Walter Arlart

Albert Traugott Walter Arlart (born September 16, 1873 in Gumbinnen / East Prussia , † 1951 ) was a German politician and Lord Mayor of Chemnitz from 1930 to 1933 .

Training and first positions

Walter Arlart was born in Gumbinnen in 1873 as the son of a businessman. When he was older, he studied law and political science at the universities of Leipzig , Berlin and Königsberg . During his studies in 1893 he became a member of the Landsmannschaft Plavia Leipzig . In 1902 he first worked as a lawyer in Goldap and on a voluntary basis in the city administration. Since he was more interested in this job, he gave up his practice and transferred to the local government entirely. In 1905 he became a paid city councilor in Insterburg , in 1908 2nd mayor of the city of Allenstein and in 1911 city councilor and treasurer in Neukölln near Berlin.

Work in Chemnitz

After the new Lord Mayor Dr. Hübschmann was elected, the position of mayor was to be filled. Arlart's experience in finance in an industrial and working class community recommended him for the position. He headed the financial affairs of the city of Chemnitz in the last years of the war, in times of inflation and economic hardship. In 1923 he was re-elected for life. Before he was elected mayor on February 13, 1930, he was the department head for the theater and orchestra and tried to maintain various cultural institutions.

The Chemnitz region was also affected by the global economic crisis. Many businesses and companies went bankrupt and the number of unemployed increased. Only a few urban buildings, such as the Sparkasse on Falkeplatz , the Diesterweg School or the old people's home on Karl-Marx-Platz, could be completed or rebuilt as a result of the city's austerity measures. The construction of the city baths - although the shell had been finished in 1930 - stalled and could only be completed in 1935.

When Walter Arlart left office on September 30, 1933 and retired, he first moved to Rheinsberg / Mark and lived in Berlin-Steglitz from 1936.

reception

In his text “Die Franzmänner”, Kurt Tucholsky takes a letter from Arlart as an occasion for a general scolding against politicians and a text against a writing style that is as “papery as it is big-eating”. Arlart's letter quoted by Tucholsky is a letter of thanks to a ringmaster who had made a guest appearance in the city.

literature

From André to Zöllner. 125 biographies on Chemnitz's history (publication by the Chemnitz City Archives; issue 2), Chemnitz 1998, ISBN 3-930846-13-6 .
Kurt Tucholsky , Antje Bonitz, Ute Maack: Complete Edition: Texts and Letters Vol. 10 Texts 1928, Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 2001, ISBN 3-498-06539-4 , p. 963.

Individual evidence

^ Berthold Ohm and Alfred Philipp (eds.): Directory of addresses of the old men of the German Landsmannschaft. Part 1. Hamburg 1932, p. 365.
↑ Kurt Tucholsky: Die Franzmänner. In: Ders .: Learn to laugh without crying. Berlin: Ernst Rowohlt 1932 (EA 1931), pp. 78-80. Digital full-text output in Wikisource .
↑ The year is missing ("Chemnitz, January 25th"), Arlart is already drawing as "Mayor", but not yet as Lord Mayor, which is why the letter was written between 1918 and early 1930.

personal data
SURNAME	Arlart, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Arlart, Albert Traugott Walter (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German lawyer and politician, Lord Mayor of Chemnitz (1930–1933)
DATE OF BIRTH	September 16, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH	Gumbinnen
DATE OF DEATH	1951

[1] Berthold Ohm and Alfred Philipp (eds.): Directory of addresses of the old men of the German Landsmannschaft. Part 1. Hamburg 1932, p. 365.

[2] Kurt Tucholsky: Die Franzmänner. In: Ders .: Learn to laugh without crying. Berlin: Ernst Rowohlt 1932 (EA 1931), pp. 78-80. Digital full-text output in Wikisource .

[3] The year is missing ("Chemnitz, January 25th"), Arlart is already drawing as "Mayor", but not yet as Lord Mayor, which is why the letter was written between 1918 and early 1930.