Günter Riesen (''Carl-Günther Riesen'') (23 September 1892 – 5 October 1951) was a German

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

politician who served as Mayor of

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

Origin, education, occupation

Riesen was born in Breslau, German Empire (now Wroclaw,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

). His father was the vice president of the Deutsche Reichsbahn (German Imperial Railways) and was entitled

Geheimrat ''Geheimrat'' was the title of the highest advising officials at the Imperial, royal or princely courts of the Holy Roman Empire, who jointly formed the ''Geheimer Rat'' reporting to the ruler. The term remained in use during subsequent monarchic r ...

. Günter Riesen served in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and studied from 1919 to 1924 political economy and economics in

. Riesen graduated in 1922. Günter Riesen was married to a daughter of the wealthy Cologne manufacturer Otto Brügelmann. The wife of Riesen, Grete, was an early member of the

Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

in Cologne. Riesen himself joined the party in 1932.

Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a '' Gau'' or '' Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest rank in the Nazi political leadership, subordinate only to '' Reichsleiter'' and to ...

Josef Grohé Josef Grohé (6 November 1902 – 27 December 1987) was a German Nazi Party official. He was the long-serving ''Gauleiter'' of Gau Cologne-Aachen and ''Reichskommissar'' for Belgium and Northern France toward the end of the Second World Wa ...

therefore found Riesen suitable for a high position after the seizure.

Nazi period

After the local elections in Cologne on Sunday, 12 March 1933 the Nazi party and the ''Kampffront Schwarz-Weiß-Rot'' had won the absolute majority of the city councilors only because the votes of the communists were declared invalid. The Gauleiter Josef Grohé declared

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman who served as the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of the Christian Dem ...

deposed and installed Günter Riesen as acting mayor.Henning Köhler (Historiker): ''Adenauer. Eine politische Biographie.'' Propyläen, Berlin 1994, , S. 281f. On 4 April 1933 official disciplinary proceedings against Adenauer were initiated, which was concluded on 4 June 1934. Adenauer was cleared of all charges. Riesen was an antisemite. Riesen lost his position in 1936 because of a devise pass. However, he was appointed in 1938 Chief Executive of the Merseburg district, and in 1942 he received a high position in Wroclaw. He was dismissed in 1945 by the Allies. He lost his pension entitlement because he was not granted denazification. Riesen died in

Ruppichteroth Ruppichteroth is a municipality in the Rhein-Sieg district, in the southern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located approximately 30 kilometers east of Bonn. Districts In 1969, the old municipality of Winterscheid became part of ...

in 1951.

Literature

Walther Killy Walther Killy (26 August 191728 December 1995) was a German literary scholar who specialised in poetry, especially that of Friedrich Hölderlin and Georg Trakl. He taught at the Free University of Berlin, the Georg-August-Universität Göttinge ...

Rudolf Vierhaus Rudolf Vierhaus (29 October 1922 – 13 November 2011) was a German historian who mainly researched the Early modern period. He had been a professor at the newly founded Ruhr University Bochum since 1964. From 1971, he was director of the in Göt ...

: ''

Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie The ''Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie'' (''DBE'') is a biographical dictionary published by Walther Killy and Rudolf Vierhaus (from the third to fourth volume), the first edition of which was published from 1995 to 2003 in 13 volumes by K. ...

''. K.G. Saur Verlag, Munich 1998, . * .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riesen, Gunter Mayors of Cologne Nazi Party members People from the Province of Silesia 1892 births 1951 deaths