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Preface : The estate of Fritz Thomée was transferred to the care of the Kreisarchiv in 1982, long after the death of the heir, on the initiative of the then archive director Dr. Rolf Dieter Kohl. In spite of two highly regarded exhibitions about Landrat Thomée in 1986 and 1994, which were taken from the extensive estate, there was no distortion. This task did not begin until the course of 2006 and was completed in October 2007. From about 50 archive cartons with rough presorting, 406 archive units in 34 cartons could be formed by order and compression, but also by separating the extensive library holdings, which were transferred into the holdings of the Landeskundliche Bibliothek. The tradition dates mainly from the first half of the 20th century, the oldest dating from 1727, the most recent from 1962. This shows that documents from the Thomées family archive and from the estate of the son Fritz Thomée jun. have crept into the estate. The focus is on personal documents such as photo albums, diplomas, award certificates, orders and decorations, but also on extensive documentation on the preservation of the homeland, correspondence with art dealers and official documents. In addition, the collection of field mail letters, most of which originated in World War I, deserves special attention. The indexing was done by Gabriele Aschöwer, wife of the district archives office. Thomée Fritz Thomée was born on 24 July 1862 in Werdohl as the fourth of seven children of the factory owner and commercial councillor Heinrich Thomée and his wife Henriette, née Thomée. The parents came from a family of merchants and craftsmen originally living in Iserlohn. After graduating from high school and studying law in Bonn, Göttingen, Leipzig and Tübingen with a doctorate, Thomée entered the higher administrative service with the passing of the assessor's examination in 1893. Temporarily since the beginning of 1894 he supported the sick district administrator Ulrich Nauck at the district office of the district Iserlohn before he changed to the government in Arnsberg in 1896. In 1901 he was first assigned the administration of the Landratsamt Altena on a provisional basis, and on 2 February 1902 he was finally appointed Landratsat. In the course of his subsequent busy activities, dams were built, traffic routes improved, agriculture and forestry promoted and the district's own welfare system expanded. However, his name is also inseparably linked to the construction of a new district house, which was necessary due to the growing tasks, but above all to the reconstruction of Altena Castle. In 1906 he married his long-time love Lily Herbers, daughter of the commercial councillor Heinrich Herbers from Iserlohn. The couple remained united in love and happiness until their death in December 1944, at a short distance. Three children - Hans, Fritz and Margret - sprang from the harmonious connection. In September 1927, District Administrator Thomée retired under numerous honours such as the award of the honorary citizenship letter of his home town Werdohl, but until his death in 1944, he was to remain committed to the preservation of his homeland as chairman of the Märkischer Burgverein, which he had founded, and of the Verein für Orts- und Heimatkunde in Süderlande. His last "trick" was the successful transfer of Altena Castle and its collections to the possession of the Altena district in 1942.