Wilhelm Glässing

Wilhelm Glässing (born April 7, 1865 in Groß-Gerau ; † March 10, 1929 in Darmstadt ) was a German lawyer and Lord Mayor of Darmstadt.

Life

Wilhelm Philipp Glässing was born in Groß-Gerau in 1865 as the brother of the lawyer and district court actuary Karl Glässing and his wife Margarethe née Storck (their parents had married on April 20, 1898 in Offenbach). His brother Karl Glässing later became mayor of Wiesbaden. After graduating from high school, he studied law, history and classical studies in Giessen from 1885 . There he was promoted to Dr. jur. PhD. The title of the dissertation was: The condictio indebiti of German public law. A contribution to the chapter on legal protection in public rights . During his studies he became a member of the Alemannia Gießen fraternity in 1885, a member of the Germania Gießen fraternity in 1888 and a member of the Frankonia Gießen fraternity in 1890 .

In 1893 Glässing became a public prosecutor and deputy public prosecutor in Darmstadt. From 1896 he was a judge at the Offenbach am Main district court . Five years later he was appointed alderman for the city of Darmstadt. In 1904 he was promoted to mayor. From 1906 to 1909 he was a member of the 2nd Chamber of the Hessian State Parliament . He belonged to the faction of the National Liberal Party . In the state parliament he was (1906 as successor to Friedrich Buff ) each member of the constituency of the city of Darmstadt.

After the early death of Adolf Morneweg , he was elected Mayor of Darmstadt on November 25, 1909. He held this office for almost twenty years until his death in 1929.

During Glässing's term of office, important decisions were made on infrastructure measures such as the new construction of the main train station in 1912 according to plans by Friedrich Pützer and the founding of HEAG Südhessische Energie , but also very difficult economic emergencies after the First World War . The city of Darmstadt was particularly hard hit by the consequences of the occupation policy as a result of the Versailles Treaty and the reparations payments , as the so-called Mainz Zone, an area 30 km around the Mainz-Kastel bridgehead , directly approached the city limits. The city was therefore literally sealed off from its traditional surroundings. Cities like Griesheim , Mainz , Worms or Groß-Gerau could only be reached with difficulty with a pass. After the hyperinflation of 1922/23 , so-called hunger riots broke out in Darmstadt . Politically, the poor economic situation in the city and the surrounding area was reflected in a strong shift to the right in the city council and, among other things, in the Hessian state parliament. From 1922 onwards, national socialist groups developed considerable activities in and around Darmstadt that reached far beyond Darmstadt. Before 1914 and in the 1920s, Glässing expressed himself several times in lectures and essays on fundamental questions of local politics and their current problems. These were also perceived beyond the city limits.

On his 25th anniversary in 1926 Wilhelm Glässing received a chain of office from Wilhelm Leuschner , which is still used today as the chain of office of the Lord Mayor of Darmstadt.

Glässing, who was a Protestant denomination, had been married to Agnes nee Meyer (1874–1938) since 1898.

Wilhelm Glässing was buried in the Darmstadt forest cemetery (grave site: L 6a 13).

Honors

• 1903: Permission to accept and wear the Order of St. Anne III awarded to him by the Emperor of Russia. class
• 1906: Award of the Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Order of Merit of Philip the Magnanimous
• 1909: Permission to accept and wear the Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Order of the Zähringer Löwen awarded to him by the Grand Duke of Baden
• 1910: Permission to accept and wear the Order of St. Anne, 2nd class, awarded to him by the Emperor of Russia
• 1912: Permission to accept and wear the Order of the Crown III awarded to him by the German Emperor and King of Prussia . class
• 1913: Permission to accept and wear the Cross of Honor of the Order of St. Michael awarded to him by the Prince Regent of Bavaria
• 1917: Awarded the Cross of Honor of the Order of Merit of Philip the Magnanimous

Publications

• The condictio indebiti of German public law. A contribution to the chapter on legal protection in public rights. von Münchow, Giessen 1894 (Giessen, University, dissertation, 1894).
• The development of the city of Darmstadt and the city finances. Lecture. Wittich, Darmstadt 1910.
• Darmstadt's industry, trade and commerce. Wittich, Darmstadt 1914.
• How can we simplify our public administration? (= Association for local economy and local politics. Association publications . H. 20, ZDB -ID 516203-8 ). Deutscher Kommunal-Verlag, Berlin-Friedenau, 1926.

literature

• Gabriele Betzin-Weinandt: Darmstadt. A little city history. Sutton, Erfurt 2005, ISBN 3-89702-870-0 , pp. 81-96.
• Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume 1: Politicians. Sub-Volume 2: F-H. Winter, Heidelberg 1999, ISBN 3-8253-0809-X , pp. 136-137.
• Wilhelm Glässing. In: Stadtlexikon Darmstadt. Theiss, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-8062-1930-3 , p. 315.
• Carlo Schneider: The cemeteries in Darmstadt. Roether, Darmstadt 1991, ISBN 3-7929-0191-9 , p. 89.
• Hans Georg Ruppel, Birgit Groß: Hessian MPs 1820–1933. Biographical evidence for the estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse (2nd Chamber) and the Landtag of the People's State of Hesse (= Darmstädter Archivschriften. Vol. 5). Verlag des Historisches Verein für Hessen, Darmstadt 1980, ISBN 3-922316-14-X , p. 110.

Web links

• Glässing, Wilhelm Philipp. Hessian biography. (As of April 7, 2020). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).