Fritz Neumayer

Fritz Neumayer
German Federal Minister of Justice
In office 1953–1956
Preceded by	Thomas Dehler
Succeeded by	Hans-Joachim von Merkatz
Personal details
Born	(1884-07-29)July 29, 1884 Kaiserslautern, Germany
Died	April 12, 1973(1973-04-12) (aged 88) Munich, Germany
Nationality	Germany
Political party	Free Democratic Party (FDP), Freie Volkspartei (FVP)
Profession	Lawyer, politician

Fritz Neumayer (July 29, 1884 – April 12, 1973) was a German politician. He was Federal Minister of Building from 1952 to 1953, and Federal Minister of Justice from 1953 to 1956.

Early life

Neumayer was born at Kaiserslautern, Germany. Both his father and his grandfather were lawyers and liberal members of parliament. Neumayer studied law at Würzburg, Berlin, Leipzig and Strasbourg.^[1] After his graduation in 1911, he practiced law in his native city of Kaiserslautern until 1945, except for the time of military service.^[2]

Political career

After World War II, Neumayer joined the newly founded liberal party of the western occupation zones, the Free Democratic Party (FDP). Also in 1945, he became president of the state court in Kaiserslautern. He was elected to the advisory state board of the newly founded state of Rheinland-Palatinate in 1946, and to the respective state parliament in 1947. When Rheinland-Palatinate became a constituent state of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949, Neumayer was elected to the federal parliament,^[2] where his primary concern was ensuring the independence of judges from the state.^[1]

After the death of the liberal minister for building, Hermann-Eberhard Wildermuth, in 1952, Neumayer led the ministry until the 1953 West German federal election. After the election, he became Federal Minister of Justice, and worked primarily on reforming the criminal law.^[1] He furthered judicial gender equality with a law of early 1954, though "according to the natural order"^{[nb 1]} granting a husband the right to issue binding decisions for his spouse if the wellbeing of the family was not endangered.^[3]

Neumayer also furthered an extension to the amnesty of 1949, resulting in the amnesty law of 17 July 1954.^[4][5] In Neumayer's words, the law was to "rule off crimes committed directly or collaterally in the context of the conditions of a chaotic time period".^{[nb 2]} Amnestied were people convicted of crimes up to manslaughter, but not murder, committed between 1 October 1944 and 31 July 1945 in the assumption of a legitimacy of their action, especially by following orders,^[6] or out of an emergency situation. The law also provided for the clearance of several such crimes in the official registries.^[7][8]

In 1956, Neumayer together with all other liberal federal ministers left the FDP to join the newly founded Freie Volkspartei (FVP). In the same year, West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer dismissed him from his office, giving his high age as the reason.^[1]

Later life

Neumayer, who was married with four children, spent the later part of his life in Munich. He was Honorary Chairman of the supervisory board of the Pfaff AG.^[1] He died on April 12, 1973 in Munich,^[2] and was buried in Kaiserslautern.^[1]

Notes

1. ↑ "...nach der natürlichen Ordnung". Fritz Neumayer as cited in Bänsch (1985), p.427
2. ↑ "...einen Schlußstrich unter die Straftaten ziehen, die in unmittelbarem und mittelbarem Zusammenhang mit den Verhältnissen einer chaotischen Zeit begangen worden sind." Fritz Neumayer, as cited in Schröm (2002), p.86 and Frei (1996), p.102

References

Bibliography

• Dittberner, Jürgen (2005). "Kurzbiographien". Die FDP: Geschichte, Personen, Organisation, Perspektiven; eine Einführung (in German). VS Verlag. ISBN 3-531-14050-7. 
• Schröm, Oliver; Röpke, Andrea (2002). "Die stillen Helfer und ihre politischen Freunde". Stille Hilfe für braune Kameraden: das geheime Netzwerk der Alt- und Neonazis (in German) (2 ed.). Ch. Links Verlag. ISBN 3-86153-266-2. Retrieved 2009-07-15. 
• Freudiger, Kerstin (2002). "Rahmenbedingungen für die Verfolgung von NS-Verbrechen". Die juristische Aufarbeitung von NS-Verbrechen (in German). Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 3-16-147687-5. Retrieved 2009-07-15. 
• Frei, Norbert (1996). Vergangenheitspolitik: die Anfänge der Bundesrepublik und die NS-Vergangenheit (in German) (2 ed.). C.H.Beck. ISBN 3-406-41310-2. Retrieved 2009-07-15. 
• Bänsch, Dieter (1985). Die Fünfziger Jahre: Beiträge zu Politik und Kultur (in German) (2 ed.). Gunter Narr Verlag. ISBN 3-87808-385-8. Retrieved 2009-07-15. 

v t e Secretaries and Ministers of Justice of Germany German Empire (1871–1919) Heinrich Friedberg Hermann von Schelling Otto von Oehlschläger Robert Bosse Eduard Hanauer Rudolf Arnold Nieberding Hermann Lisco Paul von Krause Weimar Republic (1919–1932) Otto Landsberg Eugen Schiffer Andreas Blunck Eugen Schiffer Gustav Radbruch Rudolf Heinze Gustav Radbruch Erich Emminger Curt Joël Josef Frenken Hans Luther Wilhelm Marx Johannes Bell Oskar Hergt Erich Koch-Weser Theodor von Guérard Johann Viktor Bredt Curt Joël Franz Gürtner Nazi Germany (1933–1945) Franz Gürtner Franz Schlegelberger Otto Georg Thierack German Democratic Republic (1949–1990) Max Fechner Hilde Benjamin Kurt Wünsche Hans-Joachim Heusinger Kurt Wünsche Manfred Walther Federal Republic of Germany (1949–) Thomas Dehler Fritz Neumayer Hans-Joachim von Merkatz Fritz Schäffer Wolfgang Stammberger Ewald Bucher Karl Weber Richard Jaeger Gustav Heinemann Horst Ehmke Gerhard Jahn Hans-Jochen Vogel Jürgen Schmude Hans A. Engelhard Klaus Kinkel Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger Edzard Schmidt-Jortzig Herta Däubler-Gmelin Brigitte Zypries Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger Heiko Maas

v t e Transport, Building and Urban Development Ministers of the Federal Republic of Germany Transportation Verkehr Hans-Christoph Seebohm (1949–1966) Georg Leber (1966–1972) Lauritz Lauritzen (1972–1974) Kurt Gscheidle (1974–1980) Volker Hauff (1980–1982) Werner Dollinger (1982–1987) Jürgen Warnke (1987–1989) Friedrich Zimmermann (1989–1991) Günther Krause (1991–1993) Matthias Wissmann (1993–1998) Public Housing Development Wohnungsbau Hermann-Eberhard Wildermuth (1949–1952) Fritz Neumayer (1952–1953) Victor-Emanuel Preusker (1953–1957) Paul Lücke (1957–1961) Housing, Urban Development and Regional Planning Wohnungswesen, Städtebau und Raumordnung Paul Lücke (1961–1965) Housing and Urban Development Wohnungswesen und Städtebau Ewald Bucher (1965–1966) Bruno Heck (1966) Lauritz Lauritzen (1966–1969) Urban Development and Housing Städtebau und Wohnungswesen Lauritz Lauritzen (1969–1972) Regional Planning, Construction and Urban Development Raumordnung, Bauwesen und Städtebau Hans-Jochen Vogel (1972–1974) Karl Ravens (1974–1978) Dieter Haack (1978–1982) Oscar Schneider (1982–1989) Gerda Hasselfeldt (1989–1991) Irmgard Schwaetzer (1991–1994) Klaus Töpfer (1994–1998) Eduard Oswald (1998) Transportation, Construction and Housing Verkehr, Bau- und Wohnungswesen Franz Müntefering (1998–1999) Reinhard Klimmt (1999–2000) Kurt Bodewig (2000–2002) Manfred Stolpe (2002–2005) Transportation, Construction and Urban Development Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung Wolfgang Tiefensee (2005–2009) Peter Ramsauer (since 2009)