![Erich Koch-Weser, Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1986-014-10, Kabinett Müller (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Erich_Koch-Weser%2C_Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1986-014-10%2C_Kabinett_M%C3%BCller_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Erich Koch-Weser (26 February 1875 – 19 October 1944) was a German lawyer and liberal politician. One of the founders (1918) and later chairman (1924–1930) of the liberal
German Democratic Party
The German Democratic Party (, or DDP) was a center-left liberal party in the Weimar Republic. Along with the German People's Party (, or DVP), it represented political liberalism in Germany between 1918 and 1933. It was formed in 1918 from the ...
, he served as
minister of the Interior
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
(1919–1921),
vice-chancellor of Germany
The vice-chancellor of Germany, unofficially the vice-chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (), officially the deputy to the federal chancellor (), is the second highest ranking German cabinet member. The chancellor is the head of governme ...
(1920) and
minister of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...
(1928–1929).
Early life
Erich Koch was born on 26 February 1875 in
Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany.
It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...
as the son of Dr. Anton Koch (1838–76), a Protestant headmaster of a higher girls' school, and his wife Minna (1841–1930, née Lewenstein), the daughter of a
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
ish merchant from
Burhave.
Erich Koch studied law and economics at Lausanne, Bonn, Berlin and at the
Ludwig Maximilian University
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...
in Munich from 1893 to 1897 where he finished with a
Dr.jur.
Erich Koch was married twice. In 1903, he married Bertha (1880–1923, née Fortmann). In 1925, he married Irma (1897–1970, née von Blanquet). He had four sons and one daughters from his first marriage and two sons from his second marriage.
Political career
In 1901, he became Mayor of
Delmenhorst
Delmenhorst (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Demost'') is an urban district ('' Kreisfreie Stadt'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of 74,500 and is located west of downtown Bremen with which it forms a contiguous urban area, whereas the ...
, in 1909 ''Stadtdirektor'' in Bremerhaven and from 1913 to 1919 was Mayor of
Kassel
Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...
. He belonged to the left wing of the
National Liberal Party, was an admirer of
Friedrich Naumann
Friedrich Naumann (25 March 1860 – 24 August 1919) was a German Liberalism in Germany, liberal politician and Protestant parish pastor. In 1896, he founded the National-Social Association that sought to combine liberalism, nationalism and ...
and an advocate of abolishing the Prussian ''
Dreiklassenwahlrecht''. He also served as a member of the
Upper chamber of the Prussian diet.
In November 1918, Koch was a founder-member of the
German Democratic Party
The German Democratic Party (, or DDP) was a center-left liberal party in the Weimar Republic. Along with the German People's Party (, or DVP), it represented political liberalism in Germany between 1918 and 1933. It was formed in 1918 from the ...
(DDP). In January 1919, he was elected to the
Weimar National Assembly
The Weimar National Assembly (German: ), officially the German National Constitutional Assembly (), was the popularly elected constitutional convention and de facto parliament of Germany from 6 February 1919 to 21 May 1920. As part of its ...
for the DDP and achieved a powerful position within the party's parliamentary group.
When the DDP rejoined the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
of
Gustav Bauer
Gustav Adolf Bauer (; 6 January 1870 – 16 September 1944) was a German Social Democratic Party leader and the chancellor of Germany from June 1919 to March 1920. He served as head of government for nine months. Prior to becoming head of gover ...
(SPD) in October 1919, Koch became Minister of the Interior (''Reichsinnenminister''). He kept that office under Chancellors
Hermann Müller (SPD) and
Constantin Fehrenbach
Constantin Fehrenbach, sometimes falsely,Bernd Braun: ''Constantin Fehrenbach (1852–1926)'', in: Reinhold Weber, Ines Mayer: ''Politische Köpfe aus Südwestdeutschland'', Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005, p. 106. Konstantin Fehrenbach (11 January 185 ...
(Zentrum). Under Müller, Koch was also Vice-Chancellor. He left the government on 4 May 1921 and worked as an attorney in Berlin.
Koch was a member of the
Reichstag from 1920 to 1930.
In early 1924, Koch was elected as the successor of
Carl Wilhelm Petersen as chairman of the DDP. Although a member of the DDP's right wing on many issues, in the fall of 1924, Koch refused to enter into a coalition with the nationalistic
DNVP
The German National People's Party (german: Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) was a national-conservative party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major conservative and nationalist party in Wei ...
and, after the first government of Chancellor
Hans Luther
Hans Luther () (10 March 1879 – 11 May 1962) was a German politician and Chancellor of Germany for 482 days in 1925 to 1926. As Minister of Finance he helped stabilize the Mark during the hyperinflation of 1923. From 1930 to 1933, Luther was h ...
collapsed in 1925, tried to set up a "Grand Coalition" between DDP and SPD (it was rejected by the Social Democrats).
He changed his name to Koch-Weser (after the river
Weser
The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports of Bre ...
) in 1927, to distinguish himself from another member of parliament whose name was also Erich Koch.
In 1928, Koch-Weser became Minister of Justice in the new government of Hermann Müller. He attempted a fundamental reform of criminal law, but as the Zentrum demanded the Justice department, Koch-Weser lost his position in April 1929.
In the summer of 1930, Koch-Weser merged the DDP with
Artur Mahraun's
Young German Order
The Young German Order (in German , often abbreviated as ) was a large para-military organisation in Weimar Germany. Its name and symbol (see picture) were inspired by the Teutonic Knights ( in German).
The pseudo-chivalric group was involved i ...
into the ''
Deutsche Staatspartei'', trying to gather what remained of the pro-republican, Protestant middle-class in a single political party. After the poor performance of his new party in the
September 1930 election, Koch-Weser resigned from the Reichstag and from the leadership of the party.
Later life
Koch-Weser then left politics and worked as a lawyer in Berlin. After the
Nazis
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 Na ...
seized power, they banned him from practicing law in the fall of 1933. He emigrated to
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
where he bought a large coffee plantation called ''Fazenda Janeta'' near
Rolândia
Rolândia is a municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil. Rolândia was settled by German immigrants who named it after (and erected a statue to) the medieval hero Roland, a symbol of freedom in Germany.
See also
*Li ...
in the state of
Paraná. Koch-Weser died at Fazenda Janeta on 19 (or 20) October 1944.
Erich Koch-Weser was the grandfather of former
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
executive and German politician
Caio Koch-Weser
Caio Kai Koch-Weser (born July 25, 1944 in Rolândia, Brazil) is a German economist, civil servant and business executive. He was Secretary of State in the Federal Ministry of Finance 1999–2005. Prior to becoming Secretary of State, he served ...
. He became the first ever honorary citizen of Delmenhorst in 1928.
References
Bibliography
* ''Die Umgestaltung der beiden Häuser des Landtags'', 1918
* ''Einheitsstaat und Selbstverwaltung'', 1928
* ''Deutschlands Außenpolitik in der Nachkriegszeit 1919–29'', 1929 (Engl.: ''Germany in the Post-War World'', 1930)
* ''Und dennoch aufwärts!'', 1933
* ''Hitler and beyond, A German Testament'', 1945.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koch-Weser, Erich
1875 births
1944 deaths
People from Bremerhaven
German Protestants
German people of Jewish descent
German Democratic Party politicians
German State Party politicians
Vice-Chancellors of Germany
Government ministers of Germany
Members of the Weimar National Assembly
Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic
Members of the Prussian House of Lords
Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold members