Walter Voss (politician)

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Walter Voss (born April 26, 1885 in Neuschloß (Lampertheim) , † June 5, 1972 in Marburg ) was a German administrative lawyer and local politician.

Life

After his childhood in Neuschloß, Voss passed the Abitur examination at the Kaiser-Friedrichs-Gymnasium in Frankfurt am Main in 1905 . He studied law , political science and social policy at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen . In 1906 he joined the Corps Bavaria Erlangen and distinguished himself as a senior . When he was inactive , he moved to the Georg-August University of Göttingen and the Hessian Ludwig University of Gießen . After the traineeship exam (1909) he entered the judiciary. He was employed at various courts in Darmstadt . In 1914/15 he took part in the First World War as a lieutenant and company commander . After being wounded, he served as a field war judge on the Eastern Front from October 1915 to September 1918 . From April 1920 he worked as an assistant lawyer in a large law firm in Wismar , mediated by an acquaintance from the time of the World War, in order to continue his training as a lawyer after his admission . On September 21, 1922 he was taken over as magistrate's assistant to the city of Marburg. After the death of the incumbent mayor Georg Voigt, the previous mayor, Johannes Müller, was promoted to the office of mayor and Walter Voss was elected mayor for twelve years by the city council.

Working under National Socialism

With the Prussian local elections on March 12, 1933, the NSDAP won 20 of 30 seats in the city council in Marburg. The National Socialists refused to work with Lord Mayor Müller, which is why Walter Voss offered to introduce them to their office. On May 1, 1933, he himself joined the NSDAP ( membership number 2,828,842) and came to terms with the regime . Between April 1933 and April 1934 he was acting on a temporary basis in Marburg's official business. During this period he was responsible for issuing various protective custody orders against opponents of the Nazi regime, in particular social democrats and communists . After Ernst Scheller was appointed Lord Mayor in April 1934, Voss remained mayor and was confirmed in office for twelve more years in 1939/40 by the Hessian Gauleiter Karl Weinrich at the suggestion of Scheller. At the beginning of the war he was again appointed judge-martial z. V. and also deputy district office manager for local politics of the NSDAP. Since Lord Mayor Scheller had been called up for military service, Voss was in charge of official affairs again, from 1944 also as acting Lord Mayor. After the city was handed over to the American troops without a fight at the end of March 1945, the military government dismissed him from all offices in April.

Denazification Trials and Life in the Post-War Period

Even before the obligatory denazification process began, Voss began collecting exonerating statements from important Marburg personalities and politicians. Under Lord Mayor Eugen Siebecke , the new city management campaigned for the Americans to carry out an accelerated procedure so that he could teach at the civil servants' seminar and contribute his expertise in local politics. This did not happen, however, and the US authorities refused to accept his re-entry into the city service, which is why Voss switched to the Marburg department of the administrative seminar in Kassel . His proceedings before the Marburg-Stadt Spruchkammer began in 1946 and ended in January 1947 with the classification in the group of exonerated persons (category V). For the court, Voss was burdened only from his NSDAP membership, but not from other supporting memberships in the SS and the National Socialist Aviation Corps (NSFK). The chamber saw a particular merit in the surrender of the city of Marburg to the Americans without a fight, which contributed significantly to the relief of Voss. In addition, during the trial, he had several situations confirmed by witnesses in which he allegedly showed acts of resistance against the Nazi state . In the summer of 1933, for example, the later Lord Mayor of Marburg, Ernst Scheller, is said to have threatened him with a concentration camp because Voss had objected to a municipal decision as being illegal. The relationship between Voss and the NSDAP is said to have been tense and characterized by constant disputes. The situation of the summer of 1933 cannot be confirmed on the basis of the sources on Walter Voss, nor can an allegedly bad relationship between him and the NSDAP. Both statements, along with further descriptions during the denazification process, can be seen as a relief strategy for Voss, because in contrast to his self-portrayal as a resistance fighter , Voss was devoted to the Nazi regime during the entire period of the Third Reich . Not only did he play a central role in the consolidation of Nazi rule in Marburg in 1933/34, but was also responsible for the arrest of social democrats and communists during this period. Walter Voss later enjoyed the trust of the Nazi leadership and from 1939 held a party office or, in 1944/45, headed the business of the city of Marburg as provisional mayor. However, this did not affect his denazification process, which rehabilitated Voss. In 1950 he became honorary head of the Marburg department of the Kassel administration seminar. He did not return to politics in Marburg, but remained closely connected to the city administration through personal contacts throughout his life.

Walter Voss died in Marburg in 1972 and was buried in his parents' grave in Braunschweig .

Awards

literature

  • Esther Krähwinkel: Public Health and University Medicine . Municipal health care in Marburg as a field of action for the city and university from 1918 to 1935 (= sources and research on Hessian history. Volume 142). Hessian Historical Commission , Darmstadt; Historical Commission for Hessen, Marburg 2004, ISBN 3-88443-096-3 , p. 138, see also p. 51 (Zugl .: Marburg, Univ., Diss., 2003; limited preview in the Google book search).
  • Sarah Wilder, Alexander Cramer, Dirk Stolper: Marburg Town Hall and National Socialism (= Marburg city publications on history and culture. Volume 109). Rathausverlag of the City of Marburg, Marburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-942487-11-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kösener Corpslist 1906, 20/397
  2. ^ Walter Voss's curriculum vitae. 1922. In: Stadtarchiv Marburg, Walter Voß personnel file (signature: PA 822/1), serial no. 7–9.
  3. ↑ Sarah Wilder, Alexander Cramer, Dirk Stolper: Marburg City Hall and National Socialism (= Marburg city publications on history and culture. Volume 109). Rathausverlag der Stadt Marburg, Marburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-942487-11-5 , Part III. Attachment. Cape. Directory of Marburg city councilors and members of the city council from 1933 to 1989. P. 317–370, here p. 366.
  4. ^ BArch (formerly Berlin Document Center ), inventory of NSDAP party correspondence, VBS 1/1190016057, PK zu Walter Voß, Personalblatt .
  5. ↑ Sarah Wilder, Alexander Cramer: "... that here in the city of Marburg the will of the Führer will be fulfilled." National Socialism and local self-government. Institutions. People. Effects (1930-1950). In: Sarah Wilder, Alexander Cramer, Dirk Stolper: Städtische Selbstverwaltung. Part I. Rathaus-Verlag der Stadt Marburg, Marburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-942487-11-5 , pp. 1–154, here pp. 48–50, 58–63, 97 f., 102 f.
  6. ^ Stadtarchiv Marburg, inventory of personnel files, PA 822/2, denazification notice of the Marburg Stadt Spruchkammer dated January 31, 1947, serial no. 103–119.
  7. ↑ Sarah Wilder, Alexander Cramer: "... that here in the city of Marburg the will of the Führer will be fulfilled." National Socialism and local self-government. Institutions. People. Effects (1930-1950). In: Sarah Wilder, Alexander Cramer, Dirk Stolper: Städtische Selbstverwaltung. Part I. Rathaus-Verlag der Stadt Marburg, Marburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-942487-11-5 , chap. 5.1.2. Mayor a. D. Walter Voss, pp. 115-120.
personal data
SURNAME Voss, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German administrative lawyer and local politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 26, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Neuschloß (Lampertheim)
DATE OF DEATH 5th June 1972
Place of death Marburg