As soon as the US combat troops had entered Wiesbaden in 1945, Heinrich Roos asked some friendly citizens to an exploratory meeting. The very next day, a committee for re-democratization was initiated, which was intended not least to restore the local authority's ability to act as soon as possible.

This committee, which was founded on 29.03.1945 on a grassroots democratic basis, was rooted in a non-party circle of friends of mostly left-liberal opposition activists who had gathered around Roos during the Nazi tyranny in order to provide material and mental support to those persecuted by the regime. The Aufbau Committee saw itself as the "representation of all anti-Nazi forces in the citizenry". It was initially chaired by Karl Helwig, while Roos acted as managing director and Ludwig Schwenck, through whom one of the group's three conspiratorial links to the "July 20th" conspirators had passed, as treasurer.

A special commission for negotiations with the Americans was also formed. This was asked to recognize the former government councillor Martin Nischalke as spokesman for the reconstruction committee. In addition, as early as April 1945, the wish was expressed to be consulted by the US military government in filling all positions relevant to decision-making in the city. But for the time being, the committee, which had pledged its active support in the "eradication of National Socialism in word and deed", was merely tolerated by the Americans, but not legitimized. Nevertheless, it took an active part in the political, economic and administrative reorganization; sub-committees were formed in the suburbs and in the districts of Mainz that were soon incorporated into Wiesbaden.

With the consent of the military government, the full committee was able to meet every month, while a smaller working committee consisting of just a few members met every week. The reconstruction committee quickly grew to almost 50 members, mostly Liberal Democrats, but also including Conservatives, Social Democrats and some Communists. Several of its members held important public offices, such as Philipp Holl and Heinrich Roos as full-time city councillor and mayor respectively, Ferdinand Grün as head of the employment office, Karl Schöppler as chairman of the Chamber of Trade and Dr. August Amann as president of the Wiesbaden Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

The reconstruction committee acted in the conviction that it had the majority of the city's inhabitants behind it, because of its non-partisan orientation, because it included numerous notables from local politics and administration and because of its firm commitment to democracy, which meant that it also had the support of the occupying power. Its tasks included organizing the supply of food and fuel for the population, the fair distribution of housing, clearing rubble, supporting the reconstruction of the healthcare system and medical care, assisting with the reconstruction of the economy and helping with denazification and welfare for former victims of Nazi persecution.

At the beginning of April, the committee tried to have its member Nischalke appointed president of the new district government, but on May 1, the Americans appointed the former Reich Radio Commissioner Dr. Hans Bredow to this post and named Nischalke vice president. The latter had also been proposed as Lord Mayor, but the Americans considered Georg Krücke more suitable for this office and appointed him to his former post on April 21, 1945.

Various disagreements between the Reconstruction Committee on the one hand and Krücke and Bredow on the other were only resolved after the occupying power officially recognized the Reconstruction Committee at the beginning of June. When a successor to Bredow had to be appointed shortly afterwards, the head of the military government, Colonel James R. Newman, followed the request of the Reconstruction Committee and appointed Nischalke as the new government president.

One month later, the Social Democrats and Communists applied for the committee to be transformed into a committee with equal representation for the period up to the upcoming city council elections. After tough, time-consuming negotiations between the Christian Democrats and the representatives of the two workers' parties, which had in the meantime merged to form a unified committee, the Wiesbaden Citizens' Council (BRW) was also launched on November 22, 1945 as a "representation of the anti-national socialist forces". The three parties authorized at the time, the CDU, SPD and KPD, were each represented by 16 members, while so-called free circles (FK), such as the Democratic Unity Trade Union Wiesbaden, the churches, business and commerce, etc., together sent twelve representatives to this council. Its leadership was assumed by the new SPD chairman Johannes Maaß, who had last held this position on the Aufbau Committee and was now supported on the board by the Communist Hans Quarch and Ludwig Schwenck as the FK representative.

The most important projects of the BRW were a winter emergency aid program, the creation of a supervisory body for the deployment of workers and the drafting of a municipal constitution. Towards the end of the year, a citizens' council was also constituted in Biebrich. Both councils increased their efficiency by setting up a smaller working committee, a number of special commissions and an advisory board created at the beginning of 1946, which reported directly to the Lord Mayor.

After free city council elections were held again for the first time on May 26, 1946, the BRW had also fulfilled its purpose as a municipal pre-parliament and was soon dissolved. As the Communists, the Liberals and the Citizens' and Farmers' Party had all failed to meet the 15 percent threshold ordered by the Americans, only the CDU with 31 and the SPD with 29 seats entered the municipal assembly. The assembly convened for the first time on June 2, 1946 in the auditorium of the former trade school in Wellritzstraße and elected the Christian Democratic leading candidate Hans Heinrich Redlhammer almost unanimously as the new Lord Mayor on July 25.

In order to tackle the many pressing social, economic and other problems, the only two parties represented in the local parliament at the time formed a coalition, which filled the first democratically reconstituted municipal council with eight full-time and eight honorary councillors on a parity basis.

Glaser, Heike: Democratic new beginning in Wiesbaden. Aspects of social, economic and political reconstruction after 1945, Wiesbaden 1995 (Schriften des Stadtarchivs Wiesbaden 4).

Ulrich, Axel: Demokratischer Neubeginn in Wiesbaden: von den antifaschistischen Bürgerausschüssen und den Anfängen der politischen Reorganisation. In: Schacht, Hesse 1945 [pp. 29-70].