Theodor Pfizer

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Theodor Pfizer (born February 19, 1904 in Stuttgart ; † July 17, 1992 there ) was a German local and education politician and from 1948 to 1972 Lord Mayor of Ulm .

Life

Pfizer attended the humanistic Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium in Stuttgart with the brothers Alexander , Berthold and Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg . After studying in Tübingen , Berlin and Munich , he was managing director of Tübinger Studentenhilfe from 1927 to 1929.

Pfizer was a member of the Tübingen student association AV Igel .

From 1959 to 1971 he was a member of the Advisory Board of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation . On July 16, 1964, he was elected by the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg with 90 of 93 votes cast as judge at the state court for the state of Baden-Württemberg in the group of members qualified for judicial office.

During the economic crisis, Pfizer sought emergency work and voluntary labor service measures at the Württemberg State Labor Office.

Functionary of the Deutsche Reichsbahn

From 1932 to 1948 Pfizer was in the service of the Deutsche Reichsbahn . In 1934 he was given the position of director of the Reichsbahn-Verkehrsamt in Ludwigshafen, in 1938 he moved to Mainz, in 1939 to the Supreme Construction Management of the Reichsautobahn in Vienna, in 1940 to the Reichsbahndirektion in Dresden, in 1941 to the general management of East Berlin and as a liaison officer for the Upper Silesian coal syndicate in Gleiwitz . In February 1942 he was promoted to the Oberreichsbahnrat and took over the freight transport department and the press department in Stuttgart.

After the war he was seconded to the Ministry of Transport and promoted to Ministerial Council.

Relationship to National Socialism

The board of directors of the unified union of railway workers raised serious allegations against Pfizer in 1946 when he was promoted from the Upper Reichsbahnrat to Ministerialrat. Pfizer had worked closely with the Nazi regime, he had socialized with "the most prominent Nazi leaders", strutted around in a railway uniform with an SS- like cut and a war merit cross , contrary to the customs of senior officials of the Reichsbahn, and had "treated a befriended Jewish family inhumane". In 1939, as Supreme Site Manager, he enabled "the marching and combat exercises of the motorized units" on the Reichsautobahn and thus strategically prepared the attack on Poland. In the denazification process by the US authorities in March 1946, Pfizer did not mention that as a 19-year-old student fraternity he had already joined the illegal Black Reichswehr, which was hostile to the republic , and had applied for NSDAP membership in June 1940 and as a party applicant with the NSDAP local branch in Dresden - Chasing was performed. As the press officer of the Reichsbahn, he propagated the goals of National Socialism and ran forced labor camps in Ulm, Plochingen and the Bietigheim transit camp . While Pfizer's senior activity in Stuttgart drove from the local North Station trains seven with victims of Nazi persecution in the concentration camp Theresienstadt and Auschwitz from. To what extent, as head of the department, he was directly involved in these death transports remains open.

Pfizer defended the union's allegations and cited an anti-Nazi stance. Among other things, he referred to his friendship with Dietrich Bonhoeffer , Collmer , Rüdiger Schleicher and the Stauffenberg brothers ( Alexander , Berthold and Claus ).

On January 22, 1947, Theodor Pfizer was classified as not a victim of Nazism.

Lord Mayor of Ulm

In the first election of Ulm mayor after the Second World War on March 21, 1948, he was elected mayor. After several re-elections, his term of office was 24 years.

Theodor Pfizer's term of office was characterized by the reconstruction of the city, the development of new residential areas and the establishment of the Ulm School of Design (1953), the University (1967) and the State Engineering School (1960, since 1972 technical college ).

Under Pfizer, the incorporation of localities began as part of the regional reform and Ulm regained its position as the center of the region.

Pfizer raised the Schwörmontagstradition first time in 1949 back to life, saying from the balcony of City Hall (since 1954 by Schwörhausbalkon) made to the Ulm citizenship and refunded them a report on the past year City.

Pfizer attached particular importance to the city's cultural development, which was impressively emphasized by the new construction of the city theater, the adult education center and the internationally renowned design college at the time.

In addition to his work in local politics, Theodor Pfizer was particularly involved in educational policy. From 1966 to 1975 he was a member of the German Education Council and President of the German National Academic Foundation .

Appreciation

A square and a hall in Ulm are named after Pfizer, as is the Theodor Pfizer Foundation. He was an honorary citizen of the city of Ulm .

Publications (selection)

  • Studentenwerk and Studienstiftung . In: Ewald Lissberger (ed.): In libro humanitas. Festschrift for Wilhelm Hoffmann on his 60th birthday, April 21, 1961 , Stuttgart: Klett 1962, pp. 24–45.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Protocols of the Baden-Württemberg State Parliament, 4th electoral period, p. 116 .
  2. ↑ a b c d [1] , Andreas Löscher: The biographical gap , Südwestpresse from March 22, 2012
  3. ^ Karl Lärmer: Motorway construction in Germany 1933 to 1945. About the background. Research on economic history. tape 6 . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1975, p. 137 .
  4. ^ State archive Ludwigsburg: Spruchkammerakten EL 902/20 Bü 3916
personal data
SURNAME Pfizer, Theodor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German local politician, Lord Mayor of the City of Ulm (1948–1972)
DATE OF BIRTH February 19, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH 17th July 1992
Place of death Stuttgart