Wilhelm Marx
Wilhelm Marx | |
---|---|
Chancellor of Germany (Weimar Republic) | |
In office 17 May 1926 – 28 June 1928 | |
President | Paul von Hindenburg |
Vice-Chancellor | Oskar Hergt |
Preceded by | Hans Luther |
Succeeded by | Hermann Müller |
In office 30 November 1923 – 15 January 1925 | |
President | Friedrich Ebert |
Vice-Chancellor | Karl Jarres |
Preceded by | Gustav Stresemann |
Succeeded by | Hans Luther |
Minister of Justice | |
In office 10 January 1926 – 12 May 1926 | |
Chancellor | Hans Luther |
Preceded by | Josef Frenken |
Succeeded by | Johannes Bell |
Minister for the Occupied Territories | |
In office 10 January 1926 – 12 May 1926 | |
Chancellor | Hans Luther |
Preceded by | Hans Luther |
Succeeded by | Johannes Bell |
Minister President of Prussia | |
In office 18 February 1925 – 6 April 1925 | |
Preceded by | Otto Braun |
Succeeded by | Otto Braun |
Leader of the Centre Party | |
In office 17 January 1922 – 8 December 1928 | |
Preceded by | Karl Trimborn |
Succeeded by | Ludwig Kaas |
Member of the Reichstag (Weimar Republic) | |
In office 24 June 1920 – 10 June 1932 | |
Constituency |
|
(German Empire) | |
In office 2 March 1910 – 9 November 1918 | |
Constituency | Köln 6 |
Member of the Weimar National Assembly | |
In office 6 February 1919 – 6 June 1920 | |
Constituency | Düsseldorf-Ost |
Personal details | |
Born | Wilhelm Marx 15 January 1863 Cologne, Prussia |
Died | 5 August 1946 Bonn, Allied-occupied Germany | (aged 83)
Political party | Centre |
Spouse |
Johanna Verkoyen (m. 1891) |
Children | 4 |
Education | University of Bonn |
Profession | Lawyer |
Wilhelm Marx (15 January 1863 – 5 August 1946) was a German judge, politician and member of the Catholic Centre Party. During the Weimar Republic he was the chancellor of Germany twice, from 1923–1925 and 1926–1928, and served briefly as the minister president of Prussia in 1925. With a total of 3 years and 73 days, he was the longest-serving chancellor during the Weimar Republic.
After being a member of the
After resigning from the Reichstag in 1932, Marx worked with various civic organizations. He remained in Germany through the Nazi era and died in Bonn in 1946.
Early life
Marx was born in 1863 in Cologne to the Catholic school rector Johann Marx (1822–1882) and his wife, Gertrude (1826–1909). He had a sister, Barbara, who later headed the Cologne Ursulines.
Marx was awarded his secondary school certificate (Abitur) at the Marzellengymnasium in 1881. He then studied jurisprudence at the University of Bonn from 1881 to 1884. As a student he became a member of Catholic Student Association Arminia of Bonn.[1]
Marx married Johanna Verkoyen (1871–1946) in 1891. They had three sons and a daughter.[1] One of the sons was killed in World War I.[2]
Legal career
In 1888 he passed the second state exam for the Prussian civil service and began working as an
Prior to 1919, under the German Empire that was dominated by Protestant Prussia, his religion and political activities were a handicap for his career as a judge.[1]
Early political career
Marx started his political activities in Elberfeld, where he became active in the Centre Party. From 1899 to 1918, he was a member of the
Marx supported the
After the assassination of Matthias Erzberger by the right-wing terrorist group Organisation Consul in 1921, Marx became the head of the Centre Party's Reichstag parliamentary group on 27 September 1921 and, on 17 January 1922, party chairman. He supported Centre Party Chancellor Joseph Wirth in his "fulfillment policy" (Erfüllungspolitik) which attempted to comply as far as possible with the Treaty of Versailles, notably the reparation demands of the Allies, in order to show that it would be impossible to meet them.[3] Independent Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno received Marx's help in mobilizing civil disobedience against the Occupation of the Ruhr by France and Belgium. Marx then helped replace Cuno's cabinet with the grand coalition headed by Gustav Stresemann of the German People's Party (DVP). When Stresemann's government fell in November 1923, Reich President Friedrich Ebert requested that Marx form a government.[2]
Chancellor
First term, 1923–1925
On 30 November 1923, Marx formed his minority
Following the May 1924 election, the second Marx cabinet was formed on 3 June. It was once again a minority government made up this time of the Centre Party, DVP and DDP; it lasted until December 1924. Its focus was on relations with the Allies and on regaining control of the occupied territories in the west. In August the government signed up to the Dawes Plan which settled the diplomatic crisis over Germany's war reparations.[6] After the December 1924 Reichstag elections, Marx was unable to form a cabinet and resigned on 15 December. He remained in office as caretaker until 15 January 1925 when the independent Hans Luther took over as chancellor.[1]
Between chancellorships, 1925–1926
In February 1925 Marx became Minister President of Prussia following a call by the Centre Party in the state parliament. On 18 March his party nominated him for the presidential election following the death of Reich President Friedrich Ebert. In the first round of voting, Marx was the candidate of the Centre Party and, in the second round, of the entire Weimar Coalition (Centre, DDP and Social Democrats). Marx received close to 4 million votes in the first round but in the runoff was defeated by Paul von Hindenburg due to the fact that the candidature of Ernst Thälmann of the Communist Party of Germany split the anti-Hindenburg vote. In addition, the BVP had called on its supporters to vote for Hindenburg.[7]
Marx lost by 13.7 million to Hindenburg's 14.6 million votes. In April Otto Braun replaced Marx as Prussian Minister President.[1] Marx had resigned after he was unable to form a working cabinet.[8]
Second term, 1926–1928
Marx considered leaving politics, but on 26 January 1926 he accepted an appointment as Minister of Justice and Minister for the Occupied Territories in the second cabinet of Hans Luther. After Luther's government fell, Gustav Stresemann suggested Marx as chancellor, and Hindenburg appointed him on 17 May 1926.[1] His cabinet was formed from the Centre Party, DVP, DDP and BVP.
Even though Luther's government had fallen because of his decree allowing the old imperial flag to be flown alongside the Republic's in certain locations, Marx did not rescind it.[9] In June 1926 a referendum to expropriate the assets of the former ruling houses of Germany without compensation failed to reach the fifty percent needed to pass.[10] Marx's cabinet survived the referendum's failure and shortly afterwards succeeded in bringing Germany into the League of Nations. He resigned as chancellor on 17 December 1926 when he lost an SPD-initiated vote of no confidence on the issue of the recently uncovered clandestine military relations between the Reichswehr and the Soviet Union.[11]
In January 1927 Marx formed a new government with the same parties as before but with the addition of the right-wing German National People's Party (DNVP). The fourth and final Marx cabinet extended the 1922 Law for the Protection of the Republic,[12] although in order to gain the DNVP's support the extension was limited to two years. It also passed a law on working hours (14 April 1927) as well as the Law on Employment Services and Unemployment Insurance (Gesetz über Arbeitsvermittlung und Arbeitslosenversicherung) of 16 July 1927 which established a comprehensive unemployment insurance system.[1] The government sought to standardize locally administered poor relief payments by fixing them in line with the prices of essential goods, and Germany became the first major industrial nation to sign the Washington Agreement for extended maternity leave.[5]
Although the coalition broke up over the issue of the School Law (Reichsschulgesetz) and the blame was put on the DVP, it was mostly internal opposition within the Centre Party, notably by Joseph Wirth, Adam Stegerwald and Theodor von Guérard that resulted in the cabinet's fall. Marx resigned on 12 June. After putting into action an emergency program, he was dismissed as chancellor by Hindenburg on 29 June 1928. In total, his four terms in office made him the longest-serving Reich chancellor of the Weimar Republic.[1]
Later life
After the Centre Party's poor performance at the polls in May 1928, Marx resigned as party chairman on 8 December 1928. He then focused on work for numerous associations and civil organizations. In 1932 he resigned his seat in the Reichstag and retired.[1][8]
In 1933, under Nazi Germany, Marx was charged in the trial of the People's Association for Catholic Germany, an organization which he had chaired, but the charge against him was dropped in 1935. After the end of World War II, he continued to live in Bonn, where he died in 1946.[1] Marx is buried at the Melaten cemetery in Cologne.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Marx, Wilhelm". Deutsche Biographie (in German). Bayerische Nationalbibliothek. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
- ^ a b c d Lingen, Markus (14 January 1863). "Wilhelm Marx". Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (in German). Retrieved 26 January 2023.
- ^ "Was ist Erfüllungspolitik?" [What is Fulfillment Policy?]. Zeit Klicks (in German). Retrieved 28 January 2023.
- ISBN 3-406-37646-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-0582279520.
- ^ Winkler 1993, pp. 264 ff.
- ^ "German Presidential Election of 1925". Weimar and Nazi Germany. 31 October 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
- ^ a b "Biografie Wilhelm Marx (German)". Deutsches Historisches Museum. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
- ^ "Der Flaggenstreit". Deutsches Historisches Museum (in German). Retrieved 26 January 2023.
- ^ "Volksentscheid über die Fürstenenteignung" [Referendum on the Expropriation of Princes]. 100 Jahre Weimarer Republik (in German). Retrieved 28 January 2023.
- ^ "Der Streit um die Reichswehr und der Sturz des Kabinetts" [The dispute over the Reichswehr and the fall of the cabinet]. Das Bundesarchiv (in German). Retrieved 27 January 2023.
- ^ "Vor 100 Jahren: Reichstag verabschiedet Gesetz zum Schutz der Republik" [100 years ago: Reichstag Passes Law for the Protection of the Republic]. Deutscher Bundestag (in German). Retrieved 28 January 2023.
Further reading
- Evans, Ellen L. “The Center Wages Kulturpolitik: Conflict in the Marx-Keudell Cabinet of 1927.” Central European History 2, no. 2 (1969): 139–58. online.