Hans-Christoph Seebohm (4 August 1903 – 17 September 1967) was a German politician of the national conservative German Party (''Deutsche Partei'', DP) and after 1960 the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was the

minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government agen ...

for 17 years and the

vice-chancellor of West 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 governm ...

in 1966.

Biography

Seebohm attended school in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

and studied

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

at the universities of

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

Berlin-Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...

. Passing the ''

Staatsexamen The ("state examination" or "exam by state"; pl.: ''Staatsexamina'') is a German government licensing examination that future physicians, dentists, teachers, pharmacists, food chemists, psychotherapists and jurists (i.e., lawyers, judges, public ...

'' in 1928, he worked as a junior civil servant at Halle and obtained a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

level degree from the Technical College of Berlin in 1932. He became a mining director at Silesian

Gleiwitz Gliwice (; german: Gleiwitz) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder River, Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the re ...

and

Bytom Bytom (Polish pronunciation: ; Silesian: ''Bytōm, Bytōń'', german: Beuthen O.S.) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Voivodeship of Poland, the city is 7 km northwest of Katowice, the regional capital ...

and upon the

German occupation of Czechoslovakia German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

in 1938/39 supervised the "

Aryanization Aryanization (german: Arisierung) was the Nazi term for the seizure of property from Jews and its transfer to non-Jews, and the forced expulsion of Jews from economic life in Nazi Germany, Axis-aligned states, and their occupied territories. I ...

" of the mines at

Královské Poříčí Královské Poříčí (german: Königswerth) is a municipality and village in Sokolov District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 800 inhabitants. It lies on the river Ohře The Ohře () or, slightly less commonly i ...

(''Königswerth''). 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 opposin ...

, he joined the regionalist

Lower Saxon State Party The Lower Saxony National Party (''Niedersächsische Landespartei'') was a short lived regionalist political party in Germany. It was founded in 1945 as a recreation of the regionalist German-Hanoverian Party that had been active in the period bet ...

in the

British occupation zone The British occupation zone in Germany (German: ''Britische Besatzungszone Deutschlands'') was one of the Allied-occupied areas in Germany after World War II. The United Kingdom along with her Commonwealth were one of the three major Allied pow ...

under

Heinrich Hellwege Heinrich Peter Hellwege (born 18 August 1908 in Neuenkirchen; died 4 October 1991 in Neuenkirchen) was a German politician ( DHP, DP and CDU). Hellwege was Federal Minister for Affairs of the Federal Council (1949–1955) and Minister Preside ...

, which in 1947 was renamed German Party (DP). Seebohm became president of the

chamber of commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...

and was a member of the

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non- ...

state assembly of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

from 1946 until 1951. From 1946 until 1948 he held the office of Minister for Reconstruction, Labour and Health in

Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf 1948 Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf (6 May 1893 – 21 December 1961) was a German politician (SPD). He joined the SPD in 1919. Kopf worked from 1939 to 1943 on behalf of the Nazi government as an asset manager in occupied Poland, ...

's Lower Saxon state government. In the run-up to the first federal election of 1949, he and his party fellows Hellwege and von Merkatz negotiated a national conservative alliance with the ''

Deutsche Rechtspartei The German Right Party (german: Deutsche Rechtspartei, DRP) was a far-right political party that emerged in the British zone of Allied-occupied Germany after the Second World War. Also known as the ''Deutsche Konservative Partei - Deutsche Recht ...

'' and

Hessian A Hessian is an inhabitant of the German state of Hesse. Hessian may also refer to: Named from the toponym *Hessian (soldier), eighteenth-century German regiments in service with the British Empire **Hessian (boot), a style of boot **Hessian f ...

National Democrats, which however were aborted by the British occupation forces. In 1952, Seebohm was elected DP chairman, but refused to assume office.

Minister for Transport

From 1949 until his death 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 ...

for the constituency of

Hamburg-Harburg Harburg is a Boroughs and quarters of Hamburg#Boroughs, borough of the city of Hamburg, Germany. It is also the name of Harburg (quarter), Harburg quarter in the borough, which used to be the capital of the Harburg (district), Harburg district in ...

. From 20 September 1949 until 30 November 1966 he also served as Federal Minister for Transport, firstly under Chancellor

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 ...

, who forced him to join the CDU in 1960 as he wouldn't support the DP any longer; then under

Ludwig Erhard Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard (; 4 February 1897 – 5 May 1977) was a German politician affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. He is known for leading the West German postwar economic ...

, under whom he ultimately, but briefly, served as Vice-Chancellor. Seebohm was a firm supporter of the Bundesbahn, and went to some length to hamstring the trucking industry. In April 1953, second trailers were prohibited. In 1954 a law was passed dictating that half of all transports in Germany had to be carried by train; this would be promoted by subventioning rates for train transports. Trucking remained popular, however, due to its higher flexibility.

Gräf (feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title of "earl" (whose female version is "coun ...

, p. 8 Thus, in 1956, the rules were tightened yet more: Sunday truck traffic was prohibited, along with a host of other new restrictions. Trucks were restricted to a GVW, with a maximum axle load of , and a maximum overall length of .

, p. 10 A minimum power-to-weight requirement of 6 PS/tonne (max 373 lb/hp) was instituted. These various restrictions forced truck manufacturers to develop entirely new trucks meeting the ever tightening requirements, and had a detrimental effect on exports. In 1960 an easing of the restrictions was announced; railroad and trucking transport were now working in conjunction. Paradoxically, meeting the tough restrictions had forced the German trucking industry to become lean and innovative, leaving them in a much stronger position than before Seebohm's programs.

, p. 15 When the 1966

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government. The term is most commonly used in countries where there are t ...

under Chancellor

Kurt Georg Kiesinger Kurt Georg Kiesinger (; 6 April 1904 – 9 March 1988) was a German politician who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1 December 1966 to 21 October 1969. Before he became Chancellor he served as Minister President of Baden-Württemberg ...

took office, he left the cabinet, having served as a federal minister for seventeen years, a record beaten only by Foreign Minister

Hans-Dietrich Genscher Hans-Dietrich Genscher (21 March 1927 – 31 March 2016) was a German statesman and a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 1969 to 1974, and as Federal Minister for Foreign Affa ...

's 23 years (with an interruption in 1982) but as of 2011 still the record for uninterrupted service.

Spokesperson for the Sudeten Germans

From 1959 Seebohm acted as spokesperson of the Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft (

Sudeten German German Bohemians (german: Deutschböhmen und Deutschmährer, i.e. German Bohemians and German Moravians), later known as Sudeten Germans, were ethnic Germans living in the Czech lands of the Bohemian Crown, which later became an integral part ...

Homeland Association) of German expellees from Czechoslovakia, where he held his so-called "weekend speeches". In line with West German government policy at the time, he questioned the borders of Germany, referring to the borders of the 1937

German Reich German ''Reich'' (lit. German Realm, German Empire, from german: Deutsches Reich, ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty ...

as base of any border revision and stating that Germans should also never forget about the eastern territories lost after

World War I 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 ...

according to the resolutions of the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

, while at the same time even demanding restoration of the 1938

Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, Germany, the United Kingdom, French Third Republic, France, and Fa ...

. Seebohm died a few months after his retirement and is buried in the

Bad Pyrmont Bad Pyrmont (, also: ; West Low German: ) is a town in the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont, in Lower Saxony, Germany, with a population close to 19,000. It is located on the river Emmer, about west of the Weser. Bad Pyrmont is a popular spa resort ...

cemetery.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seebohm, Hans-Christoph 1903 births 1967 deaths Government ministers of Germany Transport ministers of Germany Members of the Bundestag for Hamburg Members of the Bundestag for Lower Saxony Members of the Bundestag 1965–1969 Members of the Bundestag 1961–1965 Members of the Bundestag 1957–1961 Members of the Bundestag 1953–1957 Members of the Bundestag 1949–1953 German Party (1947) politicians People from the Province of Silesia Vice-Chancellors of Germany Members of the Landtag of Lower Saxony Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany