Franz Matt (9 September 1860 in

Offenbach an der Queich Offenbach an der Queich is a municipality in the Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Queich, approx. 6 km east of Landau. Offenbach an der Queich is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeind ...

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria ( ; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1806 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingd ...

– 4 August 1929 in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and minister, who belonged to the

Bavarian People's Party The Bavarian People's Party (German: ; BVP) was a principally Catholic christian democratic political party in Bavaria during the Weimar Republic. After the collapse of the German Empire in 1918, it split away from the federal Centre Party and ...

(BVP). Following the revolution, he substantially defined and put through

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

n cultural and educational policy.

Life

Franz Matt studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

and at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

. In Munich, he became a member of the Catholic fraternity, ''Katholische Deutsche Studentenverbindung Aenania München'', in the ''

Cartellverband der katholischen deutschen Studentenverbindungen The Union of Catholic German Student Fraternities ( or , CV) is a German umbrella organization of Catholic male student fraternities (). History Foundation During the period of 19th century in Germany called the , the Prussian state tried to ...

'' (or ''Cartellverband'', CV). Later, he also became a member of the fraternity, ''Katholische Deutsche Studentenverbindung Markomannia Würzburg'' in the CV. After he received his doctorate degree, he held several offices in the Bavarian civil service. As the Ministerial Director of the Interior Ministry for Cultural and School Affairs (''Ministerialdirektor des Staatsministeriums des Inneren für Kultur- und Schulangelegenheiten''), he experienced the overthrow of the Bavarian monarchy. Cooperation with the new Minister of Education and the Arts (''Kultusminister'') of the Bavarian Republic, Johannes Hoffmann ( SPD), appointed by

Kurt Eisner Kurt Eisner (; 14 May 1867 21 February 1919)"Kurt Eisner – Encyclopædia Britannica" (biography), ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 2006, Britannica.com webpageBritannica-KurtEisner. was a German politician, revolutionary, journalist, and theatre c ...

, appeared to be extremely difficult, since Franz Matt rejected Hoffman's school reforms. As a result, Matt became involved in the newly founded

(''Bayerische Volkspartei'' or BVP) and in 1920, after the resignation of Johannes Hoffmann as Prime Minister, he was named Minister of Education and the Arts by the new Prime Minister,

Gustav Ritter von Kahr Gustav Ritter von Kahr (; born Gustav Kahr; 29 November 1862 – 30 June 1934) was a German jurist and right-wing politician. During his career he was district president of Upper Bavaria, Bavarian minister president and, from September 1923 to ...

of the BVP. In the period following, Franz Matt pursued a comprehensive course correction with regard to school policies and reformed the entire system of higher education in Bavaria. He developed the Bavarian policies regarding the arts and created the prerequisites for a revision of the relations between the state and the church. The

concordat A concordat () is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both,René Metz, ''What is Canon Law?'' (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960 ...

with the Holy See from 1923, as well as the treaties with the established Evangelical churches in the state of Bavaria can be substantially traced back even today to the determined policies of Matt. During the Beer Hall Putsch of 9 November 1923, Franz Matt was the only member of the Bavaria, Bavarian State cabinet not present. At the time of the putsch, he was having dinner with Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, the Archbishop of

and the Nuncio to Bavaria, Monsignor Eugenio Pacelli, the future pope

Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

. When informed of the coup, he as the Vice Prime Minister organized a government-in-exile at

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

and called on the police, military, and other public servants to support the government, which effectively doomed the prospects of the putschists. Matt was engaged in the Catholic lay movement. He was honored with numerous awards and several honorary doctorates.

Literature

* Lydia Schmidt: ''Kultusminister Franz Matt (1920-1926): Schul-, Kirchen- und Kunstpolitik in Bayern nach dem Umbruch von 1918.'' (''Schriftenreihe zur bayerischen Landesgeschichte'')" C.H. Beck 2000,

External links

*
State governments of Bavaria 1918-1933 (''in German'')
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matt, Franz 1860 births 1929 deaths Political office-holders in Bavaria Bavarian People's Party politicians People from the Palatinate (region) German Roman Catholics Leipzig University alumni Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni