Ludwig Metzger

Ludwig Metzger (* 18th March 1902 in Darmstadt ; † 13. January 1993 in Darmstadt) was a German politician of the SPD .

Training, civil service career, studies and legal work

Metzger attended the Alte Realgymnasium (today: Georg Büchner School (Darmstadt) ). After finishing secondary school, Metzger joined the Hessian administrative service. Initially a writing assistant, he became an administrative candidate in 1918 and an administrative officer of the Hessian main welfare office in Darmstadt in 1922. After an external Abitur examination, he studied law and economics in Giessen , Munich and Vienna . After graduating, he worked at the Hessian embassy in Berlin and later as a court and government assessor in Gießen , Darmstadt, Mainz and Heppenheim . After he was dismissed from civil service in 1933 for political reasons, he worked as a lawyer in Darmstadt until 1945. Between 1943 and 1945 he was head of the legal department for the Deutsche Umsiedlungs-Treuhand (DUT), initially in Luxembourg , and later also in Strasbourg .

religion

Metzger became chairman of the Association of Religious Socialists in Hesse in 1929 . In 1934 Metzger, who was Protestant , took part in the founding of the Confessing Church . Even after the end of the Second World War, when he had already become mayor, he took part as a guest at the meetings of the Hessian Brotherhood Council , which met frequently in Darmstadt and set up its office there.

Honors

In 1976 the city of Darmstadt made him an honorary citizen . The Ludwig-Metzger-Platz in Darmstadt and the Ludwig-Metzger-Preis of the Sparkasse Darmstadt are named after him.

Political party

Metzger had been a member of the SPD since 1930, and he helped to rebuild it from 1945 onwards. He was deputy sub-district chairman of the SPD-Darmstadt, member of the district executive committee of the SPD Hessen-Süd as well as of the SPD party executive committee.

MP

Metzger was from 1946 to 1954 for the constituency of Darmstadt City Iowa directly elected Member of Parliament in Hessen . He was a member of the German Bundestag from 1953 to 1969, where he represented the constituency of Darmstadt .

From October 29, 1957 to January 21, 1970 he was also a member of the European Parliament , in which he was vice-president from 1966 to 1970.

Public offices

From 1945 to 1950 Metzger was Lord Mayor of Darmstadt. When he was re-elected in June 1948, he was appointed with the votes of the SPD and KPD factions against the votes of the CDU and LDP . Soon afterwards he resigned after his supplementary budget was rejected, but stood up again and was elected on December 2, 1948, this time with the votes of the SPD, CDU and LDP. From January 10, 1951 to December 2, 1953 Metzger was Minister for Education and National Education for the State of Hesse .

family

His son Günther Metzger was also a member of the German Bundestag from 1969 to 1976 and was also the Lord Mayor of Darmstadt from 1981 to 1993. His grandson Jan Metzger was director of Radio Bremen from 2009 to 2019 . His grandson Mathias Metzger is married to the SPD politician Dagmar Metzger .

Ludwig Metzger was buried in the old cemetery (grave site: III D 41) in Darmstadt.

literature

• Walter Henkels : 99 Bonn heads , reviewed and supplemented edition, Fischer-Bücherei, Frankfurt am Main 1965, p. 180ff.
• Press and Information Office of the City of Darmstadt (ed.), For the award of honorary citizenship to retired Lord Mayor Ludwig Metzger on June 10, 1976 , Darmstadt 1976.
• Ludwig Metzger, In good and in bad days , Reba-Verlag, Darmstadt 1980.
• Press and Information Office of the City of Darmstadt (ed.), Speeches for Ludwig Metzger on his 80th birthday on March 18, 1982 , Darmstadt 1982.
• Susanne Király , Ludwig Metzger. Politicians with Christian Responsibility , Volume 144 of the Sources and Research Series on Hessian History, Darmstadt 2004.

Web links

Commons : Ludwig Metzger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Ludwig Metzger in the catalog of the German National Library