Steel book

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Steel book of the city of Essen, page for the opening of the new Essen city hall in 1979 with the signatures of delegates from the cities

With the steel book , the city of Essen has a special form of a golden book in which important personalities can enter themselves during a visit to the city.

history

Stahlbuch (1934 to 1945)

The first National Socialist Lord Mayor of Essen, Theodor Reismann-Grone , suggested in 1933 that a steel book should be created as the city's guest book . Until then there was no city guest book. He justified the name and form of the book with the fact that Essen, as the largest metal city in Germany, owes its rise mainly to the Krupp cast steel factory , which is why a steel book is more appropriate than a golden book .

The bookbinder Frida Schoy designed the steel cover. This was made by Friedrich Krupp AG from plates made of stainless chrome-nickel steel, which were carved out of the upper part of a 1.5 ton cast block. The spine of the book is made of leather, which is connected to the steel cover with rivets. Today the only decoration on the binding is the city ​​coat of arms , which is an enamel work of master goldsmith Sigrid Keetmann, student of Elisabeth Treskow .

Entries

The impetus for the creation of the steel book was the wedding of the Gauleiter of Essen, Josef Terboven, with Ilse Stahl, a former secretary of Joseph Goebbels , on June 29, 1934 in Essen Minster , in which Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring took part as witnesses. In addition, the steel book received the sentence in the foreword: It should be an expression of the fact that today with the Third Reich and this book, a new epoch of the city is heralding. On June 28, 1934, Hitler and Göring put the first two signatures in the new steel book.

After the above, there are, among other things, the following entries from persons of National Socialism: Robert Ley ( Reichsleiter of the NSDAP ), Wilhelm Frick (Reichsminister), Julius Dorpmüller (General Director of the Deutsche Reichsbahn, later Reichs Minister of Transport) and Albert Speer (Hitler's architect).

Entrepreneurs' entries include Gustav Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach , Albert Vögler (General Director of the then second largest steel group in the world, United Steelworks ) and Ernst Tengelmann .

Among the foreign guests of the city of Essen, in addition to the Japanese Olympic team, the representatives of the then fascist Italy should be mentioned, including the Minister of Corporation Ferruccio Lantini. The President of the Confederation of Industrial Workers, Tullio Cianetti , was the only one to leave a saying: La mia simpatia per la Citta di Essen, cuore di acciaio della Germania amica. ; Translated means: My sympathy for the city of Essen, the heart of the steel of friendly Germany .

The list of entries ends on June 23, 1944 with knight's cross bearers of the Wehrmacht and members of a shock troop of the 329th Infantry Division (Hammer Division) .

Today's steel book

After the Second World War , the greats from the time of National Socialism who had been immortalized in it so far did not allow the steel book to simply continue as a guest book, as it was previously more of a National Socialist book of honor. Those responsible wanted a city guest book again, as important personalities paid a visit to the city of Essen during the period of reconstruction and the stabilizing situation. Lord Mayor Hans Toussaint had the old steel book fetched from the city archive and the pages of the National Socialist entries torn out. The old, original steel binding from the 1930s has been preserved as it has no signs or insignia from the Nazi era. It only shows the Essen city arms in the middle and the inscription Das Stahlbuch on the upper edge . The new binding was done again by Frida Schoy. Today's steel book weighs around 20 kilograms and measures around 33 by 42 centimeters. Since the city of Essen was still characterized by coal and steel, the decision was made again to use the steel book. Each side is made of handmade paper . Before the visitor's signature, it is labeled in a graphic tradition and by hand and painted with symbols of sovereignty and coats of arms. The historical pages from the Nazi era are kept in the city archive.

Before the 1150th anniversary of the city in 2002, the parliamentary group of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen submitted an application to end the tradition of steel book entries for guests of honor of the city of Essen, which had begun under National Socialism. This did not find a majority and was rejected in November 2001.

From May 29 to June 8, 2019, an exhibition to mark the 85th anniversary of the Stahlbuch took place in Essen's Rathaus Galerie , which was opened by Mayor Thomas Kufen .

Entries

The then Federal President Theodor Heuss made the first new entry in 1953. Almost all Federal Presidents and Prime Ministers of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia have followed to this day . There were also Nobel Prize winners and dignitaries, trade unionists and politicians as well as athletes. To date (2019) the book has almost 200 entries.

A selection:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Press release of the City of Essen from May 29, 2019: Opening of the exhibition "the steel book of Essen"
  2. ↑ Current exhibition on the city's guest book withholds the National Socialist hour of birth ; In: Lokalkompass Essen Nord from May 30, 2019