Günther Karl Edgar Wolfgang Riesen (23 September 1892 – 5 October 1951) was a German

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

politician who served as Mayor of

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Origin, education, occupation

Riesen was born in Breslau,

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

(now

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

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

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 reigns in Ge ...

. Günter Riesen served in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

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 ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

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 ''Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany, Gau'' or ''Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party, rank in ...

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

Nazi period

After the local elections in Cologne on 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 and politician who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of th ...

deposed and installed Günter Riesen as acting mayor. 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 Wrocław. He was dismissed in 1945 by the Allies. He lost his pension entitlement because he was not granted

denazification Denazification () was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by removing those who had been Nazi Par ...

. Riesen died in Ruppichteroth on 5 October 1951.Laut dem Kölner Personenlexikon starb er am 21. Dezember: Kölner Personen-Lexikon, hrsg. von Ulrich S. Soénius und Jürgen Wilhelm, Greven Verlag, Cologne 2008, p. 449

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 Götting ...

, Rudolf Vierhaus: ''

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 1892 births 1951 deaths Politicians from Wrocław Mayors of Cologne Nazi Party members Politicians from the Province of Silesia