Bundesarchiv Bild 102-12088, Bernhard Dernburg (cropped)

Bernhard Dernburg (17 July 1865 – 14 October 1937) was a German liberal politician and banker. He served as the secretary for Colonial Affairs and head of the

Imperial Colonial Office The Imperial Colonial Office (german: Reichskolonialamt) was a governmental agency of the German Empire tasked with managing Germany's overseas territories. Dissolved after World War I, on 20 February 1919 the Imperial Colonial Ministry (''Reich ...

from May 1907 to 9 June 1910, and as the

minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

and

vice-chancellor of Germany The vice-chancellor of Germany, unofficially the vice-chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (), officially the deputy to the federal chancellor (), is the second highest ranking German cabinet member. The chancellor is the head of governm ...

from 17 April to 20 June 1919.

Background and banking career

Born in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse ...

in the

Grand Duchy of Hesse The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Grand Duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 18 ...

, Bernhard Dernburg was the son of publisher and politician

Friedrich Dernburg Friedrich may refer to: Names *Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich'' *Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich'' Other *Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' ...

(1833–1911), a member of the National Liberal Party, belonging to a distinguished Jewish family. Friedrich Dernburg had converted to Lutheranism and married Luise Stahl, the daughter of a Lutheran minister. Bernhard Dernburg was a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

. He made a career in banking, including at the

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York St ...

, and became Director of Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft in 1889. He subsequently joined the management of the Bank für Handel und Industrie (Darmstadt). In 1901, he founded the Deutsch-Luxemburgische Bergwerks- und Hütten-AG together with

Hugo Stinnes Hugo Dieter Stinnes (12 February 1870 – 10 April 1924) was a German industrialist and politician. During the late era of the German Empire and early Weimar Republic, he was considered to be one of the most influential entrepreneurs in Europe. ...

, which became one of the largest companies in its field. He served as a board member of a number of large industrial companies.

Political career

In 1906, Dernburg entered politics as Prussian Representative at the Federal Council. In 1907, he was appointed Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs and head of the

. As Secretary, he pursued a reformist course in German colonial policy. Dernburg resigned from this post in 1910. During 1914 and 1915, while Germany was at war with

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

but the USA was still neutral, Dernburg was based in the United States and represented German viewpoints in the propaganda campaign against Britain. Following the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he co-founded the liberal

German Democratic Party The German Democratic Party (, or DDP) was a center-left liberal party in the Weimar Republic. Along with the German People's Party (, or DVP), it represented political liberalism in Germany between 1918 and 1933. It was formed in 1918 from the ...

, served as a member of its national board, and was elected to the

Weimar National Assembly The Weimar National Assembly (German: ), officially the German National Constitutional Assembly (), was the popularly elected constitutional convention and de facto parliament of Germany from 6 February 1919 to 21 May 1920. As part of its ...

. From 17 April to 20 June 1919, he served in the cabinet of

Philipp Scheidemann Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (26 July 1865 – 29 November 1939) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). In the first quarter of the 20th century he played a leading role in both his party and in the young Weimar ...

as Federal Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor. He was a member of the Reichstag, representing the German Democratic Party, from 1920 to 1930. He died in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

on 14 October 1937.Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism, edited by James Stuart Olson, Robert Shadle, 1991, pg 170

Publications

*''Koloniale Finanzprobleme'', 1907 *''Koloniale Lehrjahre'', 1907 *''Südwestafrikanische Eindrücke'', 1909 *''Industrielle Fortschritte in den Kolonien'', 1909

References

External links

*
Bernhard Dernburg in den Akten der Reichskanzlei
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dernburg, Bernhard 1865 births 1937 deaths Politicians from Darmstadt People from the Grand Duchy of Hesse German Lutherans German people of Jewish descent German Democratic Party politicians Members of the Prussian House of Lords Finance ministers of Germany Vice-Chancellors of Germany Members of the Weimar National Assembly Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic

Background and banking career

Political career

Publications

References

Further reading

External links