Herbert, Adam

Pharmacist, patron

born: 14.07.1887 in Groß-Gerau

died: 02.09.1976 in Selters-Eisenbach

After attending elementary school in his hometown of Groß-Gerau and high school in Darmstadt, Herbert studied pharmacology in Munich. He survived his wartime service despite sustaining a serious wound. Herbert worked as a pharmacist in Wallau beginning in 1915. In 1918, he founded his own laboratory and moved his company to Bierstadt (opens in a new tab) in 1927, which was incorporated into Wiesbaden in 1928. In Wiesbaden, Herbert manufactured a nerve remedy, which he soon began distributing in several European countries and in South America. The business flourished so well that he established a branch in Argentina in 1932.

On May 1, 1933, Herbert joined the NSDAP, and a year later, the National Socialist People’s Welfare Organization. Herbert was also a member of the Nazi Alumni Association, the Reich Association of German Hunters, the Reich Colonial Association, the Association for German Culture Abroad, and the Reich Air Defense Association. Adam Herbert left the Protestant Church in 1938 and henceforth described himself as a “believer in God,” which was the religious identification formula preferred by the Nazis. After World War II, Herbert himself cited tax reasons for his departure from the church.

Herbert supported the Nazi regime through financial contributions. The only verifiable donations are those that could be attributed to Herbert after the war during his denazification proceedings—primarily donations to the NSV’s Winter Relief Fund totaling 78,937 RM. In addition, there was a donation of 10,000 RM to the NSDAP, which was intended for the purchase of a sport plane for Gauleiter Jakob Sprenger. He made further monetary donations to the SS and other Nazi organizations, among others. Herbert estimated these amounts to total between 5,000 and 6,000 RM.

In 1937, Adam Herbert also donated a park to the city of Wiesbaden, which bore his name until 2024. Adjacent to the Reisinger Park in front of the main train station (opens in a new tab), on the vacant lot of the former Taunusbahnhof, landscape architect Wilhelm Hirsch (1887–1957) created a park in 1937 known as the Herbert Park (Reisinger Park (opens in a new tab)).

Herbert donated a total of 152,000 RM for the construction of the park. According to his statements, the park was intended to serve as a recreational area for Wiesbaden’s working population. It was also meant to be an attraction for spa guests. Together with the Reisinger-Anlage, the Herbert-Anlage formed a direct north-south connection between downtown Wiesbaden and the main train station.

The park’s inauguration in 1937 was presided over by Wiesbaden’s NSDAP mayor, Erich Mix, and drew a large crowd. The event was a major social occasion. In addition to the city’s most important officials, high-ranking representatives of the NSDAP, the SS, the SA, the NSKK, the Hitler Youth, and the BDM also attended the event. Furthermore, high-ranking military officers and prominent members of the city’s society, such as Wilhelm von Opel (opens in a new tab), were invited.

On this occasion, NSDAP Mayor Mix emphasized the local propaganda significance of the newly constructed park. Following the mayor’s speech, the spa orchestra in attendance played the “Horst Wessel Song,” the NSDAP’s party anthem.

Adam Herbert associated not only socially but also privately with mostly local and regional officials of the Nazi state. For example, Herbert was closely connected to District Governor Wilhelm Traupel. Traupel, a member of the NSDAP since 1930, served as district leader of the Wiesbaden district association beginning in September 1933 and, from 1936 onward, concurrently as district leader of the Kassel district association. In the SS, he held the rank of Oberführer beginning in 1939. Starting in 1940, Traupel served in the SS SD Headquarters, in the occupation administration in France, and in the SS Reich Security Main Office in Berlin.
Regular guests at Herbert’s estate near Limburg for hunting trips included, among others, Herrmann Esser, State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of Propaganda and a confidant of Hitler; Jakob Sprenger, NSDAP Gauleiter of Hesse-Nassau; the NSDAP mayor of Wiesbaden, Felix Piékarski; SS-Standartenführer Fritz Bernotat, head of the institutional affairs department for the Nassau district association, who played a key role in the killings of patients at Hadamar; the General Labor Leader of the RAD, Wilhelm Faatz; Georg Hermann Sauerbier, president of the Chamber of Agriculture; and SS-Gruppenführer Richard Hildebrandt, who was later sentenced to death in the Nuremberg follow-up trials.

In 1936, Adam Herbert expanded his pharmacy, which also manufactured medications, by opening a branch—the Einhorn Pharmacy in Bamberg. Herbert purchased the pharmacy from its Jewish former owner, Dr. Otto Holzinger, for 260,000 RM. Due to the Reich Emigration Tax levied upon emigration, the Holzinger family lost a significant portion of their wealth. Under the “Law on the Leasing and Administration of Public Pharmacies” of March 26, 1936, Jewish pharmacists were required to sell their businesses or lease them to an “Aryan” pharmacist. Those who profited from these “Aryanizations” in the pharmacy sector were often Nazi officials or individuals close to the regime.

The purchase of the Bamberg pharmacy was also the subject of the denazification proceedings against Herbert after the end of Nazi rule. Herbert attempted to portray the forced sale as part of the “Aryanization” process as a favor to his Jewish colleague, and in doing so received support from professional associations that were also involved in “Aryanization” deals involving pharmacies. Adam Herbert initially refused but finally agreed to a settlement with the Holzinger family in 1951. This allowed him to reopen the pharmacy shortly thereafter and lease it to his nephew Otto Herbert, who was also a pharmacist.

Adam Herbert employed forced laborers on his estate in Hausen, in the town of Eisbach (Taunus), during World War II. During his denazification proceedings, the pharmacist stated that, until 1945, he had employed two Polish families with ten children to work on his farm in place of conscripted laborers. The background and circumstances surrounding the use of forced labor on Herbert’s farm remain unclear.

Initially, Herbert was classified by the denazification tribunal in 1946 as Group 1 (“Principal Offenders”). In an appeal proceeding, Herbert’s attorneys finally succeeded on March 3, 1948, in having the case dismissed in exchange for a payment of 2,000 RM. Herbert continued his business activities after World War II.

In 1957, Adam Herbert was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class, and in 1962 he was named an honorary citizen of the state capital, Wiesbaden.

In addition to the Kochbrunnen fountain springer, which Adam Herbert financed, the entrepreneur donated the Diana Fountain in front of the Rhein-Main-Hallen (1958), for which his granddaughter Ursula Altenheimer served as the model. Once the new Rhein-Main-Hallen are completed, the “Diana” will be relocated to a new site nearby.

Herbert was buried at the cemetery in Wiesbaden-Bierstadt and was granted an honorary grave by the state capital of Wiesbaden.

The Historical Expert Commission, appointed by a resolution of the City Council in 2020 to review public spaces, buildings, and facilities in the state capital of Wiesbaden named after individuals, recommended renaming the Herbert-Anlage due to Adam Herbert’s memberships in various National Socialist organizations (NSDAP, NSV, NS-Altherrenbund, Reichsbund Deutsche Jägerschaft, RKB, RLSB) or organizations aligned with National Socialism (Volksbund für das Deutschtum im Ausland). Furthermore, he provided material support to the Nazi movement through large donations to the NSDAP, the SS, and other Nazi organizations. Thus, Adam Herbert made a clear commitment to National Socialism as a political movement and to the Nazi regime. Adam Herbert also actively participated in the discrimination, exclusion, and persecution of individuals or groups during the “Third Reich.”

On February 1, 2024, the Wiesbaden-Mitte Local Council resolved that the Herbert Park should be incorporated into the Reisinger Park. The municipal government of the state capital of Wiesbaden implemented this by resolution dated March 24, 2026, and at the same time revoked Adam Herbert’s honorary citizenship.