Michael Jovy (politician)

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Michael Jovy (born March 6, 1882 in Dahnen ; † December 30, 1931 in Gladbeck ) was a German non-party local politician and the first mayor of Gladbeck.

Training and first employment

Michael Jovy attended elementary school in Dahnen as well as high schools in Prüm and Bonn . After graduating from high school, he studied law at the University of Bonn and was appointed court trainee at the Cologne Higher Regional Court on August 3, 1906 . From October 1, 1907 to 1908, Jovy did his military service as a one-year volunteer with the 9th Rhenish Infantry Regiment No. 160 in Bonn, where he was retired with the rank of first lieutenant of the reserve . In 1911 he was at the University of Bonn with a thesis on the concept of "order" in § 831 of the Civil Code magna cum laude for Dr. iur. PhD. On January 11, 1912, Jovy took up a position as a court assessor at the Recklinghausen city ​​administration with the aim of familiarizing himself with the municipal service, and on June 15, 1914, he was appointed to the Recklinghausen administration. From August 1914 to the end of December 1917 Jovy was called up for military service.

Further work

On January 1, 1918, Michael Jovy took over the official duties of the bailiff of the rural community of Gladbeck as the successor of Heinrich Korte and was "definitively" confirmed in office on September 5, 1918 by the head of the province of Westphalia , Karl Prinz von Ratibor and Corvey . Although the Gladbeck municipal council had voted in favor of a different candidate, their request did not get through to the senior president. The first year and a half in Jovy's new position were marked by the end of the First World War , the November Revolution and the Spartacus uprising , but especially the challenge of organizing the first democratic elections. In contrast to the imperial capital Berlin, however, the change in Gladbeck was not carried out solely by the political left, but was based on a broad social consensus over the years. This was mainly due to the former imperial bailiff Jovy, who now unreservedly placed himself in the service of democracy and in Gladbeck after the elections to the constituent assemblies for the Reich and Prussia in January on March 2, 1919 - less than four months later the November Revolution - held the first democratic local elections. Five parties were elected to the local parliament: MSPD (22 seats), Center (16), Poland Party (6), DNVP (2) and DDP (2).

After the former rural community Gladbeck by the Prussian Minister of the Interior on 21 July 1919 Wolfgang Heine , the city rights were awarded to Michael Jovy was elected on 25 August 1919 by of the reorganized City Council unanimously for a period of twelve years to the "first mayor" and on the 14th January 1920 confirmed as such by the Prussian Ministry of the Interior. The official inauguration took place on February 6, 1920. By decree of the Prussian Ministry of the Interior of August 4, 1921, Jovy was henceforth allowed to use the title of "Lord Mayor".

During Michael Jovy's term of office, the urgently needed construction and expansion of the entire urban infrastructure fell, because the population growth that began in Gladbeck in the late 1870s with the start of industrialization continued almost unabated. The population had multiplied from a good 3,000 to over 53,000 in 1919. The development of the tram and tram network, the establishment of health and educational facilities and the development of an overall development plan were particularly important to Jovy. The previous - often disordered - residential development should be steered into orderly paths and given a residential and livable value through numerous green spaces. Above all, the establishment of the Wittringen leisure center with the reconstruction of the Wittringen moated castle is due to his initiative.

However, during this time Jovy also faced serious challenges. He had to leave the city twice: at the end of March 1920, when, during the so-called Ruhr uprising, foreign gangs occupied the town hall for two weeks , which, less than nine months earlier, overruled the democratic and liberal basic order laid down in the Weimar constitution , and their elected bodies Deprived of function. A second time in 1923, when he was arrested by the Belgian occupation forces on February 27, during the occupation of the Ruhr , and expelled from the occupied area for around ten months. In the further course of the 1920s, the exercise of office became more and more difficult for Jovy due to the increasing political fragmentation in the city council. In the second local election on May 4, 1924, instead of the five parties in 1919, a total of nine parties and electoral alliances campaigned for the votes of those entitled to vote, seven of which then entered the city parliament.

Michael Jovy died of cancer on New Year's Eve 1931. He left behind his wife Eleonore and five children, including his son Michael , who was a resistance fighter against National Socialism and was honored as Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Jewish memorial in 1982 .

Honors

  • Gladbeck the "Jovyplatz" was named after the first mayor of the city, but was after the seizure of power by the National Socialists already on 24 March 1933, " Horst Wessel Platz renamed". Since May 3, 1945, it has had its original name again.
  • The former office of the mayor of Gladbeck (built in 1927/28) and today's seat of the adult education center is commonly referred to as the "Jovy Villa".

Fonts (selection)

  • The term “order” in Section 831 of the Civil Code , Heymann, Berlin 1911.
  • as editor: Festschrift in memory of Gladbeck's elevation to an independent office on April 1, 1885 , revised. by Ludwig Bette, Alfons Theben, Gladbeck 1925.

literature

  • Rüdiger Winter: Dr. Michael Jovy. Gladbeck's first mayor . In: Gladbeck our city, magazine for information, advertising, culture and home care (published by the Verkehrsverein Gladbeck eV), 24th year 1996, issue 3, p. 3 f.
  • Joachim Lilla : Senior administrative officials and functionaries in Westphalia and Lippe (1918–1945 / 46) . Biographical Handbook (Publications of the Historical Commission for Westphalia, Series 22 A: Historical works on Westphalian regional research. Economic and social history group, Vol. 16), Aschendorff, Münster 2004, ISBN 978-3-402-06799-4 , p. 188 .
  • Dietrich Pollmann: “Jovy Villa” with a double anniversary . In: Gladbeck our city, magazine for information, advertising, culture and home care (edited by Verkehrsverein Gladbeck eV), 35th year 2008, issue 2, pp. 28-30.
  • Ralph Eberhard Brachthäuser: With passion for our city. The women and men of the first Gladbeck city council . Verlag Mainz, Aachen 2019, ISBN 978-3-8107-0308-8 , p. 29 passim.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ralph Eberhard Brachthäuser: With passion for our city. The women and men of the first Gladbeck city council . Verlag Mainz, Aachen 2019, p. 237.
  2. ↑ Ralph Eberhard Brachthäuser: With passion for our city. The women and men of the first Gladbeck city council . Verlag Mainz, Aachen 2019, pp. 64–68.
  3. ↑ Ralph Eberhard Brachthäuser: With passion for our city. The women and men of the first Gladbeck city council . Verlag Mainz, Aachen 2019, pp. 70–73.
  4. ↑ Ralph Eberhard Brachthäuser: With passion for our city. The women and men of the first Gladbeck city council . Verlag Mainz, Aachen 2019, p. 74.
personal data
SURNAME Jovy, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German local politician and mayor
DATE OF BIRTH March 6, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Dahnen
DATE OF DEATH December 30, 1931
Place of death Gladbeck