Wilhelm Apel (politician, 1873)

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Wilhelm Apel (born February 14, 1873 in Frankenhausen , Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt ; † November 16, 1960 in Frankfurt am Main , Hesse ) was a German politician ( SPD ) and district administrator of the Main-Taunus district .

education and profession

Wilhelm Apel was a cigar maker by profession and worked in Frankenhausen. From 1906 to 1910 he worked as an editor for the Nordhäuser Volkszeitung . During the time of National Socialism he worked as an independent entrepreneur and later as an employee in Frankfurt am Main.

politics

Apel was a member of the SPD at the age of 18 and from 1910 worked as the party's secretary in Erfurt .

In 1920 he was appointed district administrator in the Prussian district of Schleusingen and held this office from 1921. On April 22, 1926 he took up his post as district administrator in the district of Höchst . When the district of Höchst became part of the Main-Taunus district in 1928, he became its first district administrator.

From 1930 to 1933 he was a member of the Nassau municipal parliament for the Main-Taunus district and the SPD .

In Prussia , the district administrator was also the chief of the police in the district and thus sat at an important control point. In previous years, Apel had tried with the legal means available to him to prevent the National Socialists from succeeding in the Main-Taunus district . After the Nazis came to power, Apel was deposed as district administrator on February 13, 1933 on the orders of Hermann Göring . After his impeachment, Apel was arrested and interrogated several times.

Shortly before the end of the Second World War , Apel moved to Thuringia . There, the Soviet occupation forces installed him in 1945 as mayor of Zella-Mehlis . As an opponent of the forced unification of the KPD and SPD to form the SED , however, he fled back to Frankfurt in autumn 1945, where he lived until his death.

family

Wilhelm Apel was the son of the cigar maker Ernst Franz Theodor Apel (born November 12, 1852 in Nordhausen; † September 16, 1925 there). Apel, who was a Protestant denomination, was married to the daughter of carpenter August Friedrich Wilhelm Kühlewindt (first name is unknown) (April 16, 1873 in Nordhausen; † February 15, 1904 in Ellrich ). From this marriage the son, Paul (1896-1965) was born. In his second marriage he married Selma nee Genzel (October 16, 1875 in Berlin ; † 1961 in Frankfurt-Höchst ). From this marriage the son Wilhelm jr. (1909-1969). Both sons were also active in the SPD.

In 1953, Apel was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, presented by his son Wilhelm, who in the meantime had become the federal representative of the State of Hesse .

literature

  • Barbara Burkardt, Manfred Pult: The municipal parliament of the administrative district of Wiesbaden. 1868–1933 (= Nassau parliamentarians. Vol. 2 = Prehistory and history of parliamentarism in Hesse. Vol. 17 = Publications of the Historical Commission for Nassau. Vol. 71). Historical Commission for Nassau, Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 3-930221-11-X , pp. 10-11.
  • 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. 55.
  • Thomas Klein: Senior officials in the general administration in the Prussian province of Hessen-Nassau and in Waldeck 1867–1945. (= Sources and research on Hessian history, 70; Ed. Hessische Historische Kommission Darmstadt and Historical Commission for Hesse), Darmstadt / Marburg 1988, ISBN 3-88443-159-5 , pp. 87-88.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Apel, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hessian politician (SPD)
DATE OF BIRTH February 14, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Frankenhausen
DATE OF DEATH November 16, 1960
Place of death Frankfurt am Main