Wilhelm Hoegner
| Wilhelm Hoegner | |
|---|---|
| Minister President of Bavaria | |
|
In office 1945–1946 |
|
| Preceded by | Fritz Schäffer |
| Succeeded by | Hans Ehard |
|
In office 1954–1957 |
|
| Preceded by | Hans Ehard |
| Succeeded by | Hanns Seidel |
| Minister of Justice | |
|
In office 1945–1947 |
|
| Minister of the Interior | |
|
In office 1950–1954 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
23 September 1887 Munich |
| Died | 5 March 1980 (aged 92) Munich |
| Nationality | German |
| Political party | SPD |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Wilhelm Hoegner (23 September 1887 in Munich – 5 March 1980 in Munich) was the second Bavarian prime minister (SPD) after World War II (1945–46 and 1954–57) and father of the Bavarian constitution. He has been the only Social Democrat to hold this office since 1920.
Wilhelm Hoegner was born in Munich in 1887, the son of Michael Georg Hoegner and Therese Engelhardt. Growing up in Burghausen, he studied law in Munich, Berlin and Erlangen. After graduation, he worked as a lawyer, then as a Staatsanwalt, a state prosecutor. In 1919 he became a member of the SPD. He married Anna Woock in 1918, with whom he would have two children.
From 1924 to 1930, Hoegner was a Social Democratic member of the Landtag of Bavaria. He was involved in the investigation into Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 and through this became part of the opposition to the Nazis. He published, anonymously, a paper on the findings of the investigation, which is considered an important historical document due to the fact that the Nazis destroyed all official reports from the inquest after 1933. He actively opposed Hitler in his time as a member of the German Reichstag from 1930 to 1933. For this reason, he was dismissed from government service after the Nazi takeover in 1933 and had to escape to Austria, and from there, in 1934, to Switzerland, where he worked as a freelance writer. He was in contact there with other German refugees from the Nazis and worked with them in an organisation called Demokratisches Deutschland, aimed against the Nazis.
Upon his return to Bavaria in June 1945, he served at the court in Munich. He became prime minister of Bavaria from 1945 to 1946, after the sudden dismissal of Fritz Schäffer, also holding the post of Minister of Justice until 1947. He became known at this time as the father of the new Bavarian constitution. After losing the December 1946 election, he was replaced as Bavarian prime minister by Hans Ehard but remained as Minister of Justice. When his party decided to leave the coalition with the Christian Social Union (CSU), he opposed this move and temporarily lost influence within the SPD, resigning from his ministerial post.
...
Wikipedia