Siegfried Hirschfeld

Siegfried Hirschfeld (* 1937 ) is a German economist and former local politician ( SED ). In the transition period after 1989 he was Lord Mayor of Erfurt for half a year .

Life

Siegfried Hirschfeld learned the trade of cabinet maker from 1951 to 1953. In 1959 he began studying at the college for finance in Siebenlehn / Sa., Which he graduated as a finance economist in 1960. He then worked until 1965 as the head of the finance department in the city administration of the district town of Sondershausen. In 1963 he joined the SED. In 1965, Hirschfeld passed the state examination for graduate economists at the economics faculty of the Martin Luther University in Halle / Saale after five years of distance learning. Until 1980 he was deputy chairman of the Sondershausen district council and chairman of the district planning commission.

In 1980 the city councilors of the then district town of Erfurt elected him as deputy to the mayor of Erfurt. He was also chairman of the city planning commission. After Rosemarie Seibert resigned as Lord Mayor in autumn 1989, he was elected Lord Mayor on November 27, 1989 by the 225-member city council of Erfurt.

In the months that followed, he worked to ensure that the then newly formed parties and grassroots groups were given a say in parliament, promoted the dialogue with the citizens of Erfurt and significantly supported the start of the reorganization of more comprehensive local self-government in Erfurt.

Together with his former colleagues from the City Council and all employees in the town hall, he took over the main responsibility for maintaining the daily functionality of all municipal businesses and facilities in the interest of the citizens of Erfurt during the very tense time of the political upheaval in the GDR in 1989/1990.

At the same time, under his leadership, the council supported the relocation of banks, law firms, insurance companies, retail chains and companies from the West that wanted to settle in Erfurt very quickly and in large numbers.

On December 10, 1989, 10,000 Erfurt residents formed a seven-kilometer-long citizen wall around the Andreasviertel in order to protect the houses and apartments that had been left to decay from demolition, as the city administration required the demolition of 142 houses with 844 apartments, of which “57% had no bathroom or shower and 439 no indoor toilet ”, decided to make room for the multi-storey residential building. Although Hirschfeld had supported the demolition plans for economic reasons, he was able to change his mind, change the demolition plans and sell many of the houses, most of which are already in municipal ownership, to those willing to renovate. A " round table " was set up in mid-January and met four times. Afterwards, at the suggestion of Hirschfeld, the city council and the round table were dissolved. On February 7, 1990, with his support, an interim parliament was formed with the new groups and old parties, a total of 70 members in 13 parliamentary groups . In addition to the urgent restructuring measures, Hirschfeld took care of deepening the town twinning with Mainz . Hirschfeld resigned from the SED on January 29th. After the local elections in the spring of 1990, Hirschfeld was adopted as mayor on May 30, 1990 and handed over the official business to his successor Manfred Ruge. He then helped set up the Erfurt tax office , worked for a business report and then worked independently with a debt collection agency for ten years .

source

• Frank Karmeyer: Erfurt's former mayor Hirschfeld: "Socialism should be viable back then". In: Thüringer Landeszeitung , Erfurt, November 26, 2014 [1]