Fischer, Heinrich

Bookseller, publisher, mayor

born: 29.01.1812 in Wiesbaden

died: 20.06.1883 in Wiesbaden

Fischer set up as a book and map dealer in Wiesbaden and in 1839 founded a fiction reading circle and in July 1847, together with the publisher Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Friedrich, a "reading cabinet for newspapers of general interest", which offered "the best political journals in the largest selection". In 1848, Fischer was co-editor of the "Freie Zeitung" during the revolution. He was one of the co-founders of the Democratic Association in Wiesbaden. On January 15, 1849, Fischer became the first mayor elected by the citizenry and was confirmed in this office for life on November 29, 1854. At his own request, he retired for health reasons by decree on July 12, 1868.

During his term of office, Wiesbaden was designated a world spa town for the first time in 1852. It was thanks to his perseverance that the main Protestant church was built on the market square. Fischer suffered under the paternalism of the ducal government. In 1859, he was reprimanded for voting for the Progressive Party in the elections to the second chamber of parliament. In 1863, he was reprimanded for allowing the municipal council to vote in favor of maintaining the customs union, which the government disliked, and for joining the Franco-German trade treaty. However, the mayor and municipal council refused to be intimidated and continued to represent the interests of trade, industry and agriculture. These interests were also served by the Nassau Trade Exhibition in 1863. Under Fischer, Wiesbaden experienced the end of the Duchy of Nassau and its incorporation into the Kingdom of Prussia.