Werner Bockelmann

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Werner Bockelmann (1963)

Werner Bockelmann (born September 23, 1907 in Moscow , Russian Empire , † April 7, 1968 near Friolzheim ) was a German lawyer and SPD politician.

Life

Memorial plaque on the house, Bundesallee 49, in Berlin-Wilmersdorf

Werner Bockelmann was born on September 23, 1907 in Moscow as the son of the German banker Heinrich Bockelmann and his wife Anna, nee. Forester, born. He came to Germany in 1920 and, after visiting the Johanneum in Lüneburg and studying law at the TH Dresden and the universities of Hamburg, Göttingen and Graz, became a lawyer in Hamburg from 1935 . From 1941 to 1945 he was Chief Staff Director in the Navy.

He made his first political experiences in Lüneburg, where he was mayor from 1945 to 1946 and was appointed city director from 1946. In 1955 he became Lord Mayor of Ludwigshafen am Rhein .

On April 7, 1968, he was on his way home from an event on Lake Constance and was involved in a traffic accident on Autobahn 8 near Friolzheim. As he got out, he was crushed by his own vehicle. In this accident, the then Second Mayor of Munich Georg Brauchle was also fatally injured.

Lord Mayor of Frankfurt

In 1957 Werner Bockelmann was elected Lord Mayor of Frankfurt am Main . During his term of office as Lord Mayor of Frankfurt, the decision was made in favor of a light rail system, initially financed by the city alone, which runs underground in the inner city area and on its own track structure outside. It was only later that the paving-stone railway was further developed into an underground railway , now with a share of the funding from the federal and state governments. The reconstruction of the University of Frankfurt (until 1966 under the responsibility of the city), the founding of Nordweststadt and the construction of the Zurich House , one of the city's first skyscrapers, are also defining events during Bockelmann's tenure. He stood out from his “popular” Rhenish predecessor, Walter Kolb , as a significantly “cooler” -  North German  - politician, which is why some contemporaries were not well disposed towards him.

In 1964, Bockelmann received an honorary doctorate from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main . In the same year he resigned from office as Lord Mayor, after he had been elected head of Frankfurt for another twelve years in autumn 1962. He justified his resignation with the advice of his doctors to protect his health.

Other professional tasks

On July 14, 1957, Bockelmann was elected President of the German Gymnastics Federation as the successor to Walter Kolb in Lüdenscheid . He held the office until 1964. Until his death he also held the office of Vice President of the German Olympic Society . He took on the role of executive member of the presidential board (general manager) at the German Association of Cities in Cologne. On April 14, 1964, Bockelmann was unanimously elected in Lübeck by the main committee of the German Association of Cities. He was also President of the German Tourism Association (1957–1967) and the Aid Foundation Berlin.

His numerous orders and decorations included the Commander's Cross of the Greek Order of the Phoenix, the Great Silver Decoration with Star of the Republic of Austria and the Commander's Cross of the Republic of Senegal. Bockelmann enjoyed skiing, hiking and was a Rotarian .

family

Werner Bockelmann was the father of four sons: Mischa (1939–1946), Andrej (* 1941), Martin (1947–2007) and Thomas (* 1955). Andrej Bockelmann holds a doctorate in sociology, is a freelance journalist and film producer. Thomas Bockelmann is an actor and director, he was director of theaters in Tübingen, Wilhelmshaven and Münster, and has been director of the State Theater in Kassel for several years.

Two of his brothers, Erwin Bockelmann and Jonny Bockelmann , were mineral oil industrialists. Another brother, Gert Bockelmann, lived on Gut Barendorf near Lüneburg, which today houses a folk high school, and was temporarily mayor there. His fourth brother Rudolf Bockelmann was the father of the singer Udo Jürgens and the painter and photographer Manfred Bockelmann .

Awards

literature

  • Hilmar Hoffmann : Frankfurt's Lord Mayor 1945–1995: A contribution to the city's cultural history. Frankfurt am Main 2012.

Web links

Commons : Werner Bockelmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Walter Habel (Ed.): Who is who? The German who's who. XV. Edition of Degeners who is it ?, Berlin 1967, p. 160.
  2. ^ Frankfurter Rundschau, April 8, 1968
  3. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt, April 15, 1964, p. 7.
  4. ↑ FRANKFURT: Never so united . In: Der Spiegel . No. 18 , 1964 ( online ).
  5. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt, July 15, 1957, p. 7.
  6. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt, April 8, 1968, p. 2.
  7. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt, April 15, 1964, p. 7.
  8. ^ Political mandate holders on a website for the municipality of Barendorf
  9. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
personal data
SURNAME Bockelmann, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Moscow , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH April 7, 1968
Place of death near Friolzheim