Mayor Georg Johann Reuter @museum.de

M: Georg Johann Reuter was a strict man. Well educated, disciplined and concerned about the welfare of his fellow human beings. He was a textbook example of a mayor.

F: In 1808, two years before young Fritz was born, his father took over as mayor. He'd studied law and economics, started a family and – in addition to his mayoral duties – also worked as a notary, a municipal judge and a businessman.

M: For almost four decades, he led the small town of Stavenhagen with its barely 1,500 residents, fostered the local community and supported the town's day labourers. Georg Johann Reuter also responded to the agricultural crisis affecting Mecklenburg during this period. He researched alternatives to traditional arable farming and found what he was looking for. Linen processing was already widespread, but he additionally promoted the cultivation of madder and woad – two native dye plants used in textile production. Madder roots produce a red dye, while a blue dye is made from the seed capsules of woad.

F: Other ambitious plans to grow mustard, cardamom and caraway were unsuccessful. But Georg Johann Reuter was nevertheless popular and highly respected. His relationship with his son, however, was far from good. Fritz had inherited neither the self-restraint nor the business acumen of his father. He would turn out to be a mediocre pupil and a lousy student. Georg Johann's dream of seeing his son follow in his footsteps was doomed to fail.

M: Looking back, Fritz Reuter wrote of his father: "That – as a result of his activities over a lengthy period of time with almost no insight and assistance from others – he would inevitably develop strong self-will was no more than natural".

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Zitat: Meine Vaterstadt Stavenhagen, S. 174