Wilhelm Sievers (politician, 1896)

Wilhelm Sievers (around 1930)

Grave in the north cemetery in Kiel

Wilhelm Sievers (born December 2, 1896 in Kiel ; † July 1, 1966 there ) was a German politician ( NSDAP , CDU ).

Life

Sievers was the son of a railroad shunter. He attended the Oberrealschule in Kiel, today's Max Planck School . In 1914 he volunteered for the war. Within a short time he advanced to an officer and at the age of 19 became the youngest bearer of the Iron Cross 1st class. In 1917 he passed the Abitur, which he had prepared for during his vacations from the war.

After the war he studied law and political science in Kiel, Marburg and Königsberg . In Koenigsberg he took part in the Kapp Putsch in 1920 . In 1928 he received his doctorate. On July 25, 1925, he joined the NSDAP with membership number 12.007.

Sievers held the post of mayor in Visselhövede in the Lüneburg Heath until 1927 , from 1931 to 1933 the mayor's office in Eckernförde and from 1933 the mayor's office in Flensburg . Due to an internal party conflict with Gauleiter Hinrich Lohse of Schleswig-Holstein , Sievers was reprimanded by the Reich Party Court and initially lost his official and party offices. Even his “ golden party badge ” was taken from him, although this was not the subject of the verdict.

In 1937 he was granted amnesty on Hitler's birthday and was able to prevail against 70 applicants for the post of Lord Mayor of Brandenburg an der Havel . Since Brandenburg an der Havel was considered a red stronghold, Sievers implemented a national socialist local policy that was particularly true to the line.

Memorial site of the synagogue in Brandenburg an der Havel that burned down at Sievers' instigation in 1938

Obviously, an important role was played by the fact that the disciplined Sievers felt himself in a probation situation. He was accused of actively participating in the fire in the synagogue on Grosse Münzenstrasse and the desecration of the Jewish cemetery on Geschwister-Scholl-Strasse on the occasion of the so-called Reichspogromnacht on November 9, 1938, shortly after his inauguration. During the fire in the synagogue he was seen by several witnesses in the uniform of an SS-Obersturmbannführer . According to Siever's statement, he had joined this organization the evening before, following an order from Heinrich Himmler . Sievers also held a high position in the security service (SD) in Brandenburg an der Havel. In addition, Sievers submitted to the political department of the Brandenburg criminal police, who are accused of gross excesses against those politically imprisoned. During Siever's term of office, the arrest and responsibility for the death of the Jewish gynecologist Lilli Friesicke fell .

Sievers was responsible for the efforts in the last days of the war in 1945 to defend the long-lost city of Brandenburg an der Havel against the advancing Red Army . Sievers is said to have refused to evacuate the bomb-prone city, to open food depots of the Wehrmacht - exempted from this - for the needy population. In the last few hours he is said to have threatened soldiers in the infantry barracks with death by shooting for desertion.

After the collapse, Sievers fled across the Elbe and went into Allied captivity. Before the jury court Hiddensen / Lippe he was sentenced in 1947 to 13 months imprisonment for membership in criminal organizations of the Third Reich (SD and SS) . The term of detention was counted towards his stay in the detention center .

From 1947 Sievers worked for a law firm in Kiel. He joined the CDU in 1949 and became its chairman in Kiel in 1952. In 1951 he was elected to the City Council of Kiel. In 1955 he became mayor of Kiel. In 1959, he resigned his office and resigned from the CDU, out of annoyance that he would only be offered a lower position in the upcoming elections.

His National Socialist past was not publicly addressed during his time as a politician in Kiel. After his death in 1966, the Kiel magistrate recognized him as an upright democrat.

On January 30, 2013, Sievers' portrait was removed from the gallery of the former mayors and city presidents in Kiel City Hall because of his past.

See also

• List of the city leaders of Flensburg

literature

• Henning K. Müller: Wilhelm Johann August Sievers. In: Heike Schlichting (Ed.): CVs between the Elbe and Weser. A biographical lexicon , Vol. III, Landscape Association of the Former Duchies of Bremen and Verden, Stade 2018, ISBN 978-3-931879-73-0 , pp. 295-302.

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Sievers (politician)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Page of the Prussian country messenger about Wilhelm Sievers with sources (private website)
• Christa Geckeler: Wilhelm Sievers (1896–1966) , page of the city of Kiel on the city presidents of Kiel

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Martina Drexler: There is no more room for Sievers in the town hall. In: Kiel News . Archived from the original on January 30, 2013 ; accessed on December 30, 2015 .