Theodor Lieser

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Theodor Josef Lieser (born August 30, 1900 in Ferschweiler ; † August 4, 1973 in Darmstadt ) was a German university professor and Lord Mayor of Halle .

origin

Theodor Lieser was the son of a village school teacher from Ferschweiler and one of a total of 8 siblings.

Life

After attending a high school, he did his military service as a gunner during the First World War in 1918 . After his demobilization he studied chemistry from 1919 at the University of Bonn and at the TH Aachen . In 1922 he passed his examination to become a graduate engineer and in 1924 he was awarded a Dr. Ing. PhD. From 1924 to 1925 he continued his studies at the universities of Cologne , Leipzig and Zurich and from 1925 to 1926 he was an assistant at the TH Darmstadt . In 1926 he received his doctorate in Zurich with a thesis on cellulose chemistry to Dr. phil. nat. From 1929 to 1934 he had a scheduled assistant position at the Chemical Institute of the Albertus University in Königsberg and in 1930 he qualified as a professor in organic chemistry and received a position as a private lecturer .

In 1934, despite political denunciation by students and a negative vote from the party authorities, he received a teaching position for the chemistry of carbohydrates . Because of his opposition to the Nazi regime , he was banned from a professorship in 1937. At the suggestion of Karl Ziegler , he completed his habilitation in Halle, where in 1937 he was given a teaching position for the Ministry of Economic Development and the Reich Forest Ministry, and in 1938 he was made an adjunct professor. Lieser, who as a chemist had several inventions patented, has been an expert in cellulose research since his doctoral thesis in Zurich, which made him a sought-after expert in view of the diverse uses of the substance. From 1939 he worked directly for the German armaments industry. He had previously turned down an offer to head the laboratory of a Canadian paper manufacturer.

During the Second World War , Professor Lieser became the leader of an anti-fascist university resistance group, the so-called "Lieser Group", consisting of about two dozen people. The group, which was retrospectively referred to as the Anti-National Socialist Movement “ANB”, had leaflets printed in spite of the mortal danger in which the people of Halle were asked to surrender the city without a fight in order to avoid further bloodshed. Although treason was the death penalty in this way, Lieser supported the legendary "sea devil" Count Luckner , who made contact with the approaching US troops and thus helped to save the city from destruction. After the end of the Second World War, US Governor Murphy appointed Theodor Lieser on May 17, 1945 as Lord Mayor of Halle. After the takeover by the Soviet occupiers , Lieser was dismissed from his office on October 22, 1945 on suspicion of abuse of office. In particular, it was in the previous z. Sometimes serious disputes also about land reform and the progress of denazification .

On March 1, 1946, he was appointed full professor of the University of Halle and director of the Institute for Technical Chemistry by the state government. As he opposed the looting and dismantling of the university institutes by the Soviet military administration , he was arrested on June 7, 1946 by the Stalinist occupiers. Although he had received intercession from Prime Minister Erhard Hubener and the theologian Otto Eißfeldt , the Soviet authorities stuck to their accusations. However, despite a large manhunt, Lieser was able to flee to the western zones after 40 days of solitary confinement from the police prison on July 16, 1946 . In the same year he received a full professorship at the TH Darmstadt and later he taught as a professor at the University of Frankfurt am Main . Later he was honored by the city of Halle as an important personality with the “Theodor-Lieser-Straße”.

Organizations

Lieser joined the SA in 1934, probably so as not to endanger his career . In April 1935 he joined the National Socialist People's Welfare and since 1935 he was a member of the Reich Air Protection Association . His admission to the NSDAP with membership no. 4,861,100 took place on May 1, 1937.

Awards

family

Theodor Lieser was married to Klara Eva Maria Litzendorff (born January 4, 1890) in Darmstadt on April 27, 1929.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Theodor Lieser in the Catalogus Professorum Halensis, In: Martin-Luther-Universität-Halle-Wittenberg
  2. ↑ a b c d Theodor Lieser, by Gregor Brand, In: Eifelzeitung
  3. ↑ Lieser, Theodor Josef * 1900 Ferschweiler ⚭ 1929 Litzendorff, Klara, p. 42, In: wgff.de (PDF)
personal data
SURNAME Lieser, Theodor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lieser, Theodor Josef (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German university professor and Lord Mayor of Halle
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Ferschweiler
DATE OF DEATH 4th August 1973
Place of death Darmstadt