Fritz Schäffer (12 May 1888 – 29 March 1967) was a German

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

of the

Bavarian People's Party The Bavarian People's Party (german: Bayerische Volkspartei; BVP) was the Bavarian branch of the Centre Party, a lay Roman Catholic party, which broke off from the rest of the party in 1918 to pursue a more conservative and more Bavarian parti ...

(BVP) and the Christian Social Union (CSU). He was the Bavarian Minister of Finance from 1931 to 1933, when the Nazis came to power in Berlin. In 1945 he became the first

Minister President A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary system, parliamentary or semi-presidential system, semi-presidential system of government where ...

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 ...

to hold office after the end of the

Second World War 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 opposin ...

. From 1949 to 1957, he was the West German federal Minister of Finance and, from 1957 to 1961, federal Minister of Justice.

Biography

Fritz Schäffer was born in 1888 as the son of Gottfried Schäffer and Amalia Mayr. He went to school in

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...

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

Neuburg an der Donau Neuburg an der Donau (Central Bavarian: ''Neiburg an da Donau'') is a town which is the capital of the Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district in the state of Bavaria in Germany. Divisions The municipality has 16 divisions: * Altmannstetten * Bergen, Neu ...

, afterwards studying law in Munich. He joined as a volunteer the Bavarian ''Infanterie-Leib-Regiment'' in 1915. After service in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

and

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

, he was wounded at

Verdun Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...

in May 1916 and released from army service. Schäffer started working for the Bavarian state government in 1917. He married Else Dyroff in September 1917. He was imprisoned from 1933 until 1934, after which he worked as a lawyer. He was imprisoned again in

Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

after the

July 20 Plot On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia, now Kętrzyn, in present-day Poland. The ...

until the end of World War II, from August to October 1944.

Politics

From 1918 to 1933, Schäffer was a member of the BVP. In 1929, he became chairman of this Bavarian regionalist party. From 1920 to 1933, he was a member of the

Landtag of Bavaria The Landtag of Bavaria, officially known in English as the Bavarian State Parliament, is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Bavaria. The parliament meets in the Maximilianeum in Munich. Elections to the Landtag are held every f ...

. In his early political career, he made some anti-Semitic speeches, a fact that would haunt him in his later political life. Nevertheless, he opposed the Nazis' rise to power in Bavaria and took part in the formation of the ''Bayernwacht'' in 1931, an organisation aimed at protecting conservative politicians from the SA. He aimed at forming a coalition, which would include the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

and the Centre Party, arguing that such a step would neutralise the Nazi party to some extent. After this failed, he attempted to elevate the last Bavarian crown prince, Rupprecht, to the dictatorial position of ''Staatskommissar''. The move ultimately failed due to the resistance of Bavarian prime minister,

Heinrich Held Heinrich Held (6 June 1868 – 4 August 1938) was a German Catholic politician and Minister President of Bavaria. He was forced out of office by the Nazi takeover in Germany in 1933. Biography Heinrich Held was born in Erbach in the Taunus, th ...

, who feared that Schäffer would be made prime minister in his stead. In 1933, he found himself imprisoned for his actions against the Nazis. In 1945 he was among the founders of the CSU. He was engaged in continuous strife with the party leader, Josef Müller over party politics. Müller wished to make the party multi-confessional, while Schäffer tried to move it towards a revival of the Catholic-dominated BVP. He was made the first postwar prime minister of Bavaria by General

George S. Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...

in 1945, but was relieved of his post by General

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

after a couple of months, when his anti-Semitic past became known. Eisenhower, unlike Patton, also disliked the fact that Schäffer hired ex-Nazis for his administration."Power Grabber"
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

''. 20 February 1956. accessed: 8 May 2008. He was barred from politics by the US authorities until 1948, accused of being a Nazi sympathizer. He managed to clear himself of this charge and reentered politics afterwards. From 1949 to 1961, he was a member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

. He became Minister of Finance of the new Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 and held this post until 1957. In 1957, after elections,

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

chancellor of Germany The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...

, attempted to remove Schäffer from his cabinet as his tight fiscal policies were felt as a hindrance to Germany's economic growth. After political negotiations, Schäffer was awarded the justice ministry instead. During his time as German Minister of Finance, he became the second-most powerful man in federal politics. He was known for his tight fiscal policies, aimed at keeping the German currency stable. In this role, he strongly resisted any reparation claims to victims of the Nazi reign. Paying for the Past
google book review, author: Christian Pross, Belinda Cooper, publisher: JHU Press, accessed: 8 May 2008 After German rearmament, Schäffer was engaged in many arguments about defense spending, often irritating his

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

partners by his refusals to allocate more money to it.

References

External links

Bavarian government website - Fritz Schäffer
(in German)
Paying for the Past
google book review, author: Christian Pross, Belinda Cooper, publisher: JHU Press * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schaffer, Fritz German Roman Catholics Finance ministers of Germany Ministers of the Bavaria State Government Members of the Bundestag for Bavaria Members of the Bundestag 1949–1953 Bavarian People's Party politicians Members of the Landtag of Bavaria Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 1888 births 1967 deaths Politicians from Munich German Army personnel of World War I People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Military personnel of Bavaria Ministers-President of Bavaria Dachau concentration camp survivors Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Social Union in Bavaria

Biography

Politics

See also

References

Further reading

External links