Wilhelm Johann Maier

Wilhelm Johann Maier

Wilhelm Johann Maier (born April 14, 1901 in Untergröningen ; † October 7, 1977 in Obereisesheim ) was Mayor of Obereisesheim, holder of the Federal Cross of Merit and honorary citizen of the city of Neckarsulm , municipality of Obereisesheim.

Childhood, training and first professional stages

As the eldest of seven children of the master tailor Wilhelm Maier and his wife Luise geb. Mangold Wilhelm Maier was born on April 14, 1901 in Untergröningen, a small town northwest of Aalen , which today belongs to the municipality of Abtsgmünd ( Ostalbkreis ). He attended the secondary school (founded in 1862) in Untergröningen. After another six months of preparation, he passed the so-called one - year examination.

He began his training in April 1919 as an apprentice and assistant at the mayor's office in Fichtenberg in the Backnang district . After the three-year apprenticeship, he worked as an assistant in various offices in Weinsberg , Sulzbach am Kocher and Gaildorf .

In May 1924 Maier passed the examination for admission to the administrative school in Stuttgart , which he attended from October 1924 to July 1925. There he also took the exam for the senior administrative service.

He then worked as an inspector of the senior service at the district offices of Balingen , Spaichingen and the Oberversicherungsamt in Stuttgart (until April 15, 1929).

The mayoral election

In 1928 Wilhelm Maier applied for the office of mayor of the community of Obereisesheim, which at that time had 1,340 inhabitants (today part of the city of Neckarsulm in northern Württemberg). Maier was able to prevail with a majority of 62% of the votes cast against 22 competitors.

Maier took office in economically and politically difficult times. He later described his first impression of the new place of work with the words:

“The whole village, including the streets, was anything but beautiful. The water supply inadequate and bad. The primitive old wine press was available to the athletes. "

Maier quickly began to implement important municipal infrastructure measures.

The first years in Obereisesheim: professional and private milestones

By 1933, two construction sections of the local sewer system had been built, which the municipal council had already decided before Maier took office. As early as 1930 made the expansion of roads and the paving of local roads. These building measures not only contributed to improving local conditions, but also to reducing unemployment. In 1933/34 the water supply was improved, in November 1939 the kindergarten was inaugurated and on May 1, 1940, the opening of the gymnasium and festival hall, which was progressive at the time, was finally celebrated - and that is probably unique for a community of this size - had a teaching pool as well as bathtubs and showers.

Wilhelm Maier married Elsa Frank in 1931, daughter of one of the largest farmers in the village. Their marriage had three children. Mountaineering was one of his favorite pastimes. He also enjoyed reading and was an avid photographer. He developed his numerous photos himself in a specially set up laboratory.

However, he will not have had much free time. Wilhelm Maier was also a member of the parish council for eight years and from 1930 to 1968 a member of the board and chairman of the savings and loan fund Obereisesheim (later the cooperative bank). In addition, as an experienced administrative specialist, he was also in demand beyond local borders, e.g. B. in the Württemberg community conference. Until 1939 he worked at the district office as a course leader for the training of administrative staff. In addition, he was mayor of Untereisesheim from 1936 until shortly before the end of the war, and from 1939 he also worked as an administrative actuary in the town halls of Offenau , Biberach and Bonfeld .

Third Reich and World War II

During the “Third Reich” Maier initially remained in office until the beginning of 1943. Maier was a member of the NSDAP party like practically all mayors of the time. On November 22, 1935, he received an unequivocal invitation from the District Administrator of the Württemberg Oberamt Heilbronn to join the NSV . The letter reads:

“Given your position as the leader of the community and in view of the need to keep all your activities in constant harmony with the goals of the movement, it seems natural that by joining the NSV you will show your attachment to this beneficial institution Express. I would therefore urgently recommend that you register for the NSV. If you believe that you will not be able to follow this suggestion, I would have to ask you to tell me about it, explaining the reasons in detail. "

His wife recalled the following incident in this context: When the SA wanted to use the newly built gym one winter, Maier forbade this because of the feared damage from the snow on the new floor of the hall. A complaint from the district leader was not long in coming - if this happens again, Maier has been mayor for the longest time.

In a retrospective, Maier himself describes the period from 1943:

“I was drafted into the Wehrmacht in February 1943 and was taken prisoner near Nuremberg (Böhl-Iggelheim prison camp in the Palatinate, Böckingen / Heilbronn and Mannheim work command). Discharge from the hospital at Heidelberg University Hospital at the end of 1945. Then dismissed like all mayors on general instructions from the American occupation forces. "

Maier returned from captivity with hunger edema.

During Maier's absence, the mayor's business was initially carried out by Deputy Mayor Wieland. In the course of denazification, both of them were removed from office in April 1945 - as were the other mayors in the district.

Reconstruction after World War II and the 1960s

From 1945 to 1948 Willi Treubel (April to September 1945), Karl Korb (September 1945 to May 1946) and Julius Horn, elected by the local council, headed the administration. As early as March 1946, however, Treubel asked the district administrator to reappoint Wilhelm Maier as mayor and added a list of signatures signed by 75% of those eligible to vote, because "the vast majority of the population of Obereisesheim generally want the former mayor Maier to be reused in the municipal administration" .

The community of Obereisesheim was 30% destroyed in the course of the fighting in April 1945. All files and documents stored in the town hall were completely destroyed. The petition stated that Maier was a member of the NSDAP, but did not hold any office or position and that an experienced administrative officer was urgently needed for the reconstruction. Incidentally, Wilhelm Maier had already been commissioned by the Heilbronn District Office on September 26, 1946 to take care of the administrative actuarial business in the communities of Neuenstadt am Kocher and Oedheim. On March 21, 1948, he was re-elected Mayor of Obereisesheim from among three candidates with 93% of the votes cast.

There was a lack of food, living space for 500 people (about 1/3 of the population) as well as building and fuel materials. Maier also tackled these difficult tasks quickly and with a great deal of expertise. Milestones in the reconstruction were, for example, the new construction of the destroyed town hall, the development of new building sites from 1952 and the decision to build a new schoolhouse in 1953. It was inaugurated on May 18, 1957 as the "Wilhelm Maier School". In the same year the sewage treatment plant went into operation and in 1960 the community acquired the outdoor swimming pool from the gravel pit operator Freyer. By the end of Wilhelm Maier's term of office in 1966, municipal residential buildings, further building land reallocations and securing the water supply were also implemented.

On December 6, 1953, the population of Obereisesheim re-elected Maier with 100% of the valid votes - this time for 12 years.

Retired

Wilhelm Maier held his office as mayor until he reached the age limit. On April 23, 1966, he was adopted into retirement in a solemn meeting of the local council. For his services to Obereisesheim, the community granted Wilhelm Maier honorary citizenship on June 9, 1967. In August of the previous year he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon by the District Administrator .

Maier was held in high esteem among the population, which was shown, among other things, by the honorary membership of several clubs.

Wilhelm Maier died on October 7, 1977 at the age of 76.

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• 1200 years of Obereisesheim, contributions to local history a . a. from mayor a. D. Wilhelm Maier With 50 photos and 24 drawings. Published by the community of Obereisesheim with the assistance of Heinz Erich Walter, Ludwigsburg 1967 (printed and published by H. Walter)
• Barbara Löslein: Obereisesheim. The development of a village . On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the incorporation on May 1, 1997, published by the city of Neckarsulm, city archive
• Obereisesheimer Mitteilungen , announcements for the Neckarsulm-Obereisesheim district
• Barbara Löslein MA, Stadtarchiv Neckarsulm: On the 110th birthday of Mayor Wilhelm Maier , Obereisesheimer Mitteilungen 14/2011 from April 8, 2011

Web links

• Wilhelm Maier School , see there also “Report on the 110th birthday of Wilhelm Maier”.

The school website states:

“Wilhelm Maier formed one of the most progressive communities in the Heilbronn district. Today the motto of our community school is: Individuality in the community through mutual support and tolerance. "

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The National Socialist People's Welfare (NSV) was founded by the National Socialists on April 18, 1932 as a registered association and on May 3, 1933, just a few months after the Nazi seizure of power , elevated to the status of a party organization of the NSDAP .
2. ↑ Large parts of this text are taken from this article with the kind permission of the author .