Fritz Neumayer (29 July 1884 – 12 April 1973) was a German politician. He was Federal Minister of Building from 1952 to 1953, and Federal Minister of Justice from 1953 to 1956.

Early life

Neumayer was born at Kaiserslautern,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Both his father and his grandfather were lawyers and liberal members of parliament. Neumayer studied law at

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

and Strasbourg. After his graduation in 1911, he practiced law in his native city of Kaiserslautern until 1945, except for the time of military service.Dittberner (2005), p. 389

Political career

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Neumayer joined the newly founded liberal party of the western

occupation zones Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France ...

, the Free Democratic Party (FDP). Also in 1945, he became president of the state court in Kaiserslautern. He was elected to the advisory state board of the newly founded state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

in 1946, and to the respective state parliament in 1947. When Rhineland-Palatinate became a constituent state of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

in 1949, Neumayer was elected to the

federal parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-gen ...

, where his primary concern was ensuring the independence of judges from the state. After the death of the liberal minister for building, Hermann-Eberhard Wildermuth, in 1952, Neumayer led the ministry until the 1953 West German federal election. After the election, he became Federal Minister of Justice, and worked primarily on reforming the criminal law. He furthered judicial

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

with a law of early 1954, though "according to the natural order""...nach der natürlichen Ordnung". Fritz Neumayer as cited in Bänsch (1985), p.427 granting a husband the right to issue binding decisions for his spouse if the wellbeing of the family was not endangered.Bänsch (1985), p.427 Neumayer also furthered an extension to the

amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...

of 1949, resulting in the amnesty law of 17 July 1954.Schröm (2002), p.86Frei (1996), pp.102-103 In Neumayer's words, the law was to "rule off crimes committed directly or collaterally in the context of the conditions of a chaotic time period"."...einen Schlußstrich unter die Straftaten ziehen, die in unmittelbarem und mittelbarem Zusammenhang mit den Verhältnissen einer chaotischen Zeit begangen worden sind." Fritz Neumayer, as cited in Schröm (2002), p.86 and Frei (1996), p.102 Amnestied were people convicted of crimes up to manslaughter, but not murder, committed between 1 October 1944 and 31 July 1945 in the assumption of a legitimacy of their action, especially by following orders,Freudiger (2002), p.22 or out of an emergency. The law also provided for the clearance of several such crimes in the official registries.Freudiger (2002), p.23Frei (1996), p.126 In 1956, Neumayer together with all other liberal federal ministers left the FDP to join the newly founded Freie Volkspartei (FVP). In the same year, West German chancellor

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman who served as the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of the Christian Dem ...

dismissed him from his office, giving his high age as the reason.

Later life

Neumayer, who was married with four children, spent the later part of his life in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. He was Honorary Chairman of the

supervisory board In corporate governance, a governance board also known as council of delegates are chosen by the stockholders of a company to promote their interests through the governance of the company and to hire and fire the board of directors. In civil s ...

of the Pfaff AG. He died on April 12, 1973, in Munich, and was buried in Kaiserslautern.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Neumayer, Fritz 1884 births 1973 deaths People from Kaiserslautern People from the Palatinate (region) German Protestants Members of the Bundestag for the Free Democratic Party (Germany) Free People's Party (Germany) politicians German Party (1947) politicians Justice ministers of Germany Members of the Bundestag 1949–1953 Members of the Bundestag 1953–1957 Members of the Bundestag for Rhineland-Palatinate Members of the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate Jurists from Rhineland-Palatinate Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany