Karl Russell

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Karl Russell (born January 15, 1870 in Recklinghausen , † January 4, 1950 in Bad Godesberg ) was a German lawyer and politician ( center ). From 1919 to 1931 he was Lord Mayor of Koblenz .

Life and work

Karl Russell was the son of a ducal arenberg court chamber president and studied law in Munich , Marburg and Berlin before taking the state examination on June 3, 1896. He then worked as a public prosecutor in Hagen until 1905, as in-house counsel for the Recklinghausen industrial district until 1912 and as mayor in Buer until 1919 .

Acting as the Lord Mayor of Koblenz

After the early death of Bernhard Clostermann , Russell was elected the new Lord Mayor by the Koblenz City Council on June 16, 1919. After his inauguration on August 1, 1919, his service was dominated by the American occupation after the First World War (from December 12, 1918 to January 24, 1923) and the subsequent French occupation (until November 30, 1929). In addition to the Allied occupation of the Rhineland , inflation was also a major problem until 1923 . The city itself issued 80 different emergency notes signed by the mayor. During this politically and economically troubled period of occupation, Koblenz suffered from the ensuing billeting, which resulted in a greater housing shortage, and requisitions . At times up to 7,000 French soldiers were stationed in the city. In addition, the Prussian fortress of Koblenz was deconsolidated due to the provisions of the Versailles Treaty . Including through the use of the US General Henry Tureman Allen could Ehrenbreitstein their razing missed.

Furthermore, the events surrounding the Rhenish Republic fell during his term of office , as a result of which Russell had to leave the occupied Rhineland on October 23, 1923 on the instructions of the French occupation. It was only after almost ten months of exile that Russell was able to return to Koblenz on July 10, 1924 and start working again. In 1925 he opened the "Reich Exhibition of German Wine" in Koblenz. The wine village has been preserved from the event site to this day. After approval by the Prussian Ministry of the Interior, the spelling of the city was changed from "Coblenz" to "Koblenz" on May 14, 1926. Russell was also concerned about the city's health care system. He bought the Kemperhof in Moselweiss , an estate used by the male order of the Cistercians as an orphanage and school. A modern hospital was built here, as the old community hospital on Kastorstrasse no longer met the requirements of the city. On October 1, 1923, at the request of the Lord Mayor Wallersheim, it was incorporated into Koblenz. At a suggestion by Russell, the Joseph Görres monument inaugurated in 1928 in the Rhine complex goes back to.

Reich President Hindenburg with Karl Russell (right) and the Prussian Prime Minister Otto Braun (left) at the liberation ceremony in 1930 at the Deutsches Eck in Koblenz

The end of his term of office fell like the beginning in politically and economically troubled times. Although the French occupation evacuated the Rhineland prematurely on November 30, 1929, the city could no longer benefit from the newly gained freedom. On the occasion of the liberation celebrations, the Lord Mayor received President Paul von Hindenburg in Koblenz on July 22, 1930 . The day ended in disaster . After the fireworks, a floating bridge collapsed in Lützel , killing 38 people. The global economic crisis tore Koblenz even further into the vortex, which it had already gotten into through occupation, the war in the Ruhr , etc.

Russell retired on July 31, 1931. Shortly beforehand, the city council had made him an honorary citizen of the city of Koblenz, which the National Socialists quickly revoked from him after they came to power in 1933. However, due to a formal error, Russell got the dignity back a little later. He spent his old age in Bad Godesberg, where he died on January 4, 1950. Karl Russell was buried in the central cemetery in Bad Godesberg .

Honors

literature

  • Max Bär: From the history of the city of Koblenz. 1814-1914. - Koblenz: Krabbensche Buchdruckerei 1922
  • Wolfgang Schütz: Koblenz heads. People from the city's history - namesake for streets and squares. Verlag für Werbung Blätter GmbH Mülheim-Kärlich, Ed .: Bernd Weber, 2005 (2nd revised and expanded edition).
  • Energieversorgung Mittelrhein GmbH (ed.): History of the city of Koblenz . Overall editing: Ingrid Bátori in conjunction with Dieter Kerber and Hans Josef Schmidt
    • Vol. 1: From the beginning to the end of the electoral era . Theiss, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-8062-0876-X
    • Vol. 2: From the French city to the present . Theiss, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-8062-1036-5
  • Helmut Kampmann: When stones speak. Memorial plaques and memorial plaques in Koblenz. Fuck-Verlag, Koblenz 1992, p. 16f. & P. 53f. ISBN 3-9803142-0-0

Individual evidence

  1. ( page no longer available , search in web archives: Das Unglück on July 22, 1930 ) in: Rhein-Zeitung , August 5, 2005@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / rhein-zeitung.de
  2. See Kampmann, p. 54.