Werner Hilpert

Werner Hilpert on an election poster for the 1946 state election

Werner Johannes Hilpert (born January 17, 1897 in Leipzig , † February 24, 1957 in Oberursel ) was a German politician ( center , later CDU ).

Life until 1933

Werner Hilpert was the eldest son of Johann Baptist and Martha Hilpert, née Rabe, and grew up in simple circumstances. His father worked his way up from engraver to department head at Giesecke & Devrient . After graduating from community school , Hilpert attended the humanistic Nicolaigymnasium. Because of his good performance, he received a scholarship after graduating from high school and began studying economics , law and philosophy in April 1916 . He had to interrupt this in July because he was called up for military service. He took part in the fighting in Romania and from 1918 in France . For his military service as platoon leader of a mine throwing company, Hilpert received the Saxon award of the Friedrich August Medal in silver. In addition, he was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class. After returning from the war, he resumed his studies and received his doctorate in philosophy in July 1920. As a student, Hilpert became a member of the Catholic student association Teutonia Leipzig in the KV , to which he always remained connected.

Hilpert then decided to pursue a career in business. He found his first job at the Sächsische Staatsbank in Leipzig, which was still being established, and changed six months later as an assistant to the Leipzig Retail Association. Towards the end of 1922 he took over the function of a syndic , whose task it was to regulate commercial business and employer issues in the retail trade. With his friend and colleague Otto Kitzinger, he brought out the magazine “Der Einzelhandelsdienst”. From 1922 to the end of 1932, in addition to his activities in the Leipzig Retail Association, Hilpert took on the position of General Manager of the Association of German Linoleum Dealers, a price cartel .

Persecuted by the Nazi regime

From 1932 to 1937 Hilpert was chairman of the Catholic Action in Saxony and was in open opposition to National Socialism. In collaboration with Carl Goerdeler , he was an advisor and authorized representative of Jewish citizens for " Aryanizations ". During the Reichspogromnacht in 1938, his office in a Jewish commercial building also burned down. Afterwards he sat in the Buchenwald concentration camp for 5½ years because of his resistance to National Socialism , he was a member of the Buchenwald Popular Front Committee . The encounter with Eugen Kogon , who was also imprisoned , led to a lifelong friendship. After the liberation by the Americans in 1945, he was one of five Germans on the Buchenwald International Camp Committee. His tasks included, among other things, medical care and ensuring the food situation. His name was on the "white lists" of the Americans and so he was entrusted with certain tasks of the American military government.

Activities after 1945

The American Ernest Biberfield (District Information Services Control Command) informed the family about the imminent takeover of Thuringia by the Soviet occupying power and about the missing son Werner Hilpert Jr., so Hilpert traveled to Frankfurt in the American zone at the invitation of the American headquarters , where he on the recommendation of the military government to the chief executive of the chamber of Commerce Frankfurt was appointed.

Hilpert had two short-term goals with the Chamber of Commerce. On the one hand, he wanted to make the IHK a democratic institution and, on the other hand, he wanted to create a higher-level, political administrative body for the entire Rhine-Main area. In Hilpert's opinion, the political administrative districts should meet the needs of the economy. So he proposed the creation of a Rhine-Main Chamber of Commerce to the military government. He hoped that this would generally lead to a coordination of the joint work and a greater impact in the representation of association interests. On August 7th, representatives from nine different Hessian chambers met and decided to hold regular meetings in order to reach a unified position on certain issues. Hilpert intended to expand the chambers' contacts beyond the American zone. Therefore he contacted chambers of the British and French zones and invited their representatives to meetings. Hesse's chambers of commerce quickly took on a pioneering role in Germany.

From 1952 until his death he was President and Finance Director of the Deutsche Bundesbahn .

politics

Hilpert, who was city councilor in Leipzig from 1926 to 1933, became regional chairman of the Center Party in Saxony in 1932. When the National Socialists came to power and the Center Party dissolved in 1933, he lost all functions. After 1945 he was one of the co-founders of the CDU in Hesse and became its first state chairman, which he remained until 1952. From 1 November 1945 to 5 January 1947 he was in the Cabinet Geiler , the all-party government of Karl Geiler , Deputy Prime Minister of the State of Hesse and from 1946 to 1947 Minister of Economy and Transport, then the cabinet Stock of January 6, 1947 to 1950 Minister of finances . In the course of the debate about the restitution of stolen or confiscated Jewish property, he issued a press release as Hessian finance minister in early 1950 in which he estimated the volume to be reimbursed at 37 billion DM (in today's purchasing power: 97 billion euros) (which was ten times higher than when real payments were made later) and commented: "If we had to raise this sum, we would all have to turn the gas tap on". As Hesse’s finance minister, Hilpert invested large sums in the poor education system, which he regarded as the cornerstone of the creation of a solid democracy. He was a member of the German Bundestag for a few weeks in the first legislative period until his resignation on October 10, 1949.

He was a member of the Hessian state parliament in 1946/47 and 1950–1952.

Honors

Memorial in the Dr.-Werner-Hilpert-Siedlung, Oberursel

In 1956 he received the Great Federal Cross of Merit with a star and shoulder ribbon. Hilpert became honorary philistine of the KV connections Nassovia-Giessen and Staufia-Frankfurt. A large number of streets are named after Werner Hilpert. For example Werner-Hilpert-Str. in Wiesbaden , Kassel , Neu-Isenburg , Dietzenbach or Hilpertstrasse in Darmstadt . In Oberursel a settlement, the Dr.-Werner-Hilpert-Siedlung, was named after him and a small memorial was erected. In Hamburg-Eidelstedt there has been a Hilpertweg in a railroad settlement since 1964. A memorial was also erected there in the 1960s.

This picture shows a metal plaque with the name and dates of Werner Hilpert. It is attached to the monument in Hamburg-Eidelstedt.

literature

• Jochen Lengemann : The Hessen Parliament 1946–1986 . Biographical handbook of the advisory state committee, the state assembly advising the constitution and the Hessian state parliament (1st – 11th electoral period). Ed .: President of the Hessian State Parliament. Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1986, ISBN 3-458-14330-0 , p. 282–283 ( hessen.de [PDF; 12.4 MB ]).
• Jochen Lengemann: MdL Hessen. 1808-1996. Biographical index (= political and parliamentary history of the state of Hesse. Vol. 14 = publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse. Vol. 48, 7). Elwert, Marburg 1996, ISBN 3-7708-1071-6 , p. 187.
• Sabine Pappert: Werner Hilpert. Politician in Hesse 1945–1952. Historical Commission for Nassau , Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 978-3-930221-12-7 .
• Siegfried Koß in Siegfried Koß, Wolfgang Löhr (Hrsg.): Biographisches Lexikon des KV. 7th part (= Revocatio historiae. Volume 9). Akadpress, Essen 2010, ISBN 978-3-939413-12-7 , p. 57 ff. (With further references).

Web links

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

• Hilpert, Werner. Hessian biography. (As of July 12, 2020). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Walter Mühlhausen: Werner Hilpert. In: Bernd Heidenreich: Unity and Freedom. Hessian personalities and the way to the Federal Republic of Germany. Opladen 2000.
2. ↑ Constantin Goschler, Debt and Debt. The policy of reparation for victims of Nazi persecution since 1945. Wallstein, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-89244-868-X , page 207.