Hermann Heinrich Becker

Hermann Heinrich Becker ( born September 15, 1820 Elberfeld (now Wuppertal to ); † December 9, 1885 in Cologne, called Red Becker ) was a German politician.

Career

His nickname " Red Becker " he got during his high school years because of his red hair and kept him all his life because of his democratic and republican sentiments.

His father, Dr. Hermann Becker was a practical physician, his mother Theodora Helene Caroline Wilhelmine Friederike nee Becker Krackrügge. His uncle was the well-known Democrat and deputies of the Prussian National Assembly Goswin Krackrügge. Becker studied in Heidelberg, Bonn and Berlin, law and political science, after his studies he completed his PhD on May 10, 1847 the Faculty of Law in Göttingen while he worked as a Supreme Court clerk at the District Court in Cologne. He became in 1840 a ​​member of the fraternity Lumpia Heidelberg and in 1843 a member of the fraternity Fridericia Bonn.

During his training in Cologne, he learned, among other things Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Heinrich and Wilhelm Wolff citizen know. He later took a journalist and popular speaker on the movements of 1848 and 1849, a lively interest. Becker was also one of " the electors of the City of Cologne for the election of deputies to the second chamber " for the " 31 District " .1849/50 he was chief editor of the " Westdeutsche Zeitung ", which was republican, democratic and anti- Prussian oriented, of their ideas as a successor body of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, Marx, Ernst Dronke, Engels, Ferdinand Freiligrath, Georg Weerth, Ferdinand Wolff and Wilhelm Wolff clearly demarcated. Since December 1850, he was with Karl Marx in negotiations on the issue of the "Collected Essays " of Marx, whose first issue in late April 1851, in Cologne; more books could not appear because of the arrest Beckers. On 19 May 1851 he was arrested as a " communist" and was in November 1852 one of the main accused in Cologne Communist trial, Cologne was not allowed to enter, lost the civil rights and was therefore deleted from the list of trainee lawyers. Due to an obvious fake from the police log book Becker was sentenced to five years imprisonment ( November 1852-November 1857 ), which he in Szczecin and Gdansk Fortress Wisłoujście (now Polish: Wisloujscie ) was serving. His self- defense speech during the process was reprinted in full by the Cologne Gazette.

After serving his imprisonment, he settled in Dortmund, worked for a time in a commercial business, then participated as employees in various political and economic magazines and at the same time devoted his energies to the urban communities. He was a city councilor from 1864 to 1871 the city of Dortmund, was the founder and chairman of the Dortmunder Volksbank, the trade association and in 1870 mayor of Dortmund. Although Becker no longer lived in Cologne, he shall continue to grant political line of the German Progressive Party in Cologne.

He represented the electoral district of Dortmund from 1862 to 1872 in the Prussian House of Representatives, from 1867 to 1870 in northern Germany and from 1871 to 1874 the German Reichstag. In all parliaments, in which he was elected, he was a member of each of the Group of the Progressive Party. 1867 Becker was elected to the extended board of the Progressive Party in 1872, he was appointed as a representative of the city of Dortmund in the manor house, where he remained until 1885. As a Member Becker voted in 1867 against the North German Confederation Constitution, but called after 1870 /71 the completion of national unity in the form of the newly founded German Empire from.

In 1875 he left Dortmund and was elected mayor in Cologne and for this city Member of the mansion as well as the Council of State, which he remained until his death in 1885. 1876 ​​aroused his application in the mansion stir when he called for the introduction of the travel expenses for members of the manor for trips between origin and Berlin. After heated discussion, his request was voted down in the plenary session on 24 June 1876 by the Conservatives. As Mayor of Cologne, he brought the gas and water supply under municipal jurisdiction, reformed the school system of the city and extended the urban area of Cologne by incorporations from.

It was only in later years as Mayor of Cologne he married on October 8, 1877 Henriette Metzmacher ( born October 3, 1847 in Dortmund, † January 28, 1928 ), daughter of his old friend Carl Metzmacher ( born January 26, 1846 in Dortmund), the steam mill-owner and Member of Parliament was. However, this marriage was short- lived, as Becker on December 9, 1885 died of pulmonary tuberculosis from which he fell ill in 1884. His grave is located on the Melaten cemetery in Cologne. There is a bronze portrait of Anton Werres (1887 ), which shows him in profile on his grave. It is the Colonia ' depicted as a symbol of Cologne.

Works

• West German newspaper. Democratic political Tageblatt. Becker, Cologne 1849-1850 (May 25, 1849 to July 21, 1850 )
• Collected Essays of Karl Marx. Edited by Hermann Becker. 1 booklet. Becker, Cologne 1850 ( Reprint C. Slienger, London 1976)
• Monarchy or republic in Germany. Part 1 Vertheidigungsrede by Dr. H. Becker, held in front of the juries at Cologne, 25 October 1850, together with indictment. 4 durchges. Ed pressure and publishing house of J. Creteur & Son, Cologne 1850
• Vertheidigungsrede besides prosecution act by H. Becker. Berlin 1850
• Vertheidigungsrede of (...) Hermann Becker, ( ... ), held in front of the jury - courts of Cologne on October 25, 1850. Expedition of Lübeck newspaper, Lübeck 1850
• Monarchy or republic in Germany. Part 2 first secret because of the pressing process Vertheidigungsrede of 25 October 1850, brought before the jury of Cologne on 10 April 1851. Published by the accused Dr. Herm. Becker. 2nd Ed Becker, Cologne 1851
• Monarchy or republic in Germany. Part 1 Vertheidigungsrede by Dr. H. Becker, held in front of the juries at Cologne, 25 October 1850. 7th ed Cologne 1851
• Monarchy or republic in Germany. Indictment and Vertheidigungsrede by Dr. Mr. Becker in front of the juries at Cologne, 25 October 1850. 8th ed iron, Cologne 1851 Online
• My candidacy for the House of Deputies. ( Election on December 6, 1861) by an attachment, Declaration ', a period of his life including. 3 verm Ed Kruger, Dortmund 1862
• The Dortmund wall Schneider- book. Edited by Hermann Becker. Crüwell, Dortmund 1871
• Speech of the Landtag and Reichstag deputy Hermann Becker, held on 26 February 1871 in a public meeting to Dortmund. Shorthand of Ms Kohn. Dortmund 1871 ( From: . Stenographic leaves from Westphalia, Dortmund Vol 2 1871 No. 5. )
• Speech by the chief administrative officer Rynch, held at the introduction of the Hermann Becker in his office as mayor of Dortmund on July 1, 1871, and reply speech of the mayor Hermann Becker. Welcome speech of Hermann Becker, addressed to the warriors of Dortmund (...) on September 2, 1871. Shorthand by Karl Pork and Mrs. Kohn. Dortmund 1871 ( From: .. Stenographic leaves from Westphalia, Dortmund Vol 2 1871 No. 5. )