Wilhelm Marx

Wilhelm Marx
Wilhelm Marx
In office
November 30, 1923 – January 15, 1925
President Friedrich Ebert
Deputy Karl Jarres
Preceded by Gustav Stresemann
Succeeded by Hans Luther
In office
May 17, 1926 – June 12, 1928
President Paul von Hindenburg
Deputy Oskar Hergt (1927-1928)
Preceded by Hans Luther
Succeeded by Hermann Müller
6th Minister President of the Free State of Prussia
In office
February 18 – April 6, 1925
Preceded by Otto Braun
Succeeded by Otto Braun
Born January 15, 1863(1863-01-15)
Died August 5, 1946 (aged 83)
Political party Centre
Occupation Lawyer
Religion Roman Catholic

Wilhelm Marx (January 15, 1863 – August 5, 1946) was a German Lawyer, Catholic politician and a member of the Centre Party.

Contents

Life

Born in Cologne to a teacher, Marx passed his Abitur at the Marzellengymnasium in 1881. He then studied jurisprudence at the University of Bonn. As student he became a member of K.St.V. Arminia. After his degree in law, he worked as an assessor in both Cologne and Waldbröl and later in the land registry in Simmern. From 1894 Marx worked as a judge in Elberfeld. Ten years later, he returned to Cologne and Düsseldorf, where he had the highest rank possible in Prussia for a Catholic who was also active in the Center Party.

Marx married Johanna Verkoyen in 1891 and they had four children.

Politics

He served as Chancellor of Germany from 1923 to 1925 and again from 1926 to 1928, and was the Centre Party's (and, in the second round, the entire Weimar Coalition's) candidate in the 1925 presidential election, when he was defeated by Paul von Hindenburg.

Being a Catholic, Marx took an active part in the political arm of German Catholics, the Centre Party. In 1899, he presided the Zentrums-Verein in Elberfeld; in 1908 he became chairman of the Centre Party in Düsseldorf.

From 1899 to 1918 Marx was a member of the Landtag of Prussia. From 1910 he was a member of the Reichstag, where he became a member of the executive committee of the Centre Party faction. There, he specialised in the field of school and culture politics. He was known as a calm and intercessional politician who didn't have many enemies and always worked towards a compromise.

During World War I he expressed his opinion against annexation and for a peace resolution. Thus, he was elected into the Nationalversammlung of Weimar. He supported the treaty of Versailles during the occupation of the Rhineland in 1923 because he thought that if Germany did not accept it, the Rhineland would be separated from Prussia. Marx also tried to unify the Centre Party and to support the government, using his style of politics and an appeal to Catholicism.

When the cabinet of Gustav Stresemann failed in 1923, Marx became chancellor, leading the tenth German cabinet since 1919. His first term lasted 13 months, his second term lasted 25 months. In this time, he presided over four cabinets, the first two being civic minority governments, later joined by the DNVP. His foreign minister was Gustav Stresemann, whose politics led to a toleration by the SPD. During Marx's terms, he managed to stabilise the German economy after the hyperinflation of 1923 by introducing a new currency. By the end of 1924, the state of emergency could be repealed. The cabinets led by Marx also accepted the Dawes Plan. In his second term, Germany joined the League of Nations, and Marx managed to unseat General Hans von Seeckt, who wanted to make the army a "state within the state". On the other hand, it should be noted that during his terms the Reichswehr worked secretly together with the Russian army to circumvent the Treaty of Versailles.

In 1925 Marx also became president of Prussia, and in 1926 he was minister of justice in the cabinet of his successor Hans Luther. He was a member of the Reichstag up to 1932. During the Nazi period, and after World War II, he lived in Bonn, where he died.

First cabinet (November 1923 - May 1924)

Changes

Second cabinet (June 1924 - December 1924)

Changes

Third cabinet (May 1926 - December 1926)

Fourth cabinet (January 1927 - June 1928)

Changes

External links

Preceded by
Gustav Stresemann		 Chancellor of Germany
1923 – 1925		 Succeeded by
Hans Luther
Preceded by
Otto Braun		 Prime Minister of Prussia
1925		 Succeeded by
Otto Braun
Preceded by
Hans Luther		 Chancellor of Germany
1926 – 1928		 Succeeded by
Hermann Müller
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(1919–1933)
Philipp Scheidemann · Gustav Bauer · Hermann Müller · Konstantin Fehrenbach · Joseph Wirth · Wilhelm Cuno · Gustav Stresemann · Wilhelm Marx · Hans Luther · Wilhelm Marx · Hermann Müller · Heinrich Brüning · Franz von Papen · Kurt von Schleicher
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