Constantin Fehrenbach, sometimes falsely,Bernd Braun: ''Constantin Fehrenbach (1852–1926)'', in: Reinhold Weber, Ines Mayer: ''Politische Köpfe aus Südwestdeutschland'', Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005, p. 106. Konstantin Fehrenbach (11 January 1852 – 26 March 1926), was a German

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

politician who was one of the major leaders of the Centre Party or ''Zentrum''. He served as the

president of the Reichstag The president of the Reichstag was the presiding officer of the German legislature from 1871 to 1918, under the German Empire and again from 1920 to 1945, under the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. Presidents of the Reichstag Presidium of th ...

in 1918, and then as the president of 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 1919 to 1920. In June 1920, Fehrenbach became the chancellor of Germany. He resigned in May 1921 over the issue of war reparation payments to the Allies. Fehrenbach headed the Centre Party's Reichstag fraction from 1923 until his death in 1926.

Early life

Constantin Fehrenbach was born on 11 January 1852 in Wellendingen near

Bonndorf Bonndorf is a town in the Waldshut district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the southern Black Forest, 14 km southeast of Titisee-Neustadt. It comprises the villages Boll, Brunnadern, Dillendorf, Ebnet, Gündelwangen, Ho ...

in what was then the Grand Duchy of Baden as the son of Johann Georg Fehrenbach, a teacher (1826–1895), and his wife Rosina (1832–1900), née Gensecke. From 1871 to 1878, Fehrenbach studied theology, then law at Freiburg im Breisgau and in 1882 began to practise law there, soon becoming a successful criminal lawyer. In 1879, Fehrenbach married Maria (1855–1921), née Hossner at Freiburg. They had one daughter.

Political career

Empire

In 1884, Fehrenbach started his political career by becoming a member of the Freiburg city council (parliament). The next year, Fehrenbach became a member of the ''Landtag'' (diet) of Baden for the Catholic '' Zentrum''. However, in 1887 he resigned his seat after disagreements with the leader of the party in Baden, . In 1895, Fehrenbach became ''Stadtrat'' in Freiburg (member of the city government) and in 1896 ''Kreisabgeordneter'' (district representative). In 1901 he was reelected to the Landtag and remained a member until 1913 (in 1907–1909 as president). In 1903, he also became a member of the Reichstag where his oratory skills were widely acclaimed. In particular, his speech on the

Saverne Affair The Zabern or Saverne Affair was a crisis of domestic policy which occurred in the German Empire at the end of 1913. It was caused by political unrest in Zabern (now Saverne) in Alsace-Lorraine, where two battalions of the Prussian were garris ...

in 1913 made him famous nationwide for his defence of the rights of the people of Alsace and all citizens of the German Reich against the powers of the military. In 1917, Fehrenbach became the chairman of the ''Hauptausschuss'' of the Reichstag and supported the "peace resolution" in favour of a negotiated peace. In July 1918, Fehrenbach became the last president of the Imperial Reichstag.

Weimar Republic

After the German Revolution of 1918–1919, Fehrenbach once again became president of the parliament, the

in February 1919. In that office, he succeeded due to a talent for achieving compromise and a quiet and self-controlled nature. Within the ''Zentrum'', he was a member of the party's right wing. In June 1920, Fehrenbach formed the first

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is ...

cabinet without participation of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). The SPD remained the largest party in the newly

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

Reichstag, which succeeded the National Assembly. As Chancellor, Fehrenbach represented Germany at the

Spa Conference of 1920 The Spa Conference was a meeting between the Supreme War Council and the government of the Weimar Republic in Spa, Belgium on 5–16 July 1920. The main topics were German disarmament, coal shipments to the Allies and war reparations. Attendees ...

and the . He tried in vain to get the US government to work as a mediator. In social policy, unemployment benefits were improved during Fehrenbach's time as chancellor, with the maximum benefit for single males over the age of 21 increased in November 1920 from 7 to 10 marks. Fehrenbach resigned in May 1921, as the DVP had withdrawn its support for the government's foreign policy of trying to cooperate with the Allies on the issue of reparations. In particular, Fehrenbach had failed to get the Reichstag's approval for a fixing of German reparation payments at 132 billion gold mark. Although he officially resigned on 4 May, he remained in charge of the caretaker government until his replacement by Joseph Wirth on 10 May. In 1922, Fehrenbach became a judge on the ', the legal guardian of the Weimar Constitution. In late 1923, Fehrenbach was elected head of the ''Zentrum'' fraction in the Reichstag. He remained in that office until his death in 1926. He also became vice-chairman of the ', an organization fighting

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

Later life and death

Fehrenbach died on 26 March 1926 in Freiburg im Breisgau.

References

External links

The Fehrenbach cabinet at ''Akten der Reichskanzlei'' (German)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fehrenbach, Constantin 1852 births 1926 deaths 20th-century Chancellors of Germany People from Waldshut (district) People from the Grand Duchy of Baden German Roman Catholics Centre Party (Germany) politicians Chancellors of Germany People of the Weimar Republic Members of the Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the Weimar National Assembly Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic Members of the Second Chamber of the Diet of the Grand Duchy of Baden Cartellverband members University of Freiburg alumni