Willi Jentzsch

Willi Jentzsch (15 May 1886 in Bitterfeld-Wolfen – 23 May 1936 in the Free City of Danzig) was a German teacher, school administrator and politician. He served as chairman of the Danziger Beamtenbund (Danzig Federation of Civil Servants) and was elected as one of the eleven Senators of the Free City of Danzig on 27 October 1926, but resigned on 1 November 1927 for health reasons. On 1 November 1927, he was appointed rector of the renowned Gymnasium St. Johann in Fleischergasse. In March 1936, he became school director in Danzig, and thus head of all elementary schools in the city-state. He married Gertrud Alma Drange in 1921 in Danzig. His wife was the daughter of Emil Drange, who made career in the administration of the Eastern Prussian city of Elbing. Willi Jentzsch and Gertrud Drange were the parents of Herlind Jentzsch, who married Horst Kasner and gave birth to Angela Kasner who married Ulrich Merkel and thus are the maternal grandparents of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. After the death of Willi Jentzsch in 1936, his family relocated to Hamburg.

Willi Jentzsch was the son of Wilhelm Jentzsch, a landowner (Gutsbesitzer) who belonged to a prominent family in Bitterfeld-Wolfen.