10. 1882 – Dr Johann Demel von Elswehr
Born in 1825, he was the son of the Provincial Attorney, Anton Demel. He graduated in law from the University of Vienna, he became a doctor of law and a practising lawyer. In 1848 he was elected as a deputy to the Frankfurt Parliament, and later spent several years in exile. After the reforms in the years 1859-1861 he returned to Cieszyn and in 1861 was elected to the Town Council and elected mayor of Cieszyn. He held that position until his death, with a short break at the beginning of 1876. In 1866 during the Prussian invasion of Cieszyn he succeeded in saving the town from paying high levies, and saved the bridge on the Olza in Cieszyn (important both economically and strategically) from being blown up. For that Demel was raised to the nobility in 1867, with the title Ritter von Elswehr. In addition he was a deputy many times to both the District Diet in Opava and the Viennese Parliament and a leader of Cieszyn’s German Liberals. He died in 1892.
Demel made a great contribution to the development of Cieszyn and its transformation into a modern town. He was behind the building of many municipal institutions and facilities. In 1882 he was responsible for the building of the town’s own gasworks in the suburb of Kamieniec, which was opened on 30 September 1882. Several days earlier (on 25 September 1882) the Town Council passed a resolution to award him with the title of honorary citizen of Cieszyn, which was announced on 30 September 1882. At the same time the Town Council reiterated and concluded an earlier resolution of 1866 for a portrait of the mayor to hang in the Council Chamber, and that Demel would be honoured additionally in other ways. It ought to be added that in 1885 Demel celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his mayorship and his directorship of the Cieszyn Kasa Oszczędności Savings Bank. In recognition the Town Council gave him a silver laurel wreath and the Cieszyn Town Square was renamed Plac Demla in his honour. After his death the Cieszyn municipal authorities built a monumental tomb for him in Cieszyn municipal cemetery.