Paul Hug (politician, 1857)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paul Hug

Johann Peter Paul Hug (born June 24, 1857 in Heilbronn , † February 10, 1934 in Munich ) was a German SPD politician . From 1899 to 1931 Paul Hug was a member of the Oldenburg State Parliament in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg and later the Free State of Oldenburg .

Life

Hug attended elementary schools in Steinbach, Schwäbisch Hall and Markgröningen from 1864 to 1867 and then attended the Latin school in Ludwigsburg for four years . After he had given up the intention of becoming a clergyman because of his poor Catholic parents, he completed an apprenticeship as a locksmith in Heilbronn from 1871 to 1874. As a traveling journeyman, he worked briefly in Chemnitz , Leipzig , Halle , Halberstadt and Peine . He then found a job in a casting and rolling mill for war material in Hanover . In 1877 he became aware of the Social Democratic Party of Germany and its political program and joined the party.

From October 1880 he worked at the Imperial Shipyard in Wilhelmshaven . At first he lived in Tonndeich , but then moved to Bant , at that time still a suburb of Wilhelmshaven in the neighboring Grand Duchy of Oldenburg . In 1882 Hug took over the management of the choral society Frohsinn , founded in 1879 , which during the years of the Socialist Law (October 1878 - September 1890) became a meeting place for the banned SPD.

After he was dismissed in 1887 because of his membership in the Social Democrats, he opened the inn Zur Arche in Bant. In 1890 he took over the management of the publishing house he founded for the “Norddeutsche Volksblatt”. The later publisher Paul-Hug & Co emerged from this. He also took part in setting up a building and consumer cooperative .

Politician

SPD parliamentary group in the Oldenburg state parliament, 1916
Map of Oldenburg 1866–1937; In 1918, Rüstringen was the largest city in the Grand Duchy; Wilhelmshaven belongs to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1918

Paul Hug became a member of the municipal council in Bant in 1886 and in this capacity was an alderman of the Oldenburg Landtag in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg . In 1899 he was elected as a member of the Oldenburg Landtag for the SPD. Hug was the first elected Social Democrat in the state parliament, but by 1902 the SPD faction had grown to six members. In 1902 Hug was elected chairman of the Rüstringen office . In this capacity, Hug campaigned for the merger of the neighboring Oldenburg communities of Bant, Heppens and Neuende to form the town of Rüstringen . Rüstringen was founded in 1911. Hug belonged to the magistrate of the newly formed town.

In Wilhelmshaven-Rüstringen, after a mass demonstration by over 20,000 members of the Navy, shipyard workers and other civilians, a workers 'and soldiers' council was formed on November 6, 1918 , the executive body of which was the so-called "21er" council. Bernhard Kuhnt was appointed chairman of the council . The “21er” council then took over power over the fortress cities without resistance from the military station command. On November 10, 1918, the "21er" council declared the North Sea station and all surrounding islands and marine parts as well as the entire Oldenburg region to be the socialist republic of Oldenburg / East Friesland and the deposition of the Grand Duke of Oldenburg in front of around 100,000 demonstrators in Wilhelmshaven . Under the impression of the demonstrations and the pressure of the large majority of the members of the state parliament in Oldenburg, Grand Duke Friedrich August abdicated on November 11, 1918 and declared his resignation from the throne. The Grand Duchy of Oldenburg was then declared a Free State . As a provisional government, a so-called provincial directorate was formed, chaired by the chairman of the “21er” council, Kuhnt, as president due to the armed force in Wilhelmshaven-Rüstringen. Paul Hug became his deputy and was considered the "unofficial" prime minister because Kuhnt did not perform his official duties adequately. During this time of the November Revolution, Hug , as a supporter of the majority Social Democrats, had a moderating and balancing effect and thus played a key role in shaping the peaceful transition from the Grand Duchy to the Free State.

The list of candidates for the elections to the constituent national assembly on January 19, 1919 led to insurmountable contradictions within the SPD in Wilhelmshaven-Rüstringen. After Paul Hug achieved a better place on the list than Kuhnt as a member of parliament from Rüstringen, the “21er” Council decided to run its own list for the USPD in the election for the National Assembly. At the top of the list was Kuhnt. Despite the many USPD supporters among the 100,000 or so marines who were still in Wilhelmshaven-Rüstringen at the end of 1918, large parts of the population voted for the moderate SPD and not for the more radical USPD. While Paul Hug was elected to the National Assembly, Kuhnt did not get the required number of votes.

After the USPD was defeated in the elections, the communist KPD tried to seize power by means of a coup . On January 27, 1919, their supporters occupied the train station, the post office, the telephone office, the Reichsbank office and the town halls of the twin towns of Wilhelmshaven-Rüstringen. The putschists stole over 7 million marks from the Reichsbank office, including the entire gold stock of the branch. Regular troops of the naval garrison were able to restore power on the same day . The putschists then withdrew to the thousand-man barracks in Wilhelmshaven and holed up there. Since they did not want to give up, they were forced to surrender by artillery fire. Eight dead and 46 wounded were mourned. Due to the intervention of the Reich government, the "21er" Council had to give up military control. Later it became known that the members of the “21er” Council had been informed of the planning of the coup in the run-up to the coup, but had still not intervened. Kuhnt was then given leave of absence from the Ministry of Defense in Berlin and removed from his position as President of the Free State of Oldenburg on January 29, 1919.

On February 23, 1919 the election for the constituent state assembly took place. With 33.44% and 16 seats, the SPD became the strongest party, but the formed all-party government was led by the liberal Theodor Tantzen as prime minister. The SPD participated in the cabinet with Social Minister Julius Meyer . The SPD initially remained the strongest force in the Oldenburg state parliament, but lost continuously until 1932 and was no longer involved in government after 1922.

The Weimar National Assembly belonged to Hug until May 22, 1919th In the same year Paul Hug was appointed a paid city councilor in Rüstringen and took over the management of the welfare department. In March 1926, he was elected Lord Mayor of the city of Rüstringen against the bourgeois votes . He held the office until April 1929. His successor was Friedrich Paffrath . During his time as mayor he laid the foundation stone for the new Rüstringen town hall, today's town hall of Wilhelmshaven, and campaigned for the construction of the children's home named after him.

Paul Hug remained a member of the Oldenburg Landtag in the Free State of Oldenburg until 1931 .

After the seizure of power by the Nazis on 30 January 1933 Hug was reduced pension. After the death of his wife in May 1933, he moved to Munich with his daughter . He died there on February 10, 1934. Paul Hug was buried in the Friedenstrasse cemetery in Wilhelmshaven. The grave enjoys special protection as a memorial of the city of Wilhelmshaven.

Honors

After Hug are the Paul-Hug-street and residential home for people with intellectual and multiple disabilities Paul-Hug-house in Wilhelmshaven Banter path 104, named. This house was built in 1928 on his initiative.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Werner Brune (Ed.): Wilhelmshavener Heimatlexikon. Brune, Wilhelmshaven 1986-1987, Volume 1, pp. 494ff.
  2. ↑ a b c Wilhelmshaven - City History , accessed on February 15, 2013.
  3. ^ Albrecht Eckhardt: Voting behavior, political groups and parliamentary groups in the state parliament of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg 1848–1918. In: Ernst Hinrich u. a. (Ed.): Between class society and "national community". 1993, ISBN 3-8142-0450-6 , p. 95.
  4. ↑ Hubert Gelhaus : The political-social milieu in Südoldenburg from 1803 to 1936. BIS Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-8142-0770-X , Volume 2, p. 21. (PDF; 11 MB, accessed on February 17, 2013)
  5. ^ Wolfgang Günther: Paffrath, Friedrich. In: Hans Friedl u. a. (Ed.): Biographical manual for the history of the state of Oldenburg. Edited on behalf of the Oldenburg landscape. Isensee, Oldenburg 1992, ISBN 3-89442-135-5 , pp. 549-550 ( online ).
personal data
SURNAME Hug, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hug, Johann Peter Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (SPD)
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1857
PLACE OF BIRTH Heilbronn
DATE OF DEATH February 10, 1934
Place of death Munich