Helwig, Karl Heinrich

Teacher, politician

Born: 20.12.1880 in Haina (Frankenberg district)

died: 10.07.1963 in Wiesbaden

After the Royal Preparatory School in Herborn, Helwig attended the Royal Teachers' College in Usingen and took up his first post as a primary school teacher in Köppern in 1902. Five years later he came to Wiesbaden to the Blücherschule, was transferred to the secondary school in Stiftstraße in 1909 and finally moved to the secondary school in Rheinstraße in 1921, where he was promoted to principal in 1922. In 1929 he was appointed to the city school board. Dismissed in 1933 for political reasons, he earned his living with a wide variety of activities.

In 1945 he became head of the department for politics, education and churches and in 1946 head of the education department at the Wiesbaden regional council, a post he held until his retirement in 1949. He then wrote school textbooks.

Helwig was involved in voluntary work, for example as a member of the board of trustees of the eye sanatorium, on the church council of the Bergkirchengemeinde and as a member of the advisory board of the main welfare office of the Landeswohlfahrtsverband Hessen. He also looked after war victims and war survivors.

Helwig also made a name for himself as a politician. He had already founded a local branch of the Freisinnige Partei in Köppern. After the First World War, he was one of the co-founders of the German Democratic Party (DDP) in Wiesbaden, which later became the German State Party. From 1919-30, he was initially a city councillor and parliamentary group leader, then chairman of his party until 1933. Helwig was also active in many committees and bodies. During the Nazi regime, he belonged to the opposition circle of friends around his son-in-law, the later CDU city treasurer Heinrich Roos. In the final days of the war, he was also one of those who were responsible for the surrender of Wiesbaden to the US Army without a fight. He initially became chairman of the Wiesbaden Reconstruction Committee, which, among other things, worked to reorganize the city's administration. He soon became one of the founders of the CDU in Wiesbaden and helped to build up the party at district and state level. He was a member of the city council from 1946-48.

In 1960, Helwig was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class for his services to school and local politics.