List of honorary citizens of Hamburg

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The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg has so far awarded 36 people honorary citizenship , the highest honor Hamburg has to bestow.

The Senate has the right to be granted honorary citizenship and was initially exercised by it alone. In order to give this rare honor even greater significance, he first obtained co-approval from the citizenry in 1834, but without recognizing a corresponding obligation. In 1918 the Senate reaffirmed that it was right to continue to obtain their approval in the future.

Until 1948, honorary citizenship was only granted to non-residents. Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg, but lived in Vienna at the time of the award.

They are listed chronologically according to the date of award.

The honorary citizens of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg

  1. Baron Friedrich Karl von Tettenborn (February 19, 1778 in Tettenborn, Grafschaft Sponheim , Baden ; † December 9, 1845 in Vienna )
    Colonel in the Russian Army
    Awarded in 1813
    Baron von Tettenborn succeeded in liberating Hamburg from the French during the Wars of Liberation after Napoléon Bonaparte had incorporated the city into his empire in 1810.
  2. Prince Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (born December 16, 1742 in Rostock , † September 12, 1819 in Krieblowitz , Silesia )
    Field Marshal General of the Prussian Army
    Awarded in 1816
    Von Blücher was honored for his significant contribution to the victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
  3. Count August Otto von Grote (* 1747; † 1830)
    Privy Council of Prussia
    Awarded in 1826
    Count Grote was “envoy extraordinary” and authorized minister of the King of Prussia in the city of Hamburg.
  4. James Colquhoun (* 1780; † 1855)
    Consul General in London and Stalemaster
    Awarded in 1834
  5. Georg Michael Gramlich (* 1795; † 1880)
    Merchant and Chargé d'affaires in Hamburg for the Republic of Venezuela
    Awarded in 1838
    Awarded for negotiating a friendship, trade and shipping agreement between Hamburg and Venezuela, signed on May 27, 1837.
  6. Count Conrad Daniel von Blücher-Altona (February 29, 1764 in Penzlin , Mecklenburg-Schwerin ; † August 1, 1845 in Altona )
    High President of the City of Altona and Privy Conference Council of Denmark
    Awarded in 1843
    Awarded in recognition of special help after the Hamburg fire in 1842.
  7. Eduard Heinrich Flottwell (July 23, 1786 in Insterburg , East Prussia ; † May 28, 1865 in Berlin )
    President of various Prussian provinces
    Awarded in 1843
    Awarded in recognition of special help after the Hamburg fire in 1842.
  8. Johann Smidt (November 5, 1773 in Bremen ; May 7, 1857 ibid)
    Mayor of Bremen
    Awarded in 1843
    Awarded in recognition of special help after the Hamburg fire in 1842.
  9. Heinrich Christoph Gottfried von Struve (* 1772; † 1851)
    Privy Council of Russia, Russian envoy to the Hanseatic cities
    Awarded in 1843
    Awarded on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of service. Von Struwe founded the natural science museum in Hamburg.
  10. Prince Otto von Bismarck (born April 1, 1815 in Schönhausen (Elbe) , Brandenburg ; † July 30, 1898 in Friedrichsruh , Schleswig-Holstein )
    Chancellor
    Awarded in 1871
    Awarded on the occasion of the founding of the German Empire .
  11. Count Helmuth von Moltke (born October 26, 1800 in Parchim , Mecklenburg-Schwerin , † April 24, 1891 in Berlin )
    Chief of the General Staff of the Prussian Army
    Awarded in 1871
    Awarded on the occasion of the victories in the German Wars of Unification .
  12. Gustav Christian Schwabe (* 1813; † 1897)
    Art patron and businessman in London
    Awarded in 1886
    Gustav Christian Schwabe donated 128 paintings from his possession to the Hamburger Kunsthalle and was given honorary citizenship for them.
  13. Johannes Brahms (born May 7, 1833 in Hamburg, † April 3, 1897 in Vienna )
    Composer , pianist and conductor
    Awarded in 1889
    Brahms was given honorary citizenship because he “brought honor and fame to his hometown through outstanding works”.
  14. Count Alfred von Waldersee (born April 8, 1832 in Potsdam , † March 5, 1904 in Hanover )
    Field Marshal General of the Prussian Army
    Awarded in 1901
    Count von Waldersee had the supreme command of the European intervention troops to suppress the Boxer Rebellion in China . He received honorary citizenship from Hamburg for his "work in the interest of maintaining world peace".
  15. Paul von Hindenburg (born October 2, 1847 in Posen , † August 2, 1934 in Neudeck , East Prussia )
    Field Marshal General of the German Army, Reich President
    Awarded in 1917 (for his 70th birthday)
    Paul von Hindenburg was considered a legendary military man and had been an officer since the 1860s. During the First World War, when he prevented the occupation of East Prussia by Russian troops, he was celebrated as the "Held von Tannenberg ". In August 1916 he and General Ludendorff became chiefs of the Supreme Army Command .
  16. Henry Everling (born August 19, 1873 in Braunschweig , † May 16, 1960 in Hamburg)
    Hamburg Senator
    Awarded in 1948
    Awarded for his services to the common good, especially the consumer cooperative system.
  17. Adolph Schönfelder (born April 5, 1875 in Hamburg; † May 3, 1966 there)
    Member of the Hamburg Parliament (SPD) 1919–1933 and 1945–1961. Hamburg Senator 1926–1933 and Mayor 1946–1960.
    Awarded in 1950
    Schönfelder received honorary citizenship for his services to cooperation between the government and the opposition. In 1948/49 he was Vice-President and at the same time senior president of the Parliamentary Council , which drafted the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany .
  18. Max Brauer (born September 3, 1887 in Ottensen near Hamburg; † February 2, 1973 in Hamburg)
    First mayor 1946–1953 and 1957–1960
    Awarded in 1960
    Max Brauer, who emigrated to America during the Nazi era, spoke as a guest speaker at an SPD event in Planten un Blomen in 1946 . Then his audience asked him not to return to America but to run for the office of First Mayor. The election ended with a triumphant success for the SPD.
  19. Herbert Weichmann (born February 23, 1896 in Landsberg in Upper Silesia ; † October 9, 1983 in Hamburg)
    First mayor 1965–1971
    Awarded in 1971
    Weichmann had to flee into exile from the National Socialists in 1933. After his return in 1948, he was first Senator for Finance and later Mayor of Hamburg.
  20. Herbert Dau (born December 8, 1911 in Hamburg; † July 7, 2000 in Hamburg)
    President of the Hamburg Parliament
    Awarded in 1978
    Awarded for his services to the common good.
  21. Helmut Schmidt (* December 23, 1918 in Hamburg; † November 10, 2015 there)
    Hamburg Senator for the Interior 1961–1965, Federal Chancellor 1974–1982
    Awarded 1983
    As a Senator for the Interior, Helmut Schmidt gained a great reputation , especially for the crisis management of the storm surge in 1962 . During his tenure as Federal Chancellor there were the oil crises and the German autumn of 1977. In 1982 he lost his office as Federal Chancellor when his coalition partner, the FDP , entered into a coalition with the CDU .
  22. Ida Ehre (born July 9, 1900 in Prerau , Kronland Moravia , † February 16, 1989 in Hamburg)
    Actress, director and theater manager
    Awarded 1985
    Before the war, Ida Ehre played on numerous European stages. During the Second World War she was held in a concentration camp by the National Socialists. After her liberation, she opened the Hamburger Kammerspiele in 1945 , which under her leadership developed into one of the leading German theaters.
  23. Gerd Bucerius (born May 19, 1906 in Hamm , Westphalia , † September 29, 1995 in Hamburg)
    Publishers and Politicians
    Awarded in 1986
    Bucerius was a co-founder and from 1957 sole shareholder of the weekly newspaper Die Zeit . For several years he supported the deficit period with income from the star . Today, Die Zeit has a weekly circulation of 501,000 copies.
  24. Herbert Wehner (born July 11, 1906 in Dresden , † January 19, 1990 in Bonn )
    Member of the Bundestag 1949–1983, Federal Minister 1966–1969, 1969–1983 SPD parliamentary group chairman
    Awarded in 1986
    Herbert Wehner was for the constituency of Hamburg-Harburg in the German Bundestag for 33 years . He is considered one of the most extraordinary politicians in the Federal Republic and holds the record in parliament with 78 calls to order against him. The honor was given in recognition of the services rendered to the reconstruction of the state and the city of Hamburg.
  25. Kurt A. Körber (born September 7, 1909 in Berlin ; † August 10, 1992 in Hamburg)
    Entrepreneur
    Awarded in 1991
    Kurt Körber established several foundations for the reconstruction of the Thalia Theater and the Deichtorhallen .
  26. Alfred Toepfer (born July 13, 1894 in Altona ; † October 8, 1993 in Hamburg)
    Entrepreneur
    Awarded in 1991
    Founded the Alfred Toepfer Foundation FVS in 1931 , which annually awards numerous prizes and grants to promote European unity. The introduction of nature parks in Germany was of particular concern to him . In 1956, he and Federal President Heuss announced the start of the nature park program.
  27. Rudolf Augstein (born November 5, 1923 in Hanover ; † November 7, 2002 in Hamburg)
    Journalist, publisher and publicist
    Awarded in 1993
    Rudolf Augstein founded the news magazine Der Spiegel in Hamburg in 1947 at the age of 23 . This marked the beginning of Hamburg's rise to become one of the Federal Republic's media centers.
  28. Marion Countess Dönhoff (* December 2, 1909 at Friedrichstein Castle (East Prussia) ; † March 11, 2002 at Crottorf Castle , Rhineland-Palatinate )
    Journalist and editor
    Awarded in 1999
    Countess Dönhoff was in contact with the Kreisau Circle during the time of National Socialism . In 1946 she began to write for Die Zeit in Hamburg . In 1968 she became editor-in-chief and in 1973 co-editor of the weekly newspaper. She is considered one of the most outstanding journalists in Germany.
  29. Siegfried Lenz (born March 17, 1926 in Lyck , East Prussia ; † October 7, 2014 in Hamburg)
    writer
    Awarded in 2001
    Siegfried Lenz lived as a freelance writer in Hamburg since 1951. He is one of the best-known German-speaking storytellers of post-war and contemporary literature.
  30. Uwe Seeler (born November 5, 1936 in Hamburg)
    Soccer player
    Awarded on November 26, 2003
    Uwe Seeler was one of the best center forwards in the world during his playing days. During the entire time he played for Hamburger SV and achieved numerous successes with him. As a national player took part in four world championships. He has been honorary captain of the DFB since 1972 .
  31. Helmut Greve (born June 2, 1922 in Hamburg, † July 3, 2016 in Hamburg) and
  32. Hannelore Greve (born November 11, 1926 in Wesel)
    Entrepreneur and founder
    Awarded on September 30, 2005
    Helmut and Hannelore Greve are or were both successful entrepreneurs in Hamburg. Together they ran a foundation for science and culture. Among other things, they donated two wings of the main building to the University of Hamburg and took over the start-up financing of the Academy of Sciences in Hamburg .
  33. Prof. John Neumeier (born February 24, 1939 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
    Ballet choreographer
    Awarded on June 7, 2007
    John Neumeier is one of the most important ballet choreographers in the world. In his more than 30 years with the Hamburg Ballet he has succeeded in developing the company into one of the leading companies in the world.
  34. Loki Schmidt (born March 3, 1919 in Hamburg, † October 21, 2010 ibid)
    Conservationist and wife of the former Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt
    Awarded on February 12, 2009
    In 1976 Loki Schmidt founded the Foundation for the Protection of Endangered Plants . This was merged with the Hamburg Nature Conservation Foundation to form the " Loki Schmidt Foundation ". On her 80th birthday, she received the title of professor from the University of Hamburg for her services to plant and nature conservation .
  35. Michael Otto (born April 12, 1943 in Kulm in West Prussia )
    German entrepreneur, chairman of the supervisory board and former CEO of the Otto Group
    Awarded on August 15, 2013
    Otto has made a particular contribution to the areas of culture, education, the environment and social issues. Among other things, he sponsored the State Youth Music School, the Hamburger Kunsthalle in the museum area and the Museum of Hamburg History . The construction of the Elbphilharmonie received further support .
  36. Kirsten Boie (born March 19, 1950 in Hamburg)
    Writer and literary scholar
    Award ceremony on December 18, 2019
    Boie has written around 100 books for children and young people and supports reading promotion among children. In 2007 she received the German Youth Literature Prize and in 2011 the Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Formerly listed as an honorary citizen

  • Adolf Hitler (born April 20, 1889 in Braunau am Inn , Upper Austria , † April 30, 1945 in Berlin )
    "Führer" and Reich Chancellor
    Awarded in 1933; revoked in 1945
    Hitler received honorary citizenship on April 20, 1933, on the occasion of his 44th birthday.

Mayor Rudolf Petersen announced the revocation of both honorary citizenships on June 7, 1945 in a letter of reply to lawyer Hans Hertz , who had asked him to do so on the 5th of the month. Petersen pleaded that, as mayor, he had the right to revoke honorary citizenship within the framework of the German municipal code that is still in force .

Honorary citizens of the incorporated cities

The question of whether Hamburg also took over the honorary citizens of these cities through the incorporation of Altona , Harburg-Wilhelmsburg and Wandsbek effective April 1, 1938 , or whether their honorary citizenship expired on March 31, 1938, was raised by the Senate Office for District Affairs in 1990 no clear decision was made in relation to the Altona district assembly (an attempt had been made to delete the honorary citizenship granted to Alfred Graf von Waldersee in 1896 ). However, the fact that the Senate deprived a single Altona honorary citizen ( Hinrich Lohse ) of this title in October 1945 speaks in favor of continued existence . At the same time, two honorary citizenships in Wandsbek and one in Harburg-Wilhelmsburg were revoked. In all cases it was a matter of honorary citizenship, which were awarded to National Socialists after 1933.

In this respect see also the

See also: Hamburg personalities

Further honors

In addition to the honorary citizenship, other honorary titles, medals and prizes are awarded in Hamburg.

See also: List of Hamburg State Awards .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.hamburg.de/ehrenbuerger/biographien/ehrenbuerger-vor-1900/4656634/august-otto-graf-grote/
  2. ^ Heinrich Erdmann (editor): Hamburg in the Third Reich. Seven posts. State Center for Political Education, Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-929728-42-7 , page 172, quoted. n. Werner Johe: Hitler in Hamburg, p. 209 u. 220, source: Hamburg State Archives (State Press Office III, 4230)
  3. ^ Heinrich Erdmann (editor): Hamburg in the Third Reich. Seven posts. State Center for Political Education, Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-929728-42-7 , page 173, footnote
  4. ^ Heinrich Erdmann (editor): Hamburg in the Third Reich. Seven posts. State Center for Political Education, Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-929728-42-7 , page 174, source: Hamburg State Archives (Senate Chancellery Presidential Department, 1933 A 37)

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