Werner Bockelmann (23 September 1907 – 7 April 1968) was a German lawyer and politician of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

, 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 ...

between 1957 and 1964.

Early life and education

Bockelmann was born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

to a German banker, , and fellow German Anna Bockelmann (née Förster). The family was quite rich. In 1920, the Bockelmann family moved to Germany. After attending the

Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums The ''Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums'' ( ''Academic School of the Johanneum'', short: Johanneum) is a Gymnasium (or Grammar School ) in Hamburg, Germany. It is Hamburg's oldest school and was founded in 1529 by Johannes Bugenhagen. The school's f ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Bockelmann studied Law at the universities of

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

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 ...

and

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

. He became a lawyer in Hamburg in 1935. Bockelmann was the Chief of Staff of the

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...

between 1941 and 1945.

Political career

Bockelmann's first political experience was in the city of

Lüneburg Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also calle ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

. He served as the Mayor of Lüneburg between 1945 and 1946, and became a

city manager A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city, in a "Mayor–council government" council–manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are sometimes referred to as the chief execu ...

in 1946, staying in that role until 1955. From 1955 to 1957 Bockelmann was the mayor of

Ludwigshafen Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning " Ludwig's Port upon Rhine"), is a city in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the river Rhine, opposite Mannheim. With Mannheim, Heidelberg, and the surrounding region, it form ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

. In 1957, Bockelmann was elected as Mayor of Frankfurt am Main. During his tenure, the decision was made to create a city railway, which would become 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 ...

. Other defining events of Bockelmann's time in office were the re-construction of the University of Frankfurt, the creation of the "Nordweststadt" area of Frankfurt and the building of one of Frankfurt's first skyscrapers, the "Zurich House" (which has since been destroyed). Bockelmann met with US President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

when he visited Frankfurt in 1963, accompanying Kennedy at the signing of the "Golden Book" at the Frankfurt Rathaus. Bockelmann did not enjoy great popularity during his tenure as mayor, perhaps due to him being seen as an outsider, given his north-German origins. Bockelmann was re-elected as mayor following local elections in 1960, but left office in 1964 on medical grounds. He was succeeded in office by

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 ...

Personal life and death

Bockelmann married and had four sons, Mischa, Andrej, Martin and Thomas. is a sociologist and journalist, and is an actor and director, who has served as the director of several theatres in Germany. Werner Bockelmann was the uncle of Austrian pop-singer

Udo Jürgens Udo Jürgens (born Jürgen Udo Bockelmann; 30 September 1934 – 21 December 2014) was an Austrian composer and singer of popular music whose career spanned over 50 years. He won the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 for Austria, composed close ...

. Bockelmann died in a car accident on April 7 1968. He was 60 years old at the time of his death{{Cite news , date=7 April 2008 , title=Werner Bockelmann verunglückt tödlich , work=Frankfurter Rundschau , url=https://www.fr.de/politik/werner-bockelmann-verunglueckt-toedlich-11592205.html , access-date=2 June 2022

References

1907 births 1968 deaths Mayors of Frankfurt 20th-century German politicians