Karl Arnold (21 March 1901 – 29 June 1958) was a German politician. He was

Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia The Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Ministerpräsident des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen), also referred to as Premier or Prime Minister, is the head of government of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (''NRW''). The po ...

from 1947 to 1956.

Early life and education

Arnold was born in Herrlishöfen in

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

on 21 March 1901. He was trained as shoemaker and later (1920/21) studied at the Soziale Hochschule Leohaus,

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 ...

. From 1920 onwards, Arnold worked as functionary of the movement of Christian workers. In 1924, he became secretary of the Christian workers union for the

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

region. He was elected in the town council of Düsseldorf for the Centre Party in 1929. In 1933, Arnold was co-owner of a sanitary installation shop in Düsseldorf. The

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

observed and hunted him in the following years because of his political activities. In 1944, he was jailed by the Gestapo.

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 opposin ...

, Arnold became politically active again. In 1945, he was co-founder of the local Christian-Democratic Party in Düsseldorf, which became part of the CDU later in 1945. Also in 1945, the Düsseldorf chapter of the united workers union was founded, presided by Arnold. On 29 January 1946 Arnold was named mayor of Düsseldorf and later elected in the first free elections (26 October 1946). In December 1946, Arnold became deputy minister-president of the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

and in 1947 he was elected minister-president. Until 1950 he presided over a coalition of CDU, Centre Party,

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been t ...

and (briefly) the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

. He considered himself a ''"christian socialist"''. The only in-parliament-party he did not let enter the government was the FDP, whose North Rhine-Westphalian branch had a particular nationalist bent. On 7 September 1949, he was elected as the first president of the

Bundesrat of Germany The German Bundesrat ( lit. Federal Council; ) is a legislative body that represents the sixteen ''Länder'' (federated states) of Germany at the federal level (German: ''Bundesebene''). The Bundesrat meets at the former Prussian House of Lords ...

, the representation of German states at the federal level. From 1950 to 1956, Arnold was elected minister-president for North Rhine-Westphalia twice again, governing with the help of conservative parties and the Free Democrats. Important acts of his government were the foundation of the North Rhine-Westphalian broadcasting system (today:

Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the conso ...

) and the German system of workers union influence in steel and coal industries. On 20 February 1956, the FDP switched coalition affiliation to the SPD, ending the Arnold government in North Rhine-Westphalia. In 1957, he was elected into the German Bundestag (with a 72% majority in his constituency). He was member of the Bundestag until 29 June 1958, when he died of a heart attack.

Personal life

In 1928, Arnold married Liesel Joeres. Arnold was a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and a member of the German branch of the lay Catholic organization

Catholic Action Catholic Action is the name of groups of lay Catholics who advocate for increased Catholic influence on society. They were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic countries under anti-clerical regimes such as Spain, Ita ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Karl 1901 births 1958 deaths Presidents of the German Bundesrat People from Biberach (district) German Roman Catholics Centre Party (Germany) politicians Mayors of Düsseldorf Ministers-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Members of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Members of the Bundestag 1957–1961 Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

References

Further reading

External links