links

• Literature by and about Josef Schmelzer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Josef Schmelzer in the database of members of the Reichstag
• Josef Schmelzer at the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia