Otto Osterwald

Otto Osterwald (born November 17, 1887 in Herdwangen ; † May 20, 1967 ibid) was a German farmer and politician ( center ).

Life

Otto Osterwald was born the son of a farmer and master wagoner. After graduating from primary school in Herdwangen in 1902, he began an apprenticeship as Wagner in his father's company and at the same time attended the trade school in Pfullendorf . He finished his apprenticeship in 1905 with the journeyman's examination, then went on a hike and from 1908 worked in his parents' business, which he took over after passing the examination as a master wagoner and following the death of his father in 1913. From 1909 to 1911 he did military service with the Badischer Train Battalion No. 14 in Durlach . From 1914 to 1918 he took part in the First World War as a soldier , most recently as a sergeant.

Osterwald joined the Center Party in 1907 and worked as a correspondent for local newspapers. In 1919 he was elected to the citizens' committee of the Herdwangen community and took over the office of mayor in 1921 . In addition to his local political activities, he had been chairman of the Herdwangen local cooperative from 1924 and acquired the Gasthaus Adler , which he initially leased after 1927.

In October 1929 Osterwald was elected as a member of the state parliament of the Republic of Baden , of which he was a member until 1933.

After the National Socialists came to power , Osterwald was given leave of absence as mayor in March 1933 and, after numerous hostilities from the NSDAP , retired in July at his instigation. In the following years he ran a pillar factory in his home town, which he sold in 1938 due to economic and health problems. He continued to run the inn he had acquired in the 1920s until 1942. After he also had to close the inn, he took over the management of the local post office, which was previously the responsibility of his wife.

At the beginning of June 1945 Osterwald was reinstated as mayor in Herdwangen by the French military government , but after only four months he resigned from office for health reasons.

Otto Osterwald had been married to Frieda Thum since 1919 and had two daughters.

Honors

• 1997: Otto-Osterwald-Straße in Herdwangen-Schönach

literature

• Ernst Edwin Weber: A Christian Democrat in Difficult Times. The Baden center politician, member of the state parliament and Herdwang mayor Otto Osterwald (1887–1967) , in: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , 116th year 1998, pp. 153–172 ( digitized version )

Web links

• Speeches by Otto Osterwald in the Baden state parliament in the digital collections of the Badische Landesbibliothek