Franz Bourchard Ernst Adickes was a German politician. He was the mayor of
Dortmund
Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...
from 1873 to 1876, the mayor of
Altona from 1876 to 1879, and
mayor of Frankfurt
The Mayor of Frankfurt (German: (male) or (female), sometimes translated as "Lord Mayor") is the highest-ranking member of city government in Frankfurt, Germany. The mayor was traditionally elected by the city council. This system was replaced ...
from 14 October 1890 to 1 October 1912.
Adickes is considered one of the most important in the history of
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
due to his tenure during the
founding period, an important time in Frankfurt's urban development. In the history of Frankfurt, Adickes has the longest tenure as mayor.
Family
Adickes is the brother of German
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
Erich Adickes
Erich Adickes (29 June 1866, in Lesum – 8 July 1928, in Tübingen), was a German philosopher who wrote many important works on Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) and the Kantian philosophy. Adickes was a critical empiricist (moderate Kantian).
Adick ...
.
On 27 September 1873, Adickes married Sophie Therese Lambert (1848-1922) and they had four children:
* Friedrich, the only son, died in July 1874 at the age of four days.
* Theodore (1875-1945), married Dr.
Ludwig Rottenberg
Ludwig Rottenberg (11 October 1865 – 6 May 1932) was an Austrian/German composer and conductor.
Biography
Rottenberg came from a German-speaking Jewish family in Czernowitz, the then-capital of Bukovina, which at the time was part of the Aust ...
(1864-1932), a Frankfurt composer and first conductor of the
Frankfurt Opera
The Oper Frankfurt (Frankfurt Opera) is a German opera company based in Frankfurt.
Opera in Frankfurt am Main has a long tradition, with many world premieres such as Franz Shrek's ''Der ferne Klang'' in 1912, '' Fennimore und Gerda'' by Frede ...
in 1895. Her daughter, Gertrud (1900-1967) married the Frankfurt composer
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Ne ...
.
* Gertrud (1878-1960), married the business magnate and politician
Alfred Hugenberg
Alfred Ernst Christian Alexander Hugenberg (19 June 1865 – 12 March 1951) was an influential German businessman and politician. An important figure in nationalist politics in Germany for the first few decades of the twentieth century, Hugenbe ...
(1865-1951) in 1900 and together had a son and three daughters.
* Erika (1889-1960), married Karl Eisenlohr.
Political Career
Adickes studied law in
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
,
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
and
Göttingen
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...
from 1864 to 1867. In July 1873, shortly after his Second
State Exam, he was unanimously elected mayor of Dortmund, a position he served for three years. In 1876, Adickes was appointed as the second mayor in the Prussian city of
Altona, succeeding Friedrich Thaden. As mayor, Adickes developed the city to compete with neighboring
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
.
The Frankfurt city council elected Adickes on 14 October 1890 as mayor. He assisted the establishment of the
Festhalle
A Festhalle is a German arena or community center. The root meaning of the name "Fest-halle" literally means "Feast-Hall," but is best translated as "Festival Hall" or "Civic Center." Festhalles can be found in many towns and cities in Germany, and ...
art museum. He was an important figure in the founding of
Johann Wolfgang Goethe University
Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...
in 1914. He also chieved the establishment of an efficient airport.
Death and legacy
Adickes died two and a half years after the end of his term as mayor of Frankfurt.
In 1912, he was appointed honorary citizen of the city of Frankfurt, and in 1914 was awarded the title "
Real Geheimer Rat", a symbolic honor for the highest officials in Prussia.
On 25 October 1916, a bust was unveiled in the atrium of the new university for the university founder, who died the previous year.
In 1996, on the occasion of Adickes' 150th birthday, the Institute of Urban History organized the exhibition Breakthrough to Modernity.
References
* https://www.myheritage.com/names/franz_adickes
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adickes, Franz
Mayors of Frankfurt
20th-century German politicians
19th-century German politicians
1846 births
1915 deaths