Karl Delorme
Honorary citizen of the state capital Mainz
Biography
Karl Delorme (January 23, 1920 – March 12, 2011) was born in the heart of Mainz's old town as the third child of a family of craftsmen. He began his professional career with an apprenticeship as a typesetter in the printing shop of the Catholic apprentice house. In his youth, he was an active member of the Catholic youth movement. From August 1939 to March 1946, Delorme experienced and endured the war and captivity as a prisoner of war – arguably the most painful chapter of his life.
In 1957, City Council member Karl Delorme, then 37 years old, was elected to serve as a full-time department head. He was responsible for the Social Services and Youth Welfare Offices, refugee affairs, the Financial Equalization Office, retirement homes, as well as housing and health care. In 1983, he was elected to the German Bundestag.
In addition to his full-time positions, he held numerous honorary offices and was honored with high distinctions for his service. The following are just a few examples of his volunteer work: the Rhineland-Palatinate Workers’ Samaritan Federation (ASB), the German War Graves Commission (VDK), the German Youth Hostel Association (DJH), the Jakob Wucher Foundation, the Friends of the Carnival Museum, the State Film Service, the Friends of OPEN OHR 2000, the Gutenberg Society, the Rotary Club, and the Friends of “Kinderhaus Goetheplatz.” From 1962 to 1983, Karl Delorme served as an honorary social welfare judge. The SPD Mainz, the Pensioners’ and Blind Persons’ Association, the Association for the Blind, and twelve carnival corporations elected him an honorary member.
Delorme is a recipient of the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon, the Cross of Merit, First Class, and the Grand Cross of the Federal Order of Merit. He was also awarded the Honorary Ring of the City of Mainz, the Rheingold Plaque in Gold, the Martinus Medal of the Diocese of Mainz, the ASB Honorary Cross in Gold and Silver, and the Rhineland-Palatinate Order of Merit.
Reasons for honorary citizenship
Karl Delorme is one of the prominent figures in Mainz who played a key role in shaping local politics in the decades following World War II. Guided by social solidarity and Christian charity, he carried out extensive and influential reconstruction work in Mainz, taking a forward-looking approach to set a pioneering course for the city in many areas—a legacy from which the people of Mainz continue to benefit to this day.
Among his achievements was overcoming the catastrophic housing shortage of the 1950s and 1960s, which was a consequence of World War II. Karl Delorme, who had already been advocating for this cause for many years as a city council member, became the full-time deputy mayor responsible for social affairs and housing in 1957. With his inexhaustible energy and determination, he made the promotion of social housing, the return of evacuees, assistance for the homeless, and the housing crisis in war-torn Mainz his personal priorities.
This was followed by a multitude of other projects, such as the expansion of the kindergarten system, the construction of after-school care centers and daycare centers for infants, the creation of children’s playgrounds, the construction of the new House of Youth, the establishment of youth centers, workshops for people with disabilities, the construction of residential homes for people with disabilities, the Mainz Center for the Blind, special kindergartens for children with intellectual and physical disabilities, the founding of a psychosocial working group, the construction of the first retirement home in Rhineland-Palatinate and two additional retirement homes, the establishment of day centers for the elderly and many cultural and social events for seniors, the development of mobile assistance services, the introduction of “Foreign Residents’ Day” (now known as Intercultural Week), and the promotion of the work of independent welfare organizations.
As head of the urban renewal department, he had been tasked with a “once-in-a-century challenge” since 1972; with great diplomatic skill, he mediated between the various interest groups and ensured that the disputes ultimately led to fruitful results and that the people of Mainz were given back their old town.
The bond that this native of Mainz felt for his city was also evident in Karl Delorme’s numerous initiatives, which effectively promoted local customs and culture. Indeed, there is hardly a major folk festival in Mainz that does not, directly or indirectly, trace its origins back to Karl Delorme. The Johannisfest, the OPEN OHR Festival, and the “Mainz lebt auf seinen Plätzen” series would be unthinkable without his dedication. An active participant in Carnival himself, he supported the festive traditions and, most recently, as the “guiding spirit” and staunch supporter of the Mainz Carnival Museum, he created a unique and lasting legacy for his hometown’s greatest festival. As a member of the German Bundestag, the reintegration of Mainz’s districts on the right bank of the Rhine (AKK) was ultimately a matter of particular concern to him.
Karl Delorme can point to an impressive life’s work, which he dedicated to his city of Mainz and through which he left a lasting mark on the city. This has earned him high esteem, recognition, and popularity in Mainz and beyond. His humanity—rooted in Christian ethics, credible, and lived out in practice—combined with a realistic sense of what is achievable, continues to serve as a model to this day. Over the decades, Karl Delorme has achieved unique and lasting accomplishments for Mainz in many important areas.