Otto Räcke

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Otto Räcke (born October 2, 1913 in Cologne-Zollstock ; † July 31, 1983 in Hürth) was the long-time municipality director of Hürth , the largest municipality in Germany with 52,800 residents in 1970.

Life

Räcke was born the son of the Cologne military administrator Fritz Räcke . When this police commissioner was in Hürth, the family moved to Hürth. Here Otto Räcke attended the Hermülheim elementary school and what was later to become the Max-Ernst-Gymnasium in Brühl , where he graduated from high school in 1933 as an ancient speaker with Latin, Greek and French, in order to then begin studying law at the University of Cologne . At the university he also learned Russian. After completing his legal traineeship and assessor exams, he was drafted into military service, which he finished as first lieutenant . The newly learned Russian language was useful during his assignment in Russia.

After the war he worked for a short time at the public prosecutor's office in Cologne as managing director for the housing association for the Rhenish lignite area and was a member of the municipal council and district council of the Cologne district during this time . He was present at this time in numerous committees, such as the elected representatives of the trade union IG Bergbau the Supervisory Board at Rheinbraun and in the Regional Assembly of the Rhineland Regional Council . In 1953 he was elected as the successor to Josef Arens (CDU), who had been retired due to illness, by the new majority of the council as community director. As an SPD member , he continued to do so as a communal dual leadership with the CDU mayors; he was last reelected in 1969. In 1972 he resigned for health reasons. The election of his successor, Georg Rogge (SPD), was also supported by the bourgeois majority.

Räcke was married; with his wife he had two sons who both still live in Huerth. His political legacy is kept in the Hürth City Archives. Räcke was buried in the cemetery in Alt-Hürth .

Act

His biggest tasks in Hürth, in addition to the reconstruction work, were the planning and creation of the new Hürth center between Alt-Hürth and Hermülheim (in place of the previous plan of a round town without a special center) with the Hürth Park shopping center as well as the acquisition of central facilities such as the (temporary) District seat of the Rhein-Erft district and the location of the Federal Language Office . As a retiree, he was able to experience the fruits of his work, the appointment to the city of 1978 in recognition of the intensive efforts to achieve an upward trend one year after the opening of the shopping center that he was involved in politically planning and only six months after the municipal council's motion.

Honors

The council awarded him the ring of honor on his retirement. He asked to refrain from other honors. The square in front of the new town hall was named after him.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Herbert Sinz: Obituary in Hürther Heimat No. 51/52 (1984), p. 78 f.
  2. ↑ Hürth City Archives: Otto Räcke , NRW archive portal
  3. ↑ Clarifications and additions based on information from his son
  4. ↑ A medal gave the name , Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , July 5, 2011
  5. ↑ a b Manfred Faust: History of the City of Hürth , ed. from Heimat und Kulturverein Hürth, JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 2009, pp. 199 ff. passim
  6. ↑ Herbert Sinz: On the Green Meadow, how the city center of Hürth came into being , Hürther Schriftenreihe Vol. 3, Verlag P. Becher, Brühl o. J. (1978), p. 105
personal data
SURNAME Räcke, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German local politician (SPD)
DATE OF BIRTH October 2, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne folding rule
DATE OF DEATH July 31, 1983
Place of death uncertain: Hürth