11 Facts About Hanno Drechsler

Hanno Drechsler was the Lord Mayor of the City of Marburg, Germany between 1970 and 1992, and the instigator of its restoration after urban renewal; he was an important Social Democratic politician and political scientist.

Hanno Drechsler went to school in Saxony, where after High School he studied to become a teacher and was certified for doing so on all levels, becoming very early the Principal of the Oberschule in Falkenstein.

Hanno Drechsler remained active in Marburg municipal and Hesse politics as a social democrat, where he soon held positions in the City Parliament.

Hanno Drechsler provided tenacious and strong support and implementation of the restoration of the Oberstadt of Marburg, one of the most important old German cities largely untouched by the war, full with timbered and stone houses of Gothic and Renaissance times and with famous castle, churches, including the earliest Gothic church in Germany dedicated to St Elisabeth of Hungary.

Hanno Drechsler significantly promoted art and culture as well, using his contacts and charisma to assist artists and musicians in Marburg.

Since 1956, Hanno Drechsler was a member of the SPD and held numerous party function, on the state and federal level.

Hanno Drechsler was for decades the chairman of the local government SPD council in Hesse and on the board of the Deutscher Stadtetag, the German Council of Independent Cities.

Hanno Drechsler was a strong promoter, in scholarly work and writings, of municipal autonomy, as well as of German Reunification.

Hanno Drechsler was an honorary citizen of Poitiers, France, a sister city of Marburg, and of Marburg itself.

Hanno Drechsler was married, for 53 years, to Gisela Drechsler nee Streller ; their son is the social scientist Wolfgang Drechsler.

Today, Hanno Drechsler is remembered by the "Hanno-Drechsler-Platz", an urban space that forms the south-westerly gate to the Oberstadt for pedestrians, with a fountain and trees, but mostly by the intact and restored Oberstadt itself.