Paul Meyle, who joined the Knorr food company in 1929 as an office clerk, volunteered in 1945 to assist Emil Beutinger, then Lord Mayor of Heilbronn, as a member of the city executive.
He later became managing director of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce and a municipal councillor representing the German People’s Party (DVP). In 1948 he successfully ran against five contestants to become Lord Mayor himself.
During his almost twenty years in office, he managed the reconstruction of the destroyed city and took important decisions for Heilbronn’s future growth into a major city.