Wilhelm Wulff (politician)

Wilhelm Theodor Wulff (born July 17, 1815 in Arnsberg ; † August 14, 1892 in Münster ) was Mayor of Arnsberg from 1842 to 1878 .

Life

He was the son of the master builder Friedrich Anton Wulff and his wife Caroline Theresia Bering. The father came from a family that had been the mayor of Menden for six generations . In 1806 Friedrich Anton Wulff drew the plans to expand the town of Arnsberg and in 1807 to rebuild the town of Neheim .

Wilhelm Wulff attended the Laurentianum grammar school . He then studied law and camera science in Bonn from 1835 . He was trainee at the Higher Regional Court when the Arnsberg magistrate elected him mayor in 1841. In the same year, as mayor, he drew up local fire police regulations. A year later he married Sophia Rasche. Several children were born from the marriage. His wife died in childbed in 1855. Because of the young children, he married a second time in 1856.

When Wulff fired the usual honor shot in the name of the king at the Schützerfest in 1843, he shot the bird with the first shot. King Friedrich Wilhelm IV accepted the title of rifle king and gave the rifle society a small cannon for gunfire. In 1864 Wulff shot the bird again, this time for Wilhelm I.

The early years as mayor fell into a time of need marked by storms, bad harvests and epidemics. In 1846 he asked the citizens for support for the needy poor. From the collected 500 thalers potatoes were bought, which were given to the needy. Some time later, a soup kitchen supplied 270 families. In 1847 a nursing home for the elderly and disabled was founded. In the same year a fire destroyed much of the old town. In 1852 he set up a health insurance fund for the sick. When an epidemic of dysentery broke out in 1857 , the fund ran into financial difficulties. The city's Marienhospital was opened in the same year .

Wulff was a devout Catholic and a member of the church council. He was instrumental in the construction of a Way of the Cross and the Kreuzberg Chapel , which was inaugurated in 1868 . He was also active on the board of the local Kolping Society . In 1865 he was elected for the first time as a member of the Provincial Parliament of the Province of Westphalia in the constituency of the Duchy of Westphalia for the cities of Arnsberg and Hamm , but did not take part in the state parliament. In 1860, 1862, 1865, 1871 and 1875 he represented the constituency in the provincial parliament.

In 1865 he was awarded the Order of the Red Eagle, fourth class . On the occasion of his twenty-five year anniversary as mayor, the citizenship presented him with a silver cup in 1867.

During the Kulturkampf in 1875 he supported the decision of the church council to raise the clergy's salaries not paid by the state by collecting them in the community. The Arnsberg district government issued him a formal reprimand. He fell further out of favor in 1876 when Wulff raised a flag with the colors of the Papal States on his home in honor of the Pope, which led to a larger crowd. This was viewed by the government as an anti-state rally. Wulff's intervention with Minister of the Interior Friedrich zu Eulenburg only reduced the fine from 90 to 30 marks.

In 1877, Wulff was unanimously re-elected mayor. The royal government refused to confirm his election. The protest of the magistrate to the upper president was unsuccessful. Then there was a signature campaign in which citizens from all social classes and denominations took part. This did not help either, so that Wulff resigned from his office in early 1878. He then lived with his sons in Münster.

literature

• Klemens Pröpper: life and fate of the Arnsberg mayor Wilhelm Wulff. A victim of the Kulturkampf. In: Heimatblätter. Journal of the Arnsberger Heimatbund. 3/1982, pp. 31-39.
• Alfred Bruns (Ed.), Josef Häming (compilation): The Members of the Westphalia Parliament 1826–1978 (= Westphalian source and archive directories, Volume 2). Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe, Münster 1978, p. 668.