Walter Möller (7 April 1920 - 16 November 1971) was a German politician who served as the

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 1970 until his death in 1971.

Life

Möller was born to Karl and Maria Möller (née Ploennigs), a working-class couple living in the Bornheim area 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 ...

. His father was a blacksmith who was active in SPD politics. After the rise of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

to power in Germany, Möller began training to become a book printer, but left to join the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

in 1937. After the end of the war, Möller studied at the Academy of Labour in Frankfurt, graduating in February 1948. He then worked for Radio Frankfurt, before joining the Frankfurt City Council as a member of the SPD. From 1949 he was the editor of the party magazine for the Hessen SPD. In 1961, Möller was made the Department Head for Transport under then-mayor Werner Bockelmann. He undersaw the planning, construction and operation of the

Frankfurt U-Bahn The Frankfurt U-Bahn is a Stadtbahn system serving Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. Together with the Rhine-Main S-Bahn and the Frankfurt Straßenbahn, it forms the backbone of the public transport system in Frankfurt. Its name derives from the Germa ...

. Möller drove the first train to pass through the U-Bahn when it opened on 4 October 1968. On 11 June 1970, Möller was elected Mayor of Frankfurt following the death of his predecessor,

Willi Brundert Willi Brundert (12 June 1912 - 7 May 1970) was a German politician. He served in several political roles in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany from 1946 until his arrest and imprisonment in 1950. After being released from prison in 1957, Brunde ...

. However, shortly after his election, Möller began suffering from deteriorating health, experiencing a heart attack in May 1971. Möller died after a second heart attack in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

on 16 November 1971. He only served one year of his four-year term as mayor before his death. Möller is buried in

Frankfurt Main Cemetery The Frankfurt Main Cemetery (German: ''Hauptfriedhof'') is the largest cemetery in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was opened in 1828. The cemetery is located directly adjacent to two Jewish cemeteries—the Old Jewish Cemetery, F ...

. The City of Frankfurt created the "Walter Möller Prize" in 1977 - a €10,000 prize which is awarded bi-annually to groups and communities that render outstanding services to the common good of Frankfurt. Walter-Möller-Platz in north-west Frankfurt is named after Möller.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Möller, Walter 1920 births 1971 deaths Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Mayors of Frankfurt 20th-century German politicians Politicians from Frankfurt