He built his monument himself

Created: 01/24/2022, 11:52 am

Mayor and building contractor: Alois Handelshauser played a key role in shaping the community.

The current town hall was built under his aegis.

© hk

The name Handelshauser is still widespread in Eichenau, in various areas.

One of the bearers of the name was even the mayor of the municipality.

A street commemorates him.

He built a monument for himself anyway: the town hall, which still stands today.

Eichenau – Alois Handelshauser may have been one of the most influential residents of Eichenau.

During his tenure as mayor, from May 14, 1965 to May 22, 1968, there was even a folk festival: ten days of beer tent fun in June 1967 on the occasion of the anniversaries of the warrior, soldier and music associations.

What had happened four months earlier was that Handelshauser had created a very striking monument: the new town hall was inaugurated.

In principle, it is still the same today.

Handelshauser, who was born in Alling and moved to Eichenau after the Second World War, was involved in the construction.

From 1952 he was represented on the municipal council.

He was already there when Eichenau became independent in 1957 - and finally needed a town hall.

Municipality needed new town hall

Because the tasks of the administration quickly became more, the "town hall" rooms on Schulstraße too small.

In March 1962, the municipal council agreed on the need for a new building.

A separate committee was even formed in early 1963.

But then there was a halt to construction due to survey work. Handelshauser, at that time already Eichenau's deputy mayor and building consultant, was also a building contractor. He finally took over the planning and execution. His designs met with unqualified approval. However, some members of the municipal council rubbed themselves against the cost of just under 900,000 marks. So there were always delays. Until the town hall was inaugurated in 1967. Including Handelshauser, the town hall building has seen a total of five mayors in its 55 years: Handelshauser was followed by Alfred Rehm, Sebastian Niedermeier, Hubert Jung and Peter Münster.

Even then, Handelshauser was one of the proponents of denser development, i.e. densification.

This also included the designation of inexpensive commercial property.

He pursued this further when he eventually became First Mayor.

Initially managing director after the death of Hans Kraus in early 1965, but then quickly confirmed by election.

In addition to this official activity, Handelshauser was also a board member of the special-purpose associations for waste and sewage disposal.

He didn't just have friends

But the man was not without controversy.

In the spring of 1967, Handelshauser had to endure the initiation of criminal proceedings.

The SPD and the then existing group “Independent” had applied for this.

They had accused trading houses of no longer doing official business properly.

In order to oppose a suspension, the mayor himself applied for disciplinary proceedings at the district office.

However, Handelshauser continued to run the business as First Mayor.

The process was never finally resolved.

Handelshauser died of a heart attack on May 22, 1968, after which the case was formally discontinued.

The name is common

Nevertheless, the name Handelshauser is still very present in the village today.

Five companies are listed that can be assigned to the construction industry and related trades.

After Alois Handelshauser, other representatives of this family name were also active on the municipal council.

For the CSU, this was twice Luitgard Handelshauser (1992 to 1996 and 2002 to 2008) and for the SPD, Karl Handelshauser was represented on the municipal committee from 1996 to 2014.

Volunteer work was also shown.

August Handelshauser was commander of the fire department from 1985 to 2000, Markus Handelshauser deputy commander from 2016 to 2019.

Alexander Handelshauser has been chairman of the fire brigade association since 2014.

quite hidden from the street

The street, which is named after the former mayor and is characterized by residential buildings, is not all that long: after only around 200 meters it ends in a turning point.

Without a navigation system, it can only be found with good local knowledge.

Mayor-Handelshauser-Strasse is west of Roggensteiner Allee.