Johann Becker (3 February 1869 – 17 October 1951) was a German lawyer and politician of the

German People's Party The German People's Party (German: , or DVP) was a liberal party during the Weimar Republic that was the successor to the National Liberal Party of the German Empire. A right-liberal, or conservative-liberal political party, it represented politi ...

. From January 1916 to November 1918 he served as finance minister of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. He was elected a member of 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 ...

in 1919. He continued to serve as a delegate in the Reichstag until 1930. In 1922/1923 he was

Minister of Economics A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Ec ...

, under Chancellor

Wilhelm Cuno Wilhelm Carl Josef Cuno (2 July 1876 – 3 January 1933) was a German businessman and politician who was the chancellor of Germany from 1922 to 1923, for a total of 264 days. His tenure included the episode known as the Occupation of the Ruhr ...

, during the onset of

hyperinflation In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimize their holdings in that currency as t ...

Life and career

Johann Baptist (also: Johannes) Becker was born on 3 February 1869 at Ludwigshöhe in the Grand Duchy of Hesse (present-day

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 ...

, Germany). His father, Franz Becker, was a builder and

winemaker A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to dete ...

from a peasant family. His mother was Elisabetha, née Schaad. Becker married Johanna Caroline Hartmann on 4 September 1895 at

Gießen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

. They had one daughter. He studied at Gießen, Leipzig, Munich and Berlin. He then joined the civil service of the Grand Duchy of Hesse where he advanced rapidly. From January 1916 to November 1918, he was the Hessian minister of finance. His achievements in Hesse included the reform of the tax system (1899) which eliminated the ''Realsteuern'' and brought the system into line with that of

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

. He also was the main inspiration behind the reform of the Hessian communal tax system (1911). In addition, Becker was very interested in the set-up and running of the railway system. In 1919, he was elected to the

, the new republic's constituent assembly. From 1920 to 1930, Becker was a member of the Reichstag for the

(DVP). He was also member of the board of directors of the ''Rheinische Stahlwerke'' Duisburg-Meiderich. On the suggestion of

Gustav Stresemann Gustav Ernst Stresemann (; 10 May 1878 – 3 October 1929) was a German statesman who served as chancellor in 1923 (for 102 days) and as foreign minister from 1923 to 1929, during the Weimar Republic. His most notable achievement was the reconci ...

and

Rudolf Heinze Karl Rudolf Heinze (22 July 1865 – 26 May 1928) was a German jurist and politician. During the Weimar Republic, as a member of the right-of-centre German People's Party (DVP) he was vice-chancellor of Germany and minister of Justice in 1920/21 ...

, Becker was made ''Reichswirtschaftsminister'' (minister of economics) when the cabinet of

was formed in November 1922. Due to his connections with Rhenish industry he was attacked by the parties of the left but did not exert any influence to further the interest of heavy industry whilst in office. After the Occupation of the Ruhr, he remained a supporter of "passive resistance" against the French and Belgian occupation forces until the end, even as it caused the German economy to spiral downward and inflation to accelerate. He prepared the stabilization of the currency that came with the introduction of the ''

Rentenmark The Rentenmark (; RM) was a currency issued on 15 October 1923 to stop the hyperinflation of 1922 and 1923 in Weimar Germany, after the previously used "paper" Mark had become almost worthless. It was subdivided into 100 ''Rentenpfennig'' and ...

'' in October 1923. However, the cabinet resigned in August and Becker was not in office any more when that reform actually took place. He died on 17 October 1951 at Ludwigshöhe.

Works

* ''Die Neugestaltung des Gemeindeumlagewesens in Hessen'', in: FinanzArchiv, ed. by G. Schanz, Jg. 29, Vol. 1, 1912, pp. 112–68 * ''Finanzwirtschaftliche Fragen, Aufklärungs-Schriften der deutschen Volkspartei in Hessen'' H. 5, 1919 * "Neujahrsartikel", in: ''Die Zeit,'' ed. by Gustav Stresemann, 1923

References

External links

Page
at the ''Verhandlungen des Deutsches Reichstags'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Johann 1869 births 1951 deaths People from Mainz-Bingen People from Rhenish Hesse German Roman Catholics National Liberal Party (Germany) politicians German People's Party politicians German National People's Party politicians Economy ministers of Germany Members of the Weimar National Assembly Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic