Franz Blücher (24 March 1896 – 26 March 1959) was a German politician and member of the German Parliament (''
Bundestag'').
Biography
Blücher was born in
Essen
Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
,
Kingdom of Prussia.
After the end of
World War II, he was one of the founders of the
Free Democratic Party Free Democratic Party is the name of several political parties around the world. It usually designates a party ideologically based on liberalism.
Current parties with that name include:
*Free Democratic Party (Germany), a liberal political party in ...
(FDP) and served as chairman in the British occupation zone (1946-1949) and as Federal Chairman (1949-1954).
From 1949 to 1957, Blücher was a member of Chancellor
Konrad Adenauer's cabinet. As representative of the second-largest government party, he was the first
vice-chancellor of West Germany and also held the
Ministry for Matters of the Marshall Plan, which in 1953 was renamed ''Ministry for Economic Cooperation''.
In 1956, Blücher – along with other fifteen ministers and parliamentarians – sided with Chancellor Adenauer against his party and formed the
Free People's Party (FVP), which early in 1957 merged with the
German Party (DP).
Blücher died on 26 March 1959 in
Bad Godesberg,
Bonn,
West Germany.
Honours and awards
Blücher was awarded honorary doctorates from the
University of Berlin (1954) and the
University of the Punjab in
Lahore (1957). In 1954, he was awarded the
Grand Cross of the Order of Merit and the Grand Cross of the Greek
Order of George I. In 1955, he received the
Grand Cross of Merit of the Italian Republic.
In 1956, Blücher received the
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blucher, Franz
1896 births
1959 deaths
Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia
German Roman Catholics
Politicians from Essen
People from the Rhine Province
Vice-Chancellors of Germany
Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Grand Crosses of the Order of George I
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
Recipients of the Grand Decoration with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria
German Party (1947) politicians
Members of the Bundestag for the Free Democratic Party (Germany)
Members of the Bundestag 1957–1961
Members of the Bundestag 1953–1957
Members of the Bundestag 1949–1953