Dietz, Rudolf

Teacher, dialect poet

born: 22.02.1863 in Naurod

died: 14.12.1942 in Wiesbaden

After his father’s death in 1868, the family lived in modest circumstances in Naurod. Dietz received additional instruction from the pastor. His desire to become a theologian, like the pastor, was thwarted by financial constraints.

In 1878, he enrolled in the teacher training college in Herborn and later attended the Usinger Teacher Training College. He received his first position as a teacher’s assistant in Freiendiez in 1883. Because of his modest salary, he began writing poetry. In 1890 and 1894, he underwent further training at the Teacher Training College for Boys’ Education in Leipzig. In 1898, Dietz was transferred to the Schule am Schulberg in Wiesbaden, where he worked until his retirement in 1925, serving as vice principal for the last two years.

Dietz had been a member of the National Liberal Party since 1883. During the Weimar Republic, he was a member of the German People’s Party (DVP). In 1928, he founded the Nassau Family History Association and was also a member of the Adult Education Association. Dietz joined the party on May 1, 1933. In addition, he joined the Nazi Teachers’ League on April 1, 1937, and applied for membership in the Reich Chamber of Literature on June 15, 1938.

By 1930, Dietz had published ten volumes of poetry containing over 1,000 poems in the local dialect, but he also published books on local history, short stories, and plays. These works consist primarily of functional poetry intended to meet contemporary needs. A textual analysis of the works revealed that over 40 poems focus on anti-Semitic themes. This is particularly evident in the illustrated poetry collection *Du liebe Heimat* (*My Dear Homeland*), which first appeared in 1924 as a compilation of the author’s complete poetic works and was reprinted several times until 1938. The illustrations were authorized by Dietz and were deliberately used to denigrate. The imagery employed in the poems reinforced common anti-Semitic stereotypes.

Dietz’s extreme nationalism is already evident in his 1916 collection of poems, published as a “gift of love” for the “Nassauer im Felde.” Toward the end of the war, he is said to have been in close contact with the Deutschbund, an elitist, sectarian, and ethno-racist group considered one of the precursors to National Socialism. According to his friend Walter Minor, Dietz joined this organization in 1917–18. This cannot be conclusively proven.

Dietz gained prominence, particularly in Nassau, due to his work as a regional poet. In the 1930s, he recited his poems on radio broadcasts and at Nazi propaganda events, such as the “Bunter Abend” organized by the SA-Sturm 8/80 in Wiesbaden. In addition, the NSDAP commissioned him in 1934 to draft a short slogan for the Winter Relief Fund.

His poems, steeped in anti-Semitic sentiment, sparked a heated debate in 2003 over whether the elementary school in Wiesbaden-Naurod—which had been named after him since the late 1950s—should be renamed. In 2023, the Historical Expert Commission—appointed in 2020 by resolution of the City Council to review public spaces, buildings, and facilities in the state capital of Wiesbaden named after individuals—recommended, due to his active support of the Nazi movement and his contribution to the discrimination, exclusion, and persecution of the Jewish population through anti-Semitic agitation, that Rudolf-Dietz-Straße and the Rudolf-Dietz-Brunnen be renamed. Dietz had died in Wiesbaden on December 14, 1942, and was buried at the Nordfriedhof.

At its meeting on August 26, 2025, the responsible Wiesbaden-Naurod local council decided not to follow the recommendation of the Historical Expert Commission and instead to contextualize the street name. The decision was implemented by a resolution of the municipal administration on March 24, 2026.

[This text was written by Dr. Brigitte Streich for the 2017 printed edition of the Wiesbaden City Encyclopedia and revised and expanded by Dr. Katherine Lukat in 2024]