Paul Weber (fruit grower)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paul Weber (born April 28, 1893 in Bodman , † November 6, 1985 ) was a German fruit farmer , politician , prehistoric and art collector .

Life

Weber was the youngest son of the farmer and later mayor Karl Weber and his wife Viktoria Beisch, who together had five children. From 1914 to 1916 Paul Weber was a soldier on the Eastern Front in World War I and was taken prisoner by Russia in 1918. In November 1918, he took over his parents' business, which had been reduced by real division. In May 1920 he married the deaf and dumb teacher Pia Schlosser. The marriage resulted in five children, one grandson is the former Baden-Württemberg Minister of Justice Ulrich Goll ( FDP / DVP ).

Fruit grower

As a teenager, Paul Weber learned the usual training from elementary school to fruit growing courses to agricultural winter school . He expanded his parents' business into a leading regional company. The decisive impetus for the changes that were revolutionary at the time came from the demands of the market to produce cheaper and of higher quality. Weber systematically replaced the usual tall cider tree cultivation with refined trellis plantations . Weber was significantly involved in the introduction of plant protection for pest control and the conversion of the region to professional fruit and vegetable cultivation in the Lake Constance area. With his participation, supraregional sales markets (e.g. the greater Berlin area) were opened up and the Radolfzell fruit growing cooperative was founded for better marketing. Weber recognized the opportunity to sell fruits and berries as distillates . In 1951 he produced what is known to be the first Williams-Christ-Pear schnapps. In spite of his system-critical behavior, he became the Baden Reich winner in fruit growing in the Third Reich in 1942. After its collapse, he chaired the fruit sales committee of the German Agricultural Society (DLG) from 1948 to 1967 . His exemplary company was visited by groups from home and abroad, from the USSR and the USA for teaching purposes. Weber also devoted himself to beekeeping and was from 1936 to 1943 chairman of the Stockach District Beekeeping Association.

Politician

According to his own statements, Paul Weber came from an "arch-liberal family", but was "not a politician in the traditional sense". He represented the citizenship for the German Democratic Party in the municipal council from 1922 to 1926. In 1933 he returned to the council as a counterweight to the National Socialists for the German Center Party . In 1934 he resigned from the council in protest against the regime.

In 1947 Paul Weber was elected to the Baden state parliament for the FDP . He belonged to it until it was dissolved when it was formed in Baden-Württemberg in 1952.

Prehistoric

The largest private collection of Mesolithic artifacts at the time was created in site visits . He donated the valuable pieces to the city museum of Singen am Hohentwiel and the communities of Bodman-Ludwigshafen and Espasingen in 1967 and 1977 respectively .

Art collector

In the spring of 1919 Weber met the painter Hans Blum while he was making hay , from whom he bought the picture on the easel. The purchase was the initial spark for the art lover. Contacts arose with art historians and artists who found refuge in the nearby Höri during the Nazi persecution from 1933 onwards. Since then he has had a lifelong friendship with the museum director Walter Kaesbach . Weber supported them with food, firewood and money and in this way acquired a large collection. The artists Blum, Kurt Badt , Erich Heckel , Curth Georg Becker , Ferdinand Macketanz , Heinz May , Walter Herzger , Hans Kindermann , Werner Gilles , Karl Schmidt-Rottluff , William Straube , Christian Rohlfs were represented .

honors and awards

  • 1952: Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon
  • 1972: Silver Medal of Honor from the City of Singen
  • 1973: Honorary citizenship of the Bodman-Ludwigshafen community
  • 1973: Honorary membership of the Unteruhldingen pile dwelling association
  • 1973: Max Eyth Medal from the DLG
  • 1980: Hegau Prize from the municipality of Steißlingen
  • 1982: Theodor Heuss Medal of the FDP

In 2004, Paul-Weber-Strasse in Bodman-Ludwigshafen was named after him.

Fonts

  • Report on a study trip to the USA in 1952, in: Der Obstbauer, Volume 72, No. 8 of March 1, 1953.
  • Fruit growing in Bodman - yesterday, today and tomorrow, in: Issue 19 (1961).
  • biographical report about my pictures and about the artists , oO, OJ

literature

  • Herbert Berner: Bodmaner Biographien , in: ders. (Ed.): Bodman. Village, imperial palace, nobility. Volume 1 and 2, Thorbecke: Sigmaringen 1977/1985, ISBN 3-7995-5113-1 , pp. 473-491 (pp. 483-491 on Paul Weber).
  • Kurt Badt: "I love the place where I once lived". Memories of Lake Constance , ed. by Manfred Bosch (= south side. Culture and history of the Lake Constance district, volume 2), UVK publishing company: Konstanz and Munich. ISBN 978-3-86764-358-0 , pp. 137ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berner, p. 483f.
  2. ↑ Friedrich W. Strub: Your work lives on. In: Südkurier of June 5, 2012
  3. ↑ Berner, pp. 484-488.
  4. ↑ Berner, p. 489.
  5. ↑ Berner, p. 490f.
  6. ↑ Berner, p. 489f.
personal data
SURNAME Weber, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German fruit grower, politician, prehistorian and art collector
DATE OF BIRTH April 28, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Bodman-Ludwigshafen -Bodman
DATE OF DEATH November 6, 1985