Joseph Oppenhoff

Joseph Oppenhoff (born August 4, 1868 in Aachen , † June 22, 1958 in Bonn ) was President of the Regional Court in Aachen and one of the leading figures in the Cartel Association of Catholic German Student Associations during the Weimar Republic and in the post-war period.

Life

Oppenhoff came from an old family of lawyers and was the son of the district court president Theodor Oppenhoff . He attended the Kaiser-Karls-Gymnasium in Aachen and began studying law in Bonn in 1887 . In 1887 the K.St.V. Arminia , went to Freiburg im Breisgau in 1887 and to Berlin in 1888 , where he worked for the local commercial associations KStV Brisgovia Freiburg and K.St.V. Askania-Burgundia joined. Returned to Bonn in 1888, he passed his exams and became an assessor and magistrate at various local courts . He was then a district judge in Kleve and Aachen and finally director in Bonn and again in Aachen. In 1922 he took over the office of district court president in Aachen from his brother Fritz (Friedrich) Maria Oppenhoff (* 1865) . In addition, he had developed political engagement - certainly on the background of his upbringing, which was shaped by the Kulturkampf .

From 1919 to 1928 Oppenhoff was a member of the Center Party in the Prussian state parliament . At the same time, he was chairman of the old gentlemen's association of Brisgovia and Askania in Berlin for over 50 years.

In 1933 Oppenhoff retired when he reached the age limit. After his professionally successful and fulfilling life, Oppenhoff began a comprehensive writing activity. Numerous articles appeared in the "Akademischen monthly sheets" and for the KV corporations Askania, Burgundia, Brisgovia and Carolingia , he was the editor in charge of their club chronicles.

Bombed out in Aachen in 1943, Oppenhoff moved to Niederemmel on the Moselle , then on to Neumagen and finally in 1946 to Bonn. From 1949 to 1958 Oppenhoff took over tasks in his student union Arminia in Bonn.

Works (selection)

• [Anonymous:] History of the Askania Catholic Student Association in Berlin 1853–1928 , Aachen 1928
• [Anonymous:] History of the Catholic Students' Association Burgundia in Berlin 1853–1928 , Aachen 1928
• (unpublished :) Attempt of a history of the Catholic student association Arminia in Bonn as material for the future historian of the association , 1954 (manuscript in the Arminenarchiv: deposit in the archive for Christian-Democratic Politics (ACDP) in the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
• Between the world wars . From the draft for the history of the K.St.V. Arminia, in: Hermann-Joseph Rick / Heinzgeorg Senff, Religion Science, Friendship . Treatises, memoirs and speeches collected on the centenary of the Arminia Catholic Student Association, 1963).
• The casino in Aachen and the surrounding area , In: Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsverein (ZAachenerGV) 55, 1933/34, pp. 120–142
• Vaalsbruch and the Malensbusch. On the history of an old forest cooperative. In: Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsverein (ZAachenerGV) 56, 1935, pp. 27–60

literature

• Michael F. Feldkamp : Oppenhoff, Joseph. In: Siegfried Koß, Wolfgang Löhr (Hrsg.): Biographisches Lexikon des KV. 6th part (= Revocatio historiae. Volume 7). SH-Verlag, Schernfeld 2000, ISBN 3-89498-097-4 , p. 77.
• Bernhard Poll , In memoriam Joseph Oppenhoff (1868–1958) [obituary], in: Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsverein (ZAachenerGV) 70, 1958, pp. 201–202

Web links

• Biography on page 113 in 150 years of the Askania-Burgundia Catholic student association (PDF; 2.4 MB)