Wilhelm Maucher (peace fighter)
Wilhelm Maucher (born January 25, 1903 in Alfter near Bonn ; † November 11, 1993 there ) was a German peace fighter. He created the "Friedensweg" on the border between Alfter and the neighboring town of Roisdorf .
Live and act
The Alfter fruit and vegetable farmer, the son of a gardener who immigrated from the Ulm area, was initially involved in Catholic community work. He rejected National Socialism out of Christian conviction and proceeded against it according to his possibilities, for example by printing posters directed against the Nazis and distributing them in his homeland, the foothills not far from Bonn. Shortly before the end of the war , Maucher did not comply with the presentation order , but remained in the hiding place offered by a brave Roisdorf family until the Americans marched in in March 1945.
When it came to the fight against injustice, Maucher was also opposed to the occupying powers and the authorities of the young Federal Republic: He founded the “Emergency Defense Committee of the Fruit and Vegetable Farmers of the Foothills” and vigorously represented the concerns of the farmers to Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard . At that time, the term "rebel from the foothills" came up for him.
According to his own admission, suggestions from Erhard brought Maucher to the idea of processing the surplus of the blackberries he produced into wine. In 1953 the blackberry wine "Rebellenblut" was pressed for the first time, which ensured Maucher a modest prosperity until the end and which is still produced in Alfter today.
While Maucher initially participated politically in the newly founded CDU , his radical pacifist attitude led him to leave this party in protest against rearmament and the introduction of conscription . In 1956 he made a trip to the Soviet Union and the GDR for the purpose of peace and international understanding . Maucher, however, could hardly be assigned to political camps. Late connections with the Greens party and with a local left group should also be conflictual and not permanent.
Since the 1950s, Maucher's commitment has been to reform the criminal law, especially the abolition of paragraphs 175, 216 and 218 of the penal code. His lifelong struggle against war and militarism was still expressed in the later years when he donated in 1989 as part of the “Bonn Peace Plenum” for the “Memorial to the Unknown Deserter” created by the sculptor Mehmet Aksoy , which was at the time highly controversial . After it was not allowed to be erected on the Peace Square in Bonn, the monument is now on the Unity Square in Potsdam .
As early as 1945 Maucher had the statue of the "Blessing Christ" created by the Bonn sculptor Jakobus Linden erected at the so-called "Holy Grave" above Alfter as a thank you for being saved from war needs . In the period that followed, he added inscription stones to promote justice and tolerance. In 1978 he added ten “command stones” to the complex that were laid along the steep access path, with which he warned politicians to be peaceful, humane and protect the environment. In doing so, he created the so -called “Friedensweg” that runs between the Alfter Jewish cemetery and the “Heimatblick” restaurant. The impending removal of this facility, with which Wilhelm Maucher sought to convey the convictions and experiences of his long life to posterity, was prevented in autumn 2009 thanks to an initiative that spanned all locations and parties.
literature
- Wilhelm Maucher (autobiography): The rebellious spirit from the foothills . ( friedensweg.info [PDF; 14.6 MB ; accessed on October 9, 2014] 1978/1988).
- Friends of the House of Alfter History V. (Ed.): The Vorgebirgsrebell. Wilhelm Maucher (1903–1993) and the Friedensweg in Alfter near Bonn . Cologne 2011.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Maucher, Wilhelm |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German peace fighter and blackberry wine producer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 25, 1903 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Alfter near Bonn |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 11, 1993 |
| Place of death | Alfter near Bonn |