Walther Hartmann (politician)

Walther Hartmann, unknown photographer.

Walther Hartmann (born October 7, 1873 in Hückeswagen ; † September 4, 1964 in Schönau , Berchtesgaden district) was a German lawyer, politician and mayor from 1914 , and from 1915 to 1937 mayor of Remscheid .

Life

During his studies Hartmann became a member of the Association of German Students in Bonn . Walther Hartmann, who holds a doctorate in law, took over the office of mayor in Remscheid in 1914 as the successor to Karl Jarres . From 1915 the office was designated as Lord Mayor. After the end of the First World War and the local elections in March 1919, the council majority, with 32 elected representatives from three parties, was opposed to 22 bourgeois representatives in the socialist camp. During the inflation of 1923, the city of Remscheid issued its own emergency money with a redemption guarantee that was limited to the city and which bears his signature.

At the beginning of 1928, the district president in Düsseldorf, on behalf of the Prussian Ministry of the Interior, presented a proposal for the reorganization of the Rhineland, according to which the city should be united with the independent neighboring communities of Lüttringhausen and Lennep into one large city. In a memorandum from the City of Remscheid , Hartmann presented the approving opinion of the City Council in Düsseldorf and the Ministry of the Interior in Berlin. The main reasons given were the lack of building land and industrial expansion possibilities caused by the unfavorable location of Remscheid, as well as the cost savings made possible by merging the administration. His colleagues Emil Nohl from Lennep and Rudolf Suthoff-Groß from Lüttringhausen rejected in their lectures, as did the broad majority of the population in their cities, the amalgamation of the communities. The main reasons given were the naturally grown and well-organized communities, the majority of which were opposed to merging. The majority for or against amalgamation of the municipalities changed several times in the Prussian administration and political bodies. But even protest assemblies and a meeting with representatives of the municipal committee of the Prussian State Council in March 1929 could not prevent the Prussian state parliament from adopting a narrow majority on July 10, 1929, to incorporate Lennep and Lüttringhausen into Remscheid. An objection lodged after further public protests was rejected by the Prussian State Council . On August 1, 1929, the incorporation came into force.

Hartmann supported the efforts of the chairman of the Rheinisch-Westfälische Röntgengesellschaft founded in 1927, privy councilor Prof. Paul Krause, to rededicate Röntgen's birthplace in Lennep to a memorial site by purchasing a patrician house built in 1803 in Schwelmer Strasse 41 in 1930 which in 1932 the Röntgen Museum opened in connection with Röntgen's birthplace at Gänsemarkt 1 . At the beginning of the 1930s he suggested that the city should make land available for the unemployed on which they could create living space for themselves on their own. With the help of homestead associations , e.g. B. the Heimstätte Dünne , settlements on Auf'm Heidchen , on Grenzwall and in Westhausen (Bodelschwingh-Siedlung) emerged from 1930 . The houses were half-timbered constructions , first with clay infills , later in brick construction. In the mid-1930s, he successfully tried to get the newly planned Reichsautobahn 1 to run through the city.

On June 28, 1937, Hartmann resigned from office after 23 years; Ludwig Kraft was his successor on December 1, 1937 . The city council granted Hartmann honorary citizenship. It was withdrawn from him in 1946, but awarded again in 1953.

Hartmann had campaigned for the construction of a secondary school, which was inaugurated on August 18, 1941 as the Walther Hartmann School. After various reorganizations of the school system in the city, the school has been used as a community elementary school since 1968. For his services to founding the Röntgen Museum, the city of Remscheid awarded him the Röntgen plaque donated the previous year at the suggestion of the Society of Friends and Patrons of the German Röntgen Museum Remscheid-Lennep eV .

The Dr.-Walther-Hartmann-Strasse named after him is located in the Remscheid-Süd district .

Honors

• Winner of the Red Cross Medal 3rd class
• Bearer of the Iron Cross 2nd class on black and white ribbon u. a. Order of war
• State plaque for special merits in the field of youth care
• 1937 honorary citizen of the city of Remscheid (withdrawn from 1946 to 1953)
• 1952 Award of the X-ray badge
• 1963 Award of the golden citizen medal

literature

• Hans-Jürgen Roth: History of our city, Remscheid with Lennep and Lüttringhausen. RGA-Buchverlag, Remscheid 2008, ISBN 978-3-940491-01-5 .
• Wilhelm Rees: Dr. Walther Hartmann on his 90th birthday. In: Romerike Berge. Schlossbauverein Burg ad Wupper; Altenberg Cathedral Association; Bergischer History Association; District Association of Bergischer Heimatmuseen, Volume 13, 1963, Issue 2, pp. 90f.

Web links

• Literature by and about Walther Hartmann in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Biographical data ( memento from December 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) on the website of the city of Remscheid
2. ↑ Louis Lange (Ed.): Kyffhäuser Association of German Student Associations. Address book 1931. Berlin 1931, p. 81.
3. ↑ Banknote worth 500,000,000 marks from the city of Remscheid dated August 23, 1923, private website, viewed October 24, 2003.
4. ↑ Roth: History of our city. 2008, pp. 69-72.
5. ^ History of the Röntgen Museum, as seen on October 24, 2009.
6. ↑ Roth: History of our city. 2008, pp. 247, 284, 285.
7. ↑ Roth: History of our city. 2008, p. 127.
8. ↑ Website ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. the school named after Walter Hartmann 
9. ^ Winner of the Roentgen Plaque 1952, seen on the Roentgen Museum website, October 24, 2009.