Hans Maria Clemens Franz Konstantin Freiherr (from 1911, Graf) von Podewils-Dürniz (17 January 1850 – 14 March 1922) was a

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n politician who served as Minister-President of Bavaria 1903–1912. Clemens Hans Maria Franz Konstantin Graf von Podewils-Dürniz, by Werner K. Blessing; in: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 20, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, , S. 557

Early life

His parents were the Bavarian colonel and Chamberlain Konstantin

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

von Podewils (1820–1887) and his wife Philippine von Juncker and Bigatto (1822–1900). The family originated from the Pomeranian noble family Podewils. He studied jurisprudence in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

and worked from 1872 to 1875 in the legal practice in Munich, Weilheim and

Landshut Landshut (; bar, Landshuad) is a town in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany. Situated on the banks of the River Isar, Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free State of Bavaria. It is also t ...

. In 1879/80 he worked at the district council of Miesbach and the regional government of

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (german: Oberbayern, ; ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat o ...

Bavarian diplomatic posts

In 1881 he was Secretary of Legation at the Bavarian Legation in Berlin, and then in 1887 Counsellor and Envoy Extraordinary, later Minister Plenipotentiary of the Italian court. In 1896–1902 he was an extraordinary ambassador and authorised minister at the Austro-Hungarian court in Vienna.

Bavarian government

In 1902 he was appointed Bavarian Minister of the Interior for Church and School Affairs. On 1 March 1903 he took over the office of the chairman in the Council of Ministers, combined with the posts of Minister of State of the Royal House and Foreign Minister. In his term of office, a democratised Landtag election law (1906) and a reformed municipal suffrage (1908) were passed. He was regarded as the "favorite" of the

Prince Regent Luitpold ''Leopold Charles Joseph William Louis'' , image_size = , image = Luitpold Wittelsbach cropped.jpg , succession = Prince Regent of Bavaria , reign = 10 June 1886 – 12 December 1912 , reign-type = Tenure , regent = Ludw ...

, but was replaced on 9 February 1912 by Georg von Hertling. In 1918, Podewils represented Bavaria during the peace negotiations of

Brest-Litovsk Brest ( be, Брэст / Берасьце, Bieraście, ; russian: Брест, ; uk, Берестя, Berestia; lt, Brasta; pl, Brześć; yi, בריסק, Brisk), formerly Brest-Litovsk (russian: Брест-Литовск, lit=Lithuanian Br ...

, with Russia.

Later life

In 1920/21 he worked as a plenipotentiary on the settling of the borders in Upper Silesia and

West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (german: Provinz Westpreußen; csb, Zôpadné Prësë; pl, Prusy Zachodnie) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1920. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 177 ...

after the

First World War 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 died in Munich on 14 March 1922.

Marriage and issue

On 14 April 1874 in

he married Baroness Friederike von Dürniz-Hienhard (1855-1923). They had two sons Hans Karl (1875-1948), Erdmann Karl (1877-1950) and one daughter Maria Helena (1883-1963).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Podewils-Durniz, Clemens von 1850 births 1922 deaths Ministers-President of Bavaria People from the Kingdom of Bavaria