Kurt Finkenwirth

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The lawyer and multiple traffic and economic manager Kurt Finkenwirth;
Drawing by August Heitmüller , around 1929

Kurt Finkenwirth (born May 4, 1885 in Greiz ; † January 4, 1943 in Wunstorf ) was a German lawyer , political scientist , economist , syndic , association functionary , member of the Hanover Provincial Parliament and a member of the Reich Railway Council . In particular, as the actual spokesman for Lower Saxony's economy , Finkenwirth played a significant role in the formation of an economic area of Lower Saxony and thus created important prerequisites for the formation of a corresponding political area, which was realized posthumously in 1946 with the formation of the State of Lower Saxony.

Life

Kurt Finkenwirth was born during the founding period of the German Empire in the capital of what was then the Principality of Reuss older line in what is now Thuringia as the son of a factory owner and businessman in the textile industry . After graduating from high school in 1903, he first completed an apprenticeship as a banker , then studied law and economics . During his studies in 1906 he became a member of the Normannia Leipzig fraternity . After completing his studies in 1909 and being awarded the title of Dr. jur. he initially worked for a short time in Dresden as an unskilled worker at the Royal Saxon Statistical Office .

From 1910 to 1920 Kurt Finkenwirth had a career at the Krefeld Chamber of Commerce , began as a research assistant and in 1912 initially became the organization's deputy syndic . At the same time he took up an activity in Berlin , which was temporarily interrupted by his participation in the First World War from 1914 to 1917, although from 1916 Finkenwirth held the position of the syndic of the Krefeld Chamber of Commerce.

In the last year of the war, 1918, Kurt Finkenwirth became a member of the board of the Reichsbekleidungsstelle. The former Kriegswirtschafts-AG , business department of the Reichsbekleidungsstelle was renamed Reichs-Textil-AG at the beginning of the Weimar Republic in 1919 , which Finkenwirth then headed as director . Also in 1919 he took over the position of commissioner for textile emergency supply in the Reich Ministry of Economics .

On April 1, 1920, the President of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce , Fritz Beindorff , succeeded in winning Finkenwirth for the position of First Syndic or General Manager of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce . According to the card of the former residents' registration office preserved in the Hanover city archives , he took as Dr. phil. led Finkenwirth on April 19 of the same year domicile at what was then Holscherstraße 9 .

In Hanover, Finkenwirth developed, among other things, "[...] his ideas" for merging the Free States of Braunschweig , Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe with the Prussian province of Hanover to form Lower Saxony .

Together with Fritz Beindorff, Erich Tgahrt and Richard Platz , Finkenwirth developed the Hanover Chamber of Commerce into a leading self-organization in Lower Saxony's economy with a significant increase in its reputation . Finkenwirth earned "[...] exceptional merits" as an "[...] excellent organizer" in particular for economic and transport interests in the Lower Saxony region. He took over the chairmanship of the newly established Lower Saxony Transport Association - also in 1920 - and also became the managing director of the Lower Saxony Economic Committee .

After the name of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce was changed to the Hanover Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) in 1924 - in the same year Finkenwirth moved to what was then Bödekerstraße 18 in the eastern part of Hanover - Kurt Finkenwirth became one of the founders of the “Economic Society for the Study of Lower Saxony” in 1925 eV “, which should research the economic fundamentals of the Lower Saxony area in connection between research and practice.

During the inauguration of the first building specially built for the Hanover Chamber of Industry and Commerce - in the place of which it still operates today - Finkenwirth raised the self-administration of the Hanoverian economic organization as one of the largest of the 130 chambers of the time in front of the assembled decision-makers from politics, administration, press and science in Germany. In distinguishing between compulsory and voluntary tasks, he emphasized both the participation in committees and the “ obligation to cooperate” at the time when setting trade tax .

In the 1920s, Kurt Finkenwirth also became executive chairman of the Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry , and in the same position of the Lower Saxony-Kassel Economic Association and the Lower Saxony-Kassel Transport Association . In addition Finkenwirth tasks perceived as a member of the Council of the Reich railway as well as in that of the country's railway Hanover , as Reich waterways - Advisory Board and the Weser-Ems - waterways -Beirat.

Finkenwirth was also an elected member of the Hanover provincial parliament and deputy chairman of the board of trustees of the Harz waterworks he initiated .

On November 9, 1929, Finkenwirth and his wife “[…] Marg., Geb. Merkel ”(born May 4, 1885 in Greiz) the daughter Ilse was born.

On May 12, 1931, the Hanover Technical University (TH) honored him with the award of the title of honorary academic citizen . But only around two years later - after the National Socialists seized power - Kurt Finkenwirth was dropped by the Hanover Chamber of Commerce in 1933 "[...] because of untenable political suspicions". So he left the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, "[...] but always remained connected to similar organizations."

After the then rector of the TH Hanover - very similar to Heinrich Tiefers - had informed the lecturers in writing on April 16, 1934 that a letter dated April 6 of that year from the NSDAP Gauleiter of the district of South Hanover-Braunschweig , Bernhard Rust , would Make it necessary to withdraw the honorary citizen title of Finkenwirth, the former "Chamber of Commerce Syndic" and now only managed as managing director, Finkenwirth moved to Kassel on September 30 of the same year at the address Kaiserplatz 31 at the time . Despite new research at the beginning of the 21st century, the further procedure with regard to Finkenswirth's academic honorary title could not yet be determined.

In the meantime, the former Hanoverian syndic published on the occasion of the Wesertag on October 26, 1934 an article on the subject of Kurhessen in the Central European traffic area via the Kasseler Post . In it he went into detail on the geography and the associated problems of North Hesse , called for the full canalization of the Weser and Fulda to Kassel , among other things, and emphasized the advantages of modern motorway technology compared to the railway construction of the past century.

After Kurt Finkenwirth returned to work in Berlin in addition to Kassel, the rector of the Hanoverian TH informed the Reich Ministry for Science, Education and National Education in Berlin a few weeks before the start of the Second World War on June 28, 1939 that according to the NSDAP leadership des Gaues Südhannover-Braunschweig and others would not raise any political objections. How it came to such a turnaround in Finkenwirth's assessment - around five years after a contrary announcement - is no longer comprehensible according to the latest research. In fact, Finkenwirth's name was still mentioned in the course catalog for the academic year 1941/42 at the TH Hannover.

Meanwhile Finkenwirth worked from 1940 - also in Berlin - in the Army High Command (OKH) as Colonel director , was responsible for the supply of the land forces of the German army with canned food .

Kurt Finkenwirth was killed in the railway accident of January 4, 1943 in Wunstorf after a meeting with his former colleague Fritz Beindorff while passing through to Brussels .

Fonts (selection)

  • The Gera-Greizer textile industry , Greiz: Kellert, 1910; contents
  • The traffic development Crefelds since 1900 (in Gothic type ), from: Management Report of the city Crefeld 1901-10 , Crefeld: Kramer & space, [1915]
  • Otto Franzius , Kurt Finkenwirth: Memorandum on dam constructions in the western Harz. Westsperren preliminary draft , drawn up on behalf of the Hanover Regional Directorate by the Water Management Society Hanover e. V., 2 volumes ( main work and tables and plans ), Hanover: Göhmannsche Buchdruckerei and Verlag, 1926
  • The Harz waterworks of the province of Hanover in their importance for the Leine-Innerste-Oker-Aller river area (= publications of the Economic Society for Studies in Lower Saxony EV , Series A, Book 3), Hanover: Technical University of Hanover, Economic Society for the Study of Lower Saxony EV, 1927
  • Chambers and municipalities (= law and practice of the chambers of industry and commerce , volume 1), Berlin: Reimar Hobbing, 1928
  • Hanover traffic center. In: Hannoversche Woche from July 16, 1930, pp. 5–12
  • Kurhessen in the Central European traffic area. In: Kasseler Post from October 26, 1934

literature

  • NN : Dr. Finkenwirth. In: Hannoversche Köpfe aus Verwaltung, Wirtschaft, Kunst und Literatur , Vol. 1, Verlag H. Osterwald, Hanover 1929. (August Heitmüller drew the heads. Wilhelm Metzig designed the entire equipment of the work. The texts have no author names in the book no page numbers or a table of contents are given)
  • Albert Lefèvre: The contribution of the Hanoverian industry to technical progress. In: Hannoversche Geschichtsblätter , New Series 24 (1970), pp. 94–128
  • Albert Lefèvre: Kurt Finkenwirth 1883–1945. In: Hannoversche Geschichtsblätter , New Series 31 (1977), pp. 69–84
  • Waldemar R. Röhrbein : Finkenwirth, Kurt. In: Dirk Böttcher, Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein, Hugo Thielen: Hannoversches Biographisches Lexikon . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2002, ISBN 3-87706-706-9 , p. 117; online through google books
  • Beatrix Herlemann , Helga Schatz: Biographical Lexicon of Lower Saxony Parliamentarians 1919–1945 (= publications of the Historical Commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen. Volume 222). Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 2004, ISBN 3-7752-6022-6 , p. 109.
  • Christian-Alexander Wäldner: Kurt Finkenwirth - Syndic of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry , in this: The Technical University of Hanover and the withdrawal of academic titles during the Nazi era. Results of Hanover processes taking into account the case of Walter Dux (= history , vol. 112), also master thesis 2012 at the University of Hanover, Berlin; Münster: Lit Verlag, 2012, ISBN 978-3-643-11908-7 , pp. 60f. u.ö .; Preview over google books
  • Noun nominandum: At the beginning a restless mind. In: Stefan Noort (Ges.-Ltg.), Viktoria Ernst, Pia-Felicitas Homann, Klaus Pohlmann (Red.): Looking forward. Time leaps from 150 years of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce , ed. from the IHK Hannover, with contributions by Hannes Rehm and Horst Schrage , 1st edition, Hannover: IHK Hannover, 2015, pp. 14–21; here: p. 19ff.

Archival material

Archival material from and about Kurt Finkenwirth can be found, for example

Web links

Commons : Kurt Finkenwirth  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Deviating from this, instead of an economics degree, that of business administration is mentioned, compare Christian-Alexander Wäldner: Kurt Finkenwirth - Syndic of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce , in which: Die Technische Hochschule Hannover ... , p. 60f. Preview over google books
  2. ↑ Notwithstanding this, the award of the title Dr. jur. in 1910 mentioned a different end of study, compare Waldemar R. Röhrbein: Finkenwirth, Kurt. In: Hannoversches Biographisches Lexikon , p. 117; online through google books

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Finkenwirth, Kurt in the database of Niedersächsische Personen (new entry required) of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library - Lower Saxony State Library , edited on February 6, 2013, last accessed on October 12, 2016
  2. ↑ a b c Compare the information under the GND number of the German National Library
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Waldemar R. Röhrbein: Finkenwirth, Kurt. In: Hannoversches Biographisches Lexikon , p. 117; online through google books
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Christian-Alexander Wäldner: Kurt Finkenwirth - Syndic of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce , in ders .: The Technical University of Hanover and the withdrawal of academic titles during the Nazi era. Results of Hanoverian processes taking into account the case of Walter Dux (= history , vol. 112), also master's thesis 2012 at the University of Hanover, Berlin; Münster: Lit Verlag, 2012, ISBN 978-3-643-11908-7 , pp. 60f. u.ö .; Preview over google books
  5. ^ Hugo Böttger (ed.): Directory of the old fraternity members according to the status of the winter semester 1911/12. Berlin 1912, p. 50.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k N.N .: Dr. Finkenwirth. In: Hanoverian heads from administration, economy, art and literature , Vol. 1, Verlag H. Osterwald, Hanover 1929
  7. ^ Kriegswirtschafts-AG, business department of the Reichsbekleidungsstelle, since 1919: Reichs-Textil-AG , archive material signature BArch, R 8905/172 on the side of the German Federal Archives
  8. ↑ a b Noun nominandum: In the beginning a restless mind. In: Stefan Noort (Ges.-Ltg.), Viktoria Ernst, Pia-Felicitas Homann, Klaus Pohlmann (Red.): Looking forward. Time leaps from 150 years of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce , ed. from the IHK Hannover, with contributions by Hannes Rehm and Horst Schrage , 1st edition, Hannover: IHK Hannover, 2015, pp. 14–21; here: p. 19ff.
  9. ^ Klaus Mlynek : Rust, Bernhard. In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , p. 532.
  10. ^ Richard Vahrenkamp : Motorway construction in Hessen until 1943 (= contributions to Hessian economic history , vol. 1), [Darmstadt]: Hessisches Wirtschaftsarchiv, 2007, ISBN 978-3-9804506-6-9 and ISBN 3-9804506-6-X , P. 22f. u.ö .; Preview over google books
personal data
SURNAME Finkenwirth, Kurt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer, political scientist and economist, syndic of the association, member of parliament, author and chief director
DATE OF BIRTH May 4, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Greiz
DATE OF DEATH January 4, 1943
Place of death Wunstorf