Diehl, Fritz

Local historian

Born: 04.06.1924 in Mainz-Kastel

died: 08.03.2014 in Mainz-Kastel

Friedrich Georg, gen. Fritz, Diehl was born on June 4, 1924 in Mainz-Kastel. His parents were Georg Friedrich Diehl and Pauline, née Redel. Diehl worked in administration at the Süddeutsche Eisen- und Stahlberufsgenossenschaft from 1938 to 1988, with interruptions due to the Reich Labor Service and conscription into the Wehrmacht.

A staunch Kasteler (motto: "We do it for Kastel"), he has been studying the history of his home town since the early 1970s, inspired by a find of Roman coins on his property. From 1947 onwards, some of his articles on historical topics could be read in both Mainz and Wiesbaden daily newspapers. In 1980, he founded the Society for Local History Kastel (GHK), of which he was president for a long time.

After the discovery of the foundations of a Roman arch of honour in 1986, he organized a circle of generous sponsors and founded the Roman Arch of Honour Museum. Even more important was the Castellum Museum, founded by him and the GHK, for which the Reduit was gradually expanded.

In 1990, he organized the 2000th anniversary celebrations of Kastel and wrote the commemorative publication "2000 Years of Kastel in Words and Pictures" to mark the occasion. He was awarded the Gutenberg bust for this in 1991. He published several other works on local history and reported on the "bridgehead community" in the newspaper for many years.

Both Mainz and Wiesbaden honored him for his wide-ranging commitment, including the gold citizens' medal of the state capital of Wiesbaden (1986) as well as the citizens' award of the state capital of Mainz (1985) and the Mainz cultural award for outstanding "cultural activities as a local historian" (1986). Diehl received numerous other awards, including the Cross of Merit First Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1996) and the Cultural Award of the State Capital of Wiesbaden (2008).
He had been married to Emilie Diehl, née Faust, since 1947.