Walther Wäldele

Walther Wäldele (born April 3, 1921 in Dortmund , † December 28, 2003 ) was a German politician ( SPD ).

From 1951 to 1964, Wäldele was both chairman and managing director of the Karlsruhe district of the ÖTV trade union . In 1956 he was elected to the city council, which elected him mayor in 1963 and first mayor of Karlsruhe in 1965. He held this post until 1983. On October 17, 1961, he replaced Alex Möller in the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg . In the state elections in 1964 he was able to defend the direct mandate in the Karlsruhe-Stadt I constituency , but resigned it on March 4, 1966 because he had been elected 1st Mayor of Karlsruhe and for him the executive and legislative branches combined in one person the principles of Separation of powers contradicted. His successor in the state parliament was Hanne Landgraf . In 1970 he took up the post of Lord Mayor of Karlsruhe, but was defeated by Otto Dullenkopf . As early as 1951, he founded the city youth committee of the city of Karlsruhe, and was elected 1st chairman when it was constituted. From 1970 to 1986 he was chairman of the district association of the Red Cross, and he was also an honorary senator of the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences . For his services he was awarded the Medal of Honor of the City of Karlsruhe in 1983 and the Medal of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg in 1982 . The establishment of the youth leisure and educational center in Baerenthal in the Northern Vosges in the Dep. Moselle, which began with the war grave maintenance in 1956. The city youth committee was officially recognized as an association as early as 1962: even before the Franco-German Elysee Treaty. And in 1966 Walther Wäldele became President of the Board of Trustees of this youth leisure center in France. In 1973 he received the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class, in 1979 the French Order of the Chevalier des Palmes Académiques , in 1989 the Medaille d`Honneur de la Commune Baerenthal and finally the access road to the youth leisure center on Rue Walther Wäldele. Another award is the 1981 Henri Dunant Medal.

Web links

• Entry about Walther Wäldele in the Stadtwiki Karlsruhe