Karl Mayer (politician, 1878)

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Karl Mayer (born December 16, 1878 in Ludwigshafen , † October 18, 1951 in Munich ) was a German politician, Mayor of Donauwörth (1908-1915) and Lord Mayor of Neuburg an der Donau (1915-1933).

Life

Mayer was the first child of the post office clerk Emil (1849–1900) and Rosa Mayer, nee. Melber (1854-1906). During his studies he became a member of the KDStV Aenania Munich in 1898 in the CV . After studying law at the University of Munich (1898–1900), the University of Erlangen (1900–1902) and military service (1902–1903), he passed the major state examination (second examination for higher judicial and administrative service ) in 1906 and initially worked as a lawyer in Würzburg . In 1907 he married Anna, geb. Vogt. With her he had a daughter, Irmgard, among others. In 1929 she married the poet and lawyer Renatus Sachs .

activities

Mayor of Donauwörth

On December 30, 1907, Karl Mayer was unanimously elected as the legally qualified mayor of the Swabian town of Donauwörth . He took up this position on February 29, 1908. From 1909 he was a member of the Swabian District Administrator and the Swabian Upper Insurance Office .

Lord Mayor of Neuburg an der Donau

Mayer was elected mayor of the immediate city of Neuburg an der Donau on November 20, 1915 and was re-elected on July 14, 1919 after the conversion of the Kingdom of Bavaria into a republic . On December 22, 1927, the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior awarded him the title of Lord Mayor .

After the National Socialist judicial inspector and second mayor Anton Mündler claimed the office of first mayor for himself, Mayer was deposed in 1933 and then retired.

Forced retirement

In this retirement, which he spent in Munich from January 1934, Mayer worked as a legal author. Among other things, he was involved in the work of the law gazette , which was published by Richard Boorberg Verlag in Stuttgart and published by the lawyer Georg Volkhardt , the former mayor of Kaufbeuren . With his older son, the government councilor Edi-Günter Mayer , he issued German naming rights (under the name of the son) (Rehm-Verlag, Munich 1939). He also worked otherwise for the Rehm and Kommunalschriftenverlag, mostly without mentioning his name.

Judge in denazification proceedings

After the end of the Second World War , the American military government enacted the Denazification Act in 1946 and set up rulings chambers , appeal chambers , main chambers , a court of cassation and the Bavarian State Ministry for special tasks , for which it was looking for innocent German lawyers. Karl Mayer volunteered and was sworn in on April 16, 1946 as chairman of the 10th Munich Arbitration Chamber.

Condemnation of the traitor to the Scholl siblings

In this chamber Mayer had to lead the first public arbitration chamber meeting in Munich. The accused were the former house servant of the University Jakob Schmid , who surprised the Scholl siblings while laying out anti-Hitler writings and had brought them, with the then caretaker of the University Albert Scheithammer , to the then lawyer and defense officer of the University of Häffner. The Scholl siblings were thereupon sentenced to death for preparation for high treason and executed on February 22nd, 1943 in Stadelheim . Schmid, SA member since 1933, party comrade since 1934 and minor party functionary, was thanked for his act by the Gauleiter Giesler with a handshake, rewarded with 3,000 RM and made an honorary troop leader.

The main hearing took place on June 15, 1946 in the presence of Colonel Keller of the American military government , the Bavarian Prime Minister Wilhelm Hoegner , the Ministers Josef Seifried and Albert Roßhaupter , the Minister in the Special Ministry Schmidt and the Chief of the Bavarian Land Police. Mayer began with a speech in which he thanked the Americans for the trust they had shown in the German people by placing the implementation of the Liberation Act in German hands. He said: "We want to prove ourselves worthy of this trust and want no retaliation, no vengeance, but justice."

The hearing lasted four hours and the consultation half an hour. As the main culprit, Schmid received a five-year labor camp.

The matter caused quite a stir. The newsreel reported about it in a film. In the Süddeutsche Zeitung (1946, nos. 46 and 49) a picture of the court and a more detailed report appeared. Prime Minister Hoegner said that he had nothing wrong with the conduct of the negotiations by the chairman, who had chaired a court hearing for the first time.

An artistic implementation of the court hearing can be found in the television play Der Pedell by Eberhard Itzenplitz .

Mayer was generally known as The Lord Mayor . His endeavors to be objective and reasonable assessment of the cases earned him respect and prestige. On November 20, 1946, he was officially appointed chairman of the appeal chamber in Munich.

Chairman of the Senate at the Court of Cassation

With a special contract dated November 24, 1947, Mayer was appointed Chairman of the Senate at the Court of Cassation with effect from October 1, 1947 in the State Ministry for Special Tasks.

Activities in the ministerial administration

After the dissolution of the Court of Cassation, Mayer was brought in for administrative tasks in the special ministry, where he worked alongside State Secretary Camille Sachs , with whom he had once worked as a legal intern. He was also head of the personnel department of the special ministry for a long time before he finally retired in July 1951.

Movies

literature

  • E. Günter Mayer (co-author Karl Mayer): Guide to police law . 3. Edition. Munich publishing house in 1949

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Complete directory of the CV The honorary members, old men and students of the Cartell Association (CV) of the cath. German student associations. 1912, Strasbourg i. Els, p. 245
personal data
SURNAME Mayer, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Lord Mayor of Neuburg an der Donau
DATE OF BIRTH December 16, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Ludwigshafen
DATE OF DEATH October 18, 1951
Place of death Munich