Paul Hoff

Paul Hoff

Heinrich Max Paul Hoff (born December 15, 1867 in Lübeck ; † January 20, 1928 there ) was the Social Democratic Senator of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck.

Life

origin

Paul was the youngest of the six children of the tailor Johs. Hoff († 1876). From 1874 until the death of his father he attended the Froh'sche Schule, after which he received his education in the Lübeck orphanage until 1882 .

career

From 1882 to 1886 Hoff did an apprenticeship as a metal worker in mechanical engineering as a lathe operator at Johs. Huebner . In his subsequent three years on the roll through a large part of Germany, he accepted with open eyes what he was to use as examples in his later politics. When he returned home, he worked at the Ever'schen shipyard and in the Lübeck mechanical engineering company . At Henry Koch's shipyard , he joined the trade union movement and deepened his knowledge of trade work and social legislation . He was valued by his co-workers as a clever, willing and objective advisor. His objective attitude should come to light, among other things, in 1905 when he founded the public legal information office , in Hamburg a public legal information and comparison office had only been founded in 1922, and recognized its endeavors and refrained from any fight.

From 1896 Hoff was 2nd chairman of the German Metalworkers' Association and from 1898 to 1910 he was the treasurer of the union cartel . At that time he was also an assessor in the trade court and the arbitration tribunal for workers' insurance. In addition, he was a member of the Reich Insurance Office , the highest judicial authority in accident , disability and health insurance matters, as well as a member of the board of the city's general local health insurance .

In 1909 he was elected worker secretary and remained in that office until his election to the Senate .

On the cooperative side, Hoff was a member of the supervisory board of the Lübeck consumer association .

Senate commissioners and spokesmen sat on the raised seats at the meetings

In political life, Hoff was a member of the Committee of the Social Democratic Party and since 1903 belonged to the press commission of the Vorwärts . Since 1909, he was, like Gustav Ehlers , citizenship Member . As such, he was a member of the citizens' committee on various occasions, with the prescribed breaks . He participated in the activities of youth care and later became chairman of the youth welfare office , the welfare office and the office for institutions and workshops. After the upheaval in the city, he served as the committee's first deputy spokesman. He was also a member of the poor and tax authorities .

Under the chairmanship of their deputy spokesman Hermann Eschenburg , the citizenship elected five new political senators on March 31, 1919 after the republican change due to the new constitution. A 16-member commission formed for the purpose of submitting proposals had agreed on this: Hoff (soc.), Who prevailed over Link (dem.), For the retiring Johann Hermann Eschenburg , Albert Henze (soc.) For the already retired Johann Georg Eschenburg , Carl Dimpker (dem.) For the retired Eduard Rabe , Paul Löwigt for the deceased Emil Possehl and Fritz Mehrlein (soc.) For the retired Eduard Friedrich Ewers . In the subsequent election made by the citizens, they were elected senators with 74, 74, 75, 74 and 72 votes. Hoff was a native of Lübeck, which only applied to very few members of the Senate.

From the beginning he was the chairman of the poor authority. That office had changed frequently before. Before that, often, Hoff remained in office until the social authorities were brought together in the Authority for Work and Welfare , which he was also appointed to chair. In the new authority he was fortunate to have such an important expert at his side in President Hermann Link . Hoff was also in the office of the civil servants' commission , in the city and state offices and in the board of directors of various important foundations such as the Brösen Foundation. However, he was not so attached to anyone as the one for work and welfare.

former mothers and infants home

The mother and baby home on Schildstrasse was a so-called “favorite child ” of the poor authority and its director. So the office always had something to do with its institutions and workshops , even in the worst of times of inflation . The house underwent a fundamental renovation and the care of the residents was entrusted to a pre-trained, excellent sisterhood . Structural changes have now been made. A large loggia was built, a hot water supply was created and a milk kitchen was installed. The yard was a garden redesigned and was adjusted house ammen one. The number of those referred to the General Hospital because of illness was 179 in 1921, which corresponded to a nursing care level of 54%, and fell to 13 (9%) by 1927.

When it was suggested during his time at the poor authority that the children's home he was co-managing , for which he had done a lot, should be subordinated to another authority, it hurt him very much. He was present at the youth events and accompanied child transports to rest homes .

Hoffscher residence

From 1927 onwards, Hoff had been exposed to numerous attacks, which turned out to be nonsensical, in the form of personal denigration of the communist faction of the citizenry. Their ringleader was already in prison at the time of Hoff's suicide .

Hoff wasn't a fighter by nature. When, in the political turmoil surrounding Mayor Neumann , he took over the representative office of deputy mayor in 1926 , nobody was more unhappy and when it was taken away from him, he was happier than him.

The attacks had added to it such that its forces and its nervous energy were worn down rapidly. In a harrowing farewell letter to his partner , he wrote, to which all the Lübeck newspapers pointed out that he feared a nervous breakdown more than death and knew no way out. After another meeting with his customary authorities on the eve of conciliation had passed and prudence, he continued the next morning at 7 am to end his life. The city's public buildings raised red flags at half-mast .

According to the Volksbote, his tragic fate was the same as that of Friedrich Ebert . Although he never equated himself with this one, he was closely related to him.

burial

On the funeral procession

On the 25th place in florverhangenen great until the last seat filled Gewerkschaftshaus room where the coffin laid out was, funeral instead. Mayor Löwigt gave his friend the memorial speech .

Under the chime of the rider of St. Mary's Church , the carillon was only rung for the burial of a senator, the funeral procession started through the streets lined by thousands to the Burgtorfriedhof .

family

Hoff had two children with Anna Maria Wilhelmine , née Jürs, (* July 19, 1870, † August 31, 1946). After his death she stayed in the apartment.

• Margrethe Dorothea Hoff (1897-1993)

married a Dane and lived with him in Denmark

• Inga Elisabeth Eeg (1923–2011)

The pensions of widow were discontinued as of June 30 1933rd In her personal file there is a letter from her dated July 20, 1933, in which she testified in order to obtain pension benefits in the sense of National Socialism that her husband had testified against Julius Leber , a member of the SPD in the Lübeck Reichstag . From October 1, 1933, she received a revocable pension . By order of Wilhelm Frick , Reich Minister of the Interior , she received a widow's benefit retroactively from April 1, 1932.

Web links

Commons : Paul Hoff  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Paul Hoff biography . In: Wilhelm H. Schröder : Social Democratic Parliamentarians in the German Reich and Landtag 1876–1933 (BIOSOP)

literature

• Karl-Ernst Sinner: Tradition and Progress. Senate and Mayor of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck 1918–2007 , Volume 46 of Series B of Publications on the History of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck, published by the Archives of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck , Lübeck 2008, pp. 118–119
• Senator Paul Hoff †. In: Vaterstädtische Blätter , year 1927/28, No. 10, edition of February 5, 1928, p. 37.
• President Dr. jur. Hermann Link: Senator Hoff †. In: Lübeckische Blätter , Volume 70, No. 5, Edition of January 29, 1928, pp. 77-78.
• Prof. Dr. Max Klotz: In memoriam Senator Paul Hoff. In: Lübeckische Blätter , Volume 70, No. 5, edition of January 29, 1928, pp. 78–79.
• Senator Hoff †. In: Lübecker General-Anzeiger , Volume 47, No. 18, edition of January 21, 1928, 2nd supplement.
• Paul Hoff †. In: Lübecker Volksbote , 35th year, no.17, edition from January 20, 1928.
• Emil Ferdinand Fehling , Lübeck Council Line , Lübeck 1925, No. 1035
• The newly elected members of the Senate. In: Vaterstädtische Blätter , year 1918/19, No. 14, edition of April 13, 1919, pp. 53–54.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ According to Paul Hoff's obituary in the Lübecker Volksbote he had attended the Marienschule.
2. ^ Constitutions of the Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck
3. ^ The newly elected members of the Senate. ; In: Vaterstadtische Blätter ; Born 1918/19, No. 14, edition of April 13, 1919, pp. 53-54.
4. ↑ Max Klotz: = chief physician of the children's hospital of the general hospital and state pediatrician.