Fritz Schäffer

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Fritz Schäffer
Minister of Justice
In office
29 October 1957 – 14 November 1961
ChancellorKonrad Adenauer
Preceded byHans-Joachim von Merkatz
Succeeded byWolfgang Stammberger
Bavarian Minister of Finance
In office
16 September 1931 – 16 March 1933
PresidentHeinrich Held
Personal details
Born(1888-05-12)12 May 1888
German Army
Years of service1915–1916
Battles/warsWorld War I

Fritz Schäffer (12 May 1888 – 29 March 1967) was a German

Second World War
. From 1949 to 1957, he was the West German federal Minister of Finance and, from 1957 to 1961, federal Minister of Justice.

Biography

Fritz Schäffer was born in 1888 as the son of Gottfried Schäffer and Amalia Mayr. He went to school in

Tyrol, he was wounded at Verdun
in May 1916 and released from army service.

Schäffer started working for the Bavarian state government in 1917. He married Else Dyroff in September 1917.

He was imprisoned from 1933 until 1934, after which he worked as a lawyer. He was imprisoned again in

20 July Plot
until the end of World War II, from August to October 1944.

Politics

From 1918 to 1933, Schäffer was a member of the BVP. In 1929, he became chairman of this Bavarian regionalist party. From 1920 to 1933, he was a member of the

Centre Party, arguing that such a step would neutralise the Nazi party to some extent. After this failed, he attempted to elevate the last Bavarian crown prince, Rupprecht, to the dictatorial position of Staatskommissar. The move ultimately failed due to the resistance of Bavarian prime minister, Heinrich Held
, who feared that Schäffer would be made prime minister in his stead.

In 1933, he found himself imprisoned for his actions against the Nazis.

In 1945 he was among the founders of the CSU. He was engaged in continuous strife with the party leader, Josef Müller over party politics. Müller wished to make the party multi-confessional, while Schäffer tried to move it towards a revival of the Catholic-dominated BVP. He was made the first postwar prime minister of Bavaria by General George S. Patton in 1945, but was relieved of his post by General Dwight D. Eisenhower after a couple of months, when his anti-Semitic past became known. Eisenhower, unlike Patton, also disliked the fact that Schäffer hired ex-Nazis for his administration.[1] He was barred from politics by the US authorities until 1948, accused of being a Nazi sympathizer. He managed to clear himself of this charge and reentered politics afterwards.

From 1949 to 1961, he was a member of the

chancellor of Germany, attempted to remove Schäffer from his cabinet as his tight fiscal policies were felt as a hindrance to Germany's economic growth. After political negotiations, Schäffer was awarded the justice ministry instead.[2]

During his time as German Minister of Finance, he became the second-most powerful man in federal politics. He was known for his tight fiscal policies, aimed at keeping the German currency stable. In this role, he strongly resisted any reparation claims to victims of the Nazi reign.[3] After German rearmament, Schäffer was engaged in many arguments about defense spending, often irritating his NATO partners by his refusals to allocate more money to it.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Power Grabber". Time. 20 February 1956. accessed: 8 May 2008.
  2. ^ Konrad Adenauer: A German Politician and Statesman in a Period of War google book review, author: Hans-Peter Schwarz, publisher: JHU Press, accessed: 8 May 2008
  3. ^ Paying for the Past google book review, author: Christian Pross, Belinda Cooper, publisher: JHU Press, accessed: 8 May 2008

Further reading

  • Fritz Schäffer 1945-67, (in German), by Christoph Henzler, Munich, Hans Seidel Stiftung
  • Fritz Schäffer als Politiker der Bayrischen Volkspartei, (in German), by Otto Altendorfer

External links

  • Bavarian government website - Fritz Schäffer (in German)
  • Paying for the Past google book review, author: Christian Pross, Belinda Cooper, publisher: JHU Press
  • Karl-Ulrich Gelberg (1994). "Schäffer, Fritz". In Bautz, Traugott (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 8. Herzberg: Bautz. cols. 1548–1559.
    ISBN 3-88309-053-0
    .
  • Newspaper clippings about Fritz Schäffer in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
Political offices
Preceded by
Prime Minister of Bavaria

1945 		Succeeded by