Peter Paul Freiherr von Eltz-Rübenach (9 February 1875 – 25 August 1943) was Reich Postal Minister ''(Reichspostminister)'' and Reich Minister of Transport ''(Reichsminister für Verkehr)'' of Germany between 1932 and 1937.

Early life

Eltz-Rübenach was born in Wahn (today part of

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

), a scion of the Rhenish noble house of

Eltz The House of Eltz was a noted German noble family of the ''Uradel''. The Rhenish dynasty has had close ties to the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia since 1736. History Though older sources mentioned one Eberhard zu Eltz, a Frankish citizen of Trier ...

. He studied engineering at Aachen University and the Technical University of Berlin and was then employed by the state railroad service. He spent several years in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

working from 1911 to 1914 as a technical expert in the German

consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth c ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. At the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he returned to Germany and worked in military rail transport. In 1924 he became president of the ''

Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'', also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regiona ...

'' Board in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

Political career

On 1 June 1932, he was appointed ''

Reichsminister Reichsminister (in German singular and plural; 'minister of the realm') was the title of members of the German Government during two historical periods: during the March revolution of 1848/1849 in the German Reich of that period, and in the mode ...

'' for both the

Reich Ministry of Transport The Reich Ministry of Transport (german: Reichsverkehrsministerium or ''RVM'') was a cabinet-level agency of the German government from 1919 until 1945, operating during the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. Formed from the Prussian Ministry of Pub ...

and the Reich Postal Ministry as a nonpartisan technocrat in Chancellor Franz von Papen's "cabinet of barons." He retained both these portfolios in the cabinets formed by Chancellor

Kurt von Schleicher Kurt Ferdinand Friedrich Hermann von Schleicher (; 7 April 1882 – 30 June 1934) was a German general and the last chancellor of Germany (before Adolf Hitler) during the Weimar Republic. A rival for power with Hitler, Schleicher was murdered by ...

(3 December 1932) and, after the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

'' Machtergreifung,'' by

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

(30 January 1933). In the cabinet, he fought unsuccessfully for development of the railroads against the government's emphasis on developing an improved highway system, the ''

Reichsautobahn The ''Reichsautobahn'' system was the beginning of the German autobahns under Nazi Germany. There had been previous plans for controlled-access highways in Germany under the Weimar Republic, and two had been constructed, but work had yet to st ...

''. Eltz-Rübenach also served as a member of the

Academy for German Law The Academy for German Law (german: Akademie für deutsches Recht) was an institute for legal research and reform founded on 26 June 1933 in Nazi Germany. After suspending its operations during the Second World War in August 1944, it was abolished ...

. To mark the fourth anniversary of the Nazi regime, Hitler determined to enroll all the remaining non-Nazi ministers in the Nazi Party and to confer upon them the

Golden Party Badge __NOTOC__ The Golden Party Badge (german: Goldenes Parteiabzeichen) was an award authorised by Adolf Hitler in a decree in October 1933. It was a special award given to all Nazi Party members who had, as of 9 November 1933, registered numbers fr ...

. Eltz-Rübenach, a devout Catholic, was troubled by the rising conflict between the Nazi government and the

Catholic Church 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 ...

. At the cabinet meeting on 30 January 1937, Eltz-Rübenach rejected the Golden Party Badge personally offered by Hitler and demanded a statement of Hitler's proposed policy toward the Church. The other ministers sat in stunned silence as Eltz-Rübenach was required to submit his resignation. Some time later, when his wife refused to accept the

Cross of Honour of the German Mother The Cross of Honour of the German Mother (), referred to colloquially as the ''Mutterehrenkreuz'' (Mother's Cross of Honour) or simply ''Mutterkreuz'' (Mother's Cross), was a state decoration conferred by the government of the German ReichStatuto ...

, a Nazi decoration, he and his family became "suspect persons" and were placed under surveillance by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

. In addition, his pension claims were temporarily revoked. Eltz-Rübenach died in

Linz am Rhein Linz am Rhein (in English ''Linz on the Rhine'') is a municipality in the district of Neuwied, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the river Rhine near Remagen, approx. 25 km southeast of Bonn and has about ...

in 1943, aged 68.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eltz-Rubenach, Paul Freiherr von 1875 births 1943 deaths Barons of Germany German Roman Catholics Members of the Academy for German Law Nazi Germany ministers Politicians from Cologne People from the Rhine Province Eltz