Paul Noessler

Paul Nößler, 2004

Paul Nößler (born January 6, 1929 in Wünschelburg , Neurode district ; † May 6, 2018 in Recke ) was a German miner , representative of expellees and a local politician from North Rhine-Westphalia ( CDU ).

Life

Origin, family and professional activity

Luzia and Paul Nößler in 2005 on their golden wedding day

Paul Nößler, who comes from the county of Glatz , grew up in his birthplace Wünschelburg until he was expelled from his Silesian homeland after the end of the Second World War . The 17-year-old arrived on March 22, 1946 with numerous other expellees from the Glatzer Land - among them his future wife Luzia Wachsmann, who comes from Altwilmsdorf - in Recke, Westphalia. When they married on December 29, 1955, Paul and Luzia Nößler were the first couple to step in front of the altar in the newly built St. Dionysius parish church in Reck. The marriage produced five children - three sons and two daughters. In 1960 the couple moved from Recke to the house they built in Steinbeck , where they have lived since then. Paul Nößler worked as a miner in the Ibbenbüren mine of Preussag .

Decades of commitment to the concerns of the displaced

The long-time BdV district association chairman was editor and editor-in-chief of the newsletter The Voice of the Displaced for 32 years

Paul Nößler got involved in organizations of the expellees early on. From 1952 initially active as a messenger for the community of expellees from the East, in 1953 he was one of the founders of the German Youth of the East (DJO) Steinbeck, which he took over as chairman in 1955. But it was formative for the regional activities of the Association of Expellees (BdV) . In 1962 the members of the BdV local association Recke elected him as secretary and cashier. At the same time he was elected as youth spokesman for the BdV district committee. In 1968 he was elected deputy chairman of the BdV district association Tecklenburger Land , which he then headed as district chairman for a total of 18 years between 1973 and 1995. At the same time, he also held the office of press officer and for 32 years was the editor and editor-in-chief of the bulletin The Voice of the Displaced , the organ of the district association. In 1994 he self- published the compilation The Last Germans from Wünschelburg, Oberrathen and Reichenforst . After the BdV-Kreisverband Tecklenburger Land had dissolved at the end of 2004, Nößler began to prepare its story for a book.

Politically, he also brought the concerns of the displaced from 1970 to 1975 as a member of the advisory board for displaced persons and refugee issues of the Recke community and from 1975 in the advisory board of the same name at district level.

The fact that the Recke community took over the sponsorship of the Altwilmsdorf home community in 1981 goes back to the initiative of Paul Nößler (right)

Together with his wife Luzia, Paul Nößler campaigned for the cohesion of the former residents of Wünschelburg and Altwilmsdorf. The couple got involved on the board of the nationwide home community Altwilmsdorf. The former Altwilmsdorfer have been meeting in Recke since 1970 and traditionally celebrate their "Altwilmsdorfer Kirmes" in Steinbeck every two years. Together with the community of Recke and the local adult education center , the home community organized regular study trips to the old home through Luzia and Paul Nößler, each with 30 to 50 participants, not just displaced persons. Paul Nößler had also suggested that the Recke community also took over the sponsorship of the Altwilmsdorf home community on October 10, 1981. Because since the Recke community had meanwhile become a reference and meeting point for the former Altwilmsdorfers, he saw the opportunity for them to find a cultural home there. Against this background, Nößler also played a leading role in providing the Altwilmsdorf home community with a home parlor in the new town hall. The home community at the cemetery in Steinbeck was also allowed to plant an oak tree from Altwilmsdorf for the deceased, loved ones and missing people and set up a memorial stone under this dead oak. After the floods in 1997 and 1998 in the Biele valley , Paul Nößler suggested creating a lapidarium from the memorial stones and grave plaques of the former German residents in the Altwilmsdorf cemetery . After several years of planning, this system was implemented in 2011/2012.

His son Christoph Nössler later continued this commitment for the Altwilmsdorf home community.

Voluntary local political activity

As a supporter of the Christian Democratic Workforce (CDA) , Paul Nößler belonged to the left wing of the CDU. In 1964 he founded the CDA Social Committee in Recke and was its chairman for ten years. Member of the CDU since the mid-1950s , he actively worked in the Recke / Steinbeck local union. From 1969 to 1979 Nößler was a member of the Recke community council. There he was a member of the building committee, the main committee and the committee for social affairs, youth, sport and leisure.

Other social engagement

Together with his wife Luzia, Paul Nößler worked for decades in the Steinbeck parish of St. Philippus and Jacobus, also as a member of the church council from 1967 to 1971. Later he worked as a chronicler of the congregation and wrote a church leader. He was a member of the Catholic Workers' Movement (KAB) Steinbeck, whose board he was a member from 1962. He was deputy chairman for six years and chairman for another eight years.

Together with his wife, Paul Nößler also devoted himself to local history research , both of the old homeland and of the new.

Since 1962 Paul Nößler has been writing articles for the Ibbenbürener Volkszeitung as a freelancer . In 1972 his wife Luzia took over this task, which she carried out until the mid-2000s. In addition, both wrote articles for various books, yearbooks and magazines.

Awards

In 1994, District Administrator Martin Stroot (right) presented Paul Nößler with the Steinfurt District Challenge Prize

In 1990, Federal President Paul Nößler awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany with the Order of Merit for his decades of work in the work of expellees . For his services to the promotion of East German customs, especially the Silesian cultural property in his new home Westphalia , he was the first stretcher to be awarded the “Wanderpreis for special services in the tradition and home care of the Steinfurt district” in 1994. At the same time, however, both awards also recognized the fact that these activities always went hand in hand with a successful integration into the new Westphalian homeland, to which Paul Nößler attached great importance.

literature

• Cornelia Ruholl (-ru-): District Administrator: Men with courage, perseverance and willingness to take responsibility. Federal Cross of Merit for Otto Göcke and Paul Nößler: Commitment to the benefit of the citizens . In: Ibbenbürener Volkszeitung from December 21, 1990

Web links

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

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The family's obituary in the Ibbenbürener Volkszeitung on May 8, 2018
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Jan-Herm Janßen (-jhj-): In private they speak the Silesian dialect. Paul and Luzia Nößler celebrate their gold wedding anniversary. In: Ibbenbürener Volkszeitung from August 13, 2005
3. ↑ Vera Konermann (-kon-): Memory of March 22, 1946 arouses mixed feelings - commemoration of 60 years of expulsion and 25 years of sponsorship. In: Ibbenbürener Volkszeitung from March 23, 2006
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Cornelia Ruholl (-ru-): District Administrator: Men with courage, perseverance and willingness to take responsibility. Federal Cross of Merit for Otto Göcke and Paul Nößler: Commitment to the benefit of the citizens . In: Ibbenbürener Volkszeitung from December 21, 1990
5. ↑ The name "Kreisverband Tecklenburger Land" came about after the regional reform in 1975, because groups from Greven and Reckenfeld from the Münster Land district had been added. However, both places traditionally do not belong to the Tecklenburger Land.
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} “You can't achieve anything by watching” . Interview by Jan-Herm Janßen with Paul Nößler. In: Ibbenbürener Volkszeitung from March 26, 2005
7. ↑ Manfred Hagemann: Paul Nößler has been giving displaced persons a voice for 30 years. The newsletter of the BdV district association appears in the 48th year . In: Ibbenbürener Volkszeitung from January 3, 2004
8. ↑ Jan-Herm Janßen: Study trips form a bond between yesterday and today. 25 years sponsorship of the Recke community through the Altwilmsdorf home community . In: Ibbenbürener Volkszeitung from March 16, 2006
9. ↑ Information on the Heimatgemeinschaft Altwilmsdorf eV on the website of the Recke municipal administration; Retrieved April 27, 2013
10. ↑ See also Altwilmsdorf gets a lapidary . Report of the Altwilmsdorf home community ( PDF ; accessed on April 27, 2013)
11. ↑ Jan-Herm Janßen: Seniors should also help with reaching into history. Burkhard-Josef Hövelmeyer is researching for a picture lecture for the 100th parish anniversary . In: Ibbenbürener Volkszeitung from January 6, 2005
12. ↑ List of the winners of the challenge prize for folklore and customs on the website of the Steinfurt district administration; accessed on May 8, 2018
13. ↑ -hs-: piece of his homeland saved over. The district's challenge award for Paul Nößler. In: Ibbenbürener Volkszeitung from November 5, 1994