They have worked for the good of the community, albeit in different ways. One as a municipal councilor, the other as a patron and founder of a foundation. Now the two honorary citizens of Unterhaching, Christian Kriz and Rudolf Pesl, died within just one week, Kriz on February 22 at the age of 92, Pesl on February 28 at the age of 99.
When the mayor at the time, Erwin Knapek (SPD), awarded his fellow party member Christian Kriz honorary citizenship in March 2008 in the town hall, he coined two sentences in an almost hymn-like laudatory speech that aptly describe the work and personality of the long-standing local politician: Im In contrast to his height, he was a humanized beacon of democracy, said Knapek, only to quote the modest and always calm social democrat shortly afterwards: “As a municipal councilor, I don’t need more brains than a senior secretary.” In any case, his understanding, which the civil engineer used in several political committees, was sufficient for him to have “significantly shaped” the development of Unterhaching from an agricultural village to a prosperous urban settlement since 1960, as Knapek described his achievement in his laudatory speech at the time brought a common denominator. In fact, there is hardly a public institution or settlement in Unterhaching today that Kriz did not professionally oversee. The list is long and ranges from Bayernsiedlung, Fasanenpark, Grünau and the settlement on Rodelberg to the Hachinga Halle, outdoor pool and football stadium, schools and residential home to the cultural and educational center.
Unterhachinger honorary citizen Christian Kriz died at the age of 92.
(Photo: Schunk Claus)
Christian Kriz was born in Fürstenfeldbruck on December 3, 1922 and moved to Unterhaching when he was two years old. He learned bricklaying after elementary school, became a civil engineer in 1951 and opened his own engineering office in his home town in 1982. In 1956 he joined the SPD and was elected to the municipal council in 1960, which he only left four mayors later, in 2008, for reasons of age. “Christian Kriz loved Unterhaching and lived for Unterhaching,” said the current community leader, Wolfgang Panzer, in recognition of the deceased. Christian Kriz will be buried in Unterhaching on Saturday, March 26. The community has booked the ballroom of the Hachinga Halle for the funeral service.
In secret, Rudolf Pesl was a beneficial patron of the community. Born in Munich, he founded three foundations, including the Pesl Foundation in Unterhaching in 1989, which is dedicated to promoting art, culture and education. And even after his death, the medical doctor with an excellent state examination remains a patron of the community. Pesl, who came from a wealthy family, was one of the most experienced art collectors in Bavaria and bequeathed a huge fortune to the community, consisting of a property with a residential museum, a house in Oberammergau, a residential complex as well as art objects and a library with valuable antiquarian books, such as the original of the Schedel’s world chronicle from 1493 and the world’s second largest Mongolian collection, with a total value of around 30 million euros. It is said of Rudolf Pesl that as a young man he refused to join the Jungvolk and the Hitler Youth. His love of art history has made him travel the world, and his collection also includes a culturally and historically unique photo of the Goronka Festival of the cannibals of Papua New Guinea. Pesl is a bearer of the Bavarian Order of Merit and the Federal Cross of Merit. When and where he will be buried has not yet been determined.