Schmelzeisen, Otto
Prison officer, sports teacher
Born: April 10, 1892 in Mainz
died: March 11, 1983 in Wiesbaden

The name Otto Schmelzeisen is inextricably linked with the history of judo in Wiesbaden, if not in Germany. In his honor, the judo hall (dojo) in the sports hall on Konrad-Adenauer-Ring was renamed "Otto-Schmelzeisen-Halle" in 1997.

Otto Schmelzeisen was born in Mainz, the son of a waiter. After attending elementary school in Mainz, he trained as a distiller between 1906 and 1909 and attended the advanced training school in Mainz. In 1913, Schmelzeisen did military service with the Grand Ducal Hessian Field Artillery Regiment No. 25 and took part in the First World War with this regiment. Schmelzeisen left the army in 1920. During the First World War, he was wounded twice and lost two fingers as a result. He also contracted malaria. Due to his wounds, Schmelzeisen was unable to return to his profession.

After the end of the war, Schmelzeisen worked for a few months as a sergeant demobilizing German troops in a transit camp in Darmstadt. In 1920, Schmelzeisen was employed as an assistant warden at the Mainz district court prison. After a two-year probationary period, he was appointed senior prison officer. Schmelzeisen worked here until his retirement in 1957.

During his training for the police and prison service, Schmelzeisen came into contact with the martial art of Jiu-Jitsu, the art of unarmed self-defense from which the Japanese professor Kano later developed Judo. He subsequently practiced jiu-jitsu and judo as a competitive athlete and acted as an instructor in this martial art for all officers in the prisons in what is now Rhineland-Palatinate. Schmelzeisen also trained the money delivery clerks at the post offices in Mainz and Wiesbaden in martial arts.

In 1922, Schmelzeisen founded the Wiesbaden Jiu-Jitsu Club, which was later renamed Judo Club Wiesbaden 1922 e.V. (JCW) - it was only the second judo club ever to be founded in Germany. Alongside Alfred Rhode in Frankfurt am Main, Schmelzeisen is regarded as a pioneer of German judo. In 1932, Rhode had organized the "1st Judo Summer School" in Frankfurt am Main with Japanese teachers. He was supported by Schmelzeisen at this event.

Otto Schmelzeisen became a member of the SA on 8 November 1935; he had previously been a member of the "Stahlhelm - Bund der Frontsoldaten" and was transferred from this association to the party organization when it merged with the SA. In the SA, Schmelzeisen held the rank of Scharführer and was also a sports officer. He joined the NSDAP on January 24, 1939, having been a party candidate since May 1, 1937. Schmelzeisen was also a member of the National Socialist People's Welfare Organization, the National Socialist Teachers' Association, the Reich Warriors' Association, the Reich Association of German Civil Servants and the Reich Air Protection Association.

In addition to various Nazi organizations, Schmelzeisen was also heavily involved in the sport of judo: from 1933 he was Gauobmann of the NSRL for judo in Gau XIII Südwest and from 1935 head of the specialist department for heavy athletics in District 2 Wiesbaden.

In 1938, Schmelzeisen was also appointed area specialist for judo in the Hitler Youth (HJ). In this position, he led the judo courses in the HJ. In 1941, Schmelzeisen was a teacher at the 2nd Reich Youth Course for the Reich's best judo players in Leipzig. He was also Gau exercise instructor, Reich exercise instructor and Reich referee. In 1941, he received the NSRL's Reich Certificate of Honor. He was also deputy Reich youth chairman of the NSRL.

Otto Schmelzeisen saw his most important task as establishing judo, a young sport in Europe, in National Socialist Germany. His success was also based on the high status that the Nazi movement accorded to sport and especially martial arts. Jiu-jitsu and judo were therefore sports that were very much in the focus of the Nazi regime.

The training at the Ordensburg Falkenburg at Krössinsee in Pomerania (today: Złocieniec in Poland) was a course for the future leadership cadres of the NSDAP. The "education" of this future political leadership class also included a strong focus on sporting activities.

Schmelzeisen's close cooperation with the HJ is also documented in activity reports. For example, several judo courses with HJ-Bann 115 from Darmstadt and HJ-Bann 80 from Wiesbaden are listed from 1943.

Schmelzeisen's strong commitment to the sport of judo and the Hitler Youth was also appreciated by his professional environment.

In March 1945, Schmelzeisen's office in Mainz was no longer accessible due to the American occupation of the left bank of the Rhine. Schmelzeisen then volunteered for the Wehrmacht and took an active part in the fighting in the final weeks of the war. He was sent to the front as a sergeant in an artillery unit near Würzburg and was promoted to sergeant before he was taken prisoner of war by the Americans on May 6, 1945, from which he was released after 52 days.

After his release from captivity, Schmelzeisen returned to Wiesbaden and was reinstated in the judicial service in January 1946. However, a few months later, in June 1946, he was dismissed by the Central Purge Commission of the military government. The reason for this was his SA membership.

Schmelzeisen and his superiors in Mainz prison made efforts in the following months to reinstate the constable.

Schmelzeisen submitted a whole series of affidavits in the court file stating that he had behaved correctly, particularly towards political prisoners. It is also repeatedly emphasized that he had shown particular commitment during air raids and had taken the prisoners to the security room, although this was also in line with his official duties.

Schmelzeisen was in a financially difficult situation after his release and tried to portray himself as an apolitical sportsman in several letters to the Wiesbaden Trial Chamber.

In the end, the court followed Schmelzeisen's statements and classified his sporting activities as apolitical. The chamber classified him in group 4 ("follower"). However, the proceedings were discontinued on February 25, 1947 due to the amnesty that began.

After the proceedings were dropped, Schmelzeisen returned to the prison service and continued to be involved in judo. He received numerous awards for this commitment, including the honorary plates and plaques of the cities of Mainz and Wiesbaden and, in 1973, the Federal Cross of Merit
1st class.

After the Second World War, he rebuilt the JCW a second time. The Allies had initially banned martial arts, but in 1948 it was possible to practise again. Schmelzeisen led the judo club until 1954 and continued to work as an instructor afterwards. In the same year, he was appointed honorary sports director at the JCW.

He received further awards in the sporting field: in 1977, on the occasion of his 85th birthday, he was awarded the "8th Dan". This master degree in judo had previously been awarded almost exclusively to Japanese masters who had rendered outstanding services to the further development of budo sports. Dan degrees are usually acquired through examinations, but are also awarded in special cases. Europeans rarely achieve a higher distinction than the seventh dan.

In 1997, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the club, the JCW organized an "Otto Schmelzeisen Memorial Tournament" in Wiesbaden.

The historical commission appointed by the city council in 2020 to review public areas, buildings and facilities named after people in the state capital of Wiesbaden recommended renaming the "Otto-Schmelzeisen-Dojo" because of Schmelzeisen's membership of various National Socialist organizations (NSDAP, SA, RDB, NSV, NSRL, NS-Kriegerbund, NSLB). He was also active in a nationalist group before 1933 with his membership of the "Stahlhelm - Bund der Frontsoldaten". Schmelzeisen was an SA-Scharführer and Gauobmann for judo in Gau XIII Südwest, head of the specialist department for heavy athletics in District 2 Wiesbaden, Gau exercise instructor, Reich exercise instructor, Reich referee and deputy youth chairman in the NSRL. As a result, he actively supported the National Socialist state. Through his involvement in the Hitler Youth and his training of the political elite of the Nazi regime, Schmelzeisen also provided immaterial support to the Nazi state and made a tangible commitment to National Socialism.

[This text was created by Achim Dreis for the 2017 printed version of the Wiesbaden City Dictionary and revised and supplemented by Dr. Katherine Lukat in 2024].