Wolfgang von Kries

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Wolfgang Ludwig Moritz von Kries (born November 27, 1868 at Gut Smarzewo near Schmentau , Marienwerder district , West Prussia ; † October 15, 1945 in Potsdam ) was a Prussian civil servant, politician and Vice President of the Prussian state parliament .

family

Kries came from a Thuringian family mentioned in Lehesten around 1600 and was the son of the landowner Otto von Kries (1839-1916), Fideikommissherr on the Kriesfelde estates (Smarzewo) with Vorwerk Czerwinsk and Kulmaga, and Martha von Dewall (1845-1920).

He married on April 8, 1896 in Königsberg i. Pr. Luise Prüschenck von Lindenhofen (born December 11, 1874 at Gut Schreinen, Heiligenbeil district , East Prussia, † April 27, 1945 in Potsdam), the daughter of the landowner Carl Waldemar Sigismund Prüschenck von Lindenhofen and Martha Prieß. The couple had three daughters and managed the manor shrines. One cousin was the Prussian politician Georg von Kries and one uncle was Kurt von Kries , also a Prussian politician.

Life

Kries attended the Marienwerder grammar school and the Bromberg grammar school . After high school he studied at the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg , the Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Berlin and the University of Königsberg law . He passed the first state examination in law and completed his legal clerkship in Neuchâtel and Berlin . After graduating as Dr. jur. In 1891 and the passing of the second state examination in law, he worked from 1894 as a court assessor at the senior public prosecutor's office at the Berlin Court of Appeal . He then worked as a legal advisor in Arnsberg (1900/01) and Münster (1901/02).

From May 1903 to May 1920, he served as district administrator of the district Filehne on the networks . He had administered the office since October 1902. From 1908 to 1918 he was also a member of the Prussian House of Representatives , where he joined the conservative faction . Kries did military service from 1887 to 1888 with the Fusilier Regiment "Graf Roon" (East Prussian) No. 33 and was subsequently a reserve officer of the 3rd Guards Regiment on foot . During the First World War he was promoted to captain in the 3rd Guards Landwehr Regiment and appointed as a civil servant in occupied Russian Poland , Kalisch and later to Warsaw .

At first he was deputy to the head of the civil administration for Poland on the left of the Vistula , the district president Hans von Brandenstein . In 1915 he became head of administration of the imperial German civil administration in the Generalgouvernement of Warsaw . As such, he and the curator Bogdan Graf von Hutten-Czapski made great contributions to the founding of the University of Warsaw and the Technical University of Warsaw , which were able to start teaching in 1915 (after about 60 years in Polish again).

From November 1917 he was Reich Commissioner to discuss questions about acts of violence against civilians in enemy territory . Kries was also the father of the new national currency, which he called the Polish Mark and which was a means of payment until 1924. During the war he was awarded the Iron Cross II and I Class, the Prussian Order of the Crown II Class and other honors.

Count Hutten-Czapski said the following about him in his memoirs: “I had great doubts as to whether this relatively young administrative officer would have the experience, authority and serenity to set up an orderly administration in a foreign country. (...) Right from the start, on the occasion of a lecture given by Hans von Beseler , I came to the conclusion that Kries was a born organizer and administrative officer. He immediately overlooked any matter, however alien to him. He had an exceptional workforce and was always informed about all the different branches of his administration ”.

After the First World War, Kries became a member of the German National People's Party and the Prussian Constitutional Assembly from 1919. Until 1933 he was a member of the DNVP in the Prussian state parliament. Both in the state assembly and in the state parliament he held the office of Vice President without interruption. In addition, he was a member of the Reichslandbund .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mann, Bernhard (edit.): Biographical manual for the Prussian House of Representatives. 1867-1918. Collaboration with Martin Doerry , Cornelia Rauh and Thomas Kühne . Düsseldorf: Droste Verlag, 1988, p. 232 (handbooks on the history of parliamentarism and political parties: vol. 3); for the election results see Thomas Kühne: Handbook of elections to the Prussian House of Representatives 1867–1918. Election results, election alliances and election candidates (= handbooks on the history of parliamentarism and political parties. Volume 6). Droste, Düsseldorf 1994, ISBN 3-7700-5182-3 , pp. 296-299.
personal data
SURNAME Kries, Wolfgang von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kries, Wolfgang Ludwig Moritz von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German administrative officer and politician (DNVP), MdL
DATE OF BIRTH November 27, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Gut Smarzewo near Smętowo Graniczne , Marienwerder district , West Prussia
DATE OF DEATH October 15, 1945
Place of death Potsdam