Karl August Fritz Schiller (24 April 1911 – 26 December 1994) was a German

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

and politician of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(SPD). From 1966 to 1972, he was Federal Minister of Economic Affairs and from 1971 to 1972 Federal Minister of Finance. He was the inventor of the ''magic square'', depicting

Economic equilibrium In economics, economic equilibrium is a situation in which economic forces such as supply and demand are balanced and in the absence of external influences the ( equilibrium) values of economic variables will not change. For example, in the s ...

, and of the ''Concerted activity'' (') to reflate the German market. He is thus seen as one of the most influential German economists beside Ludwig Erhard.

Education and career

Schiller was born in Breslau. From 1931, after passing the '' Abitur'', he studied

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

and

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

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 ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

. In 1935, he finished his studies and got his

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 ''li ...

in politics. From 1935 to 1941, he researched at the Institut für Weltwirtschaft in

.Gunnar Take: Forschen für den Wirtschaftskrieg. Das Kieler Institut für Weltwirtschaft im Nationalsozialismus, Berlin: de Gruyter, 2019, p. 225-236 In 1939, Schiller made his habilitation. After taking part in

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 ...

as a soldier from 1941 to 1945, he became professor at the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vo ...

, where he became principal from 1956 to 1958. In the meantime, from 1948 to 1966, he was a member of the scientific advisory board of the Federal Ministry for Economics.

Political career

Schiller joined the paramilitary Stormtroopers ( Sturmabteilung) of the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

in 1933 and the party itself in 1937. After

he joined the

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 ...

in 1946. From 1965 to 1972, 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 Common ...

for the SPD, where he became assistant chairman of the SPD faction. From 1948 to 1953, Schiller was Senator for economy in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and held the same office again from 1961 to 1965 in Berlin serving under mayor

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as the chancellor of West Ge ...

in his second term of office. From 1966 to 1969, he was Federal Minister of Economic Affairs in the grand coalition under Bundeskanzler Kurt Georg Kiesinger, and worked together with

Franz Josef Strauß Franz Josef Strauss ( ; 6 September 1915 – 3 October 1988) was a German politician. He was the long-time chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) from 1961 until 1988, member of the federal cabinet in different positions between ...

, then Federal Minister of Finance, in the ''Concerted activity''. In this time, they were known as ''Plisch und Plum'' after figures invented by

Wilhelm Busch Heinrich Christian Wilhelm Busch (14 April 1832 – 9 January 1908) was a German humorist, poet, illustrator, and painter. He published wildly innovative illustrated tales that remain influential to this day. Busch drew on the tropes of f ...

. In the first cabinet of Willy Brandt, Schiller continued to serve in the previous position, and was also Federal Minister of Finance from 1971 to 1972 after the demission of Alex Möller. On 7 July 1972 Schiller demissioned, thus protesting against Brandt's economic decisions. After stepping down, he soon left the SPD as well. In 1972, he participated together with Ludwig Erhard in a CDU campaign, whereby both acted as defenders of market economy. In 1980 he returned to the SPD. He died in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. As Finance Minister Schiller travelled to the Soviet Union in 1970 and met with

Alexei Kosygin Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin ( rus, Алексе́й Никола́евич Косы́гин, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ kɐˈsɨɡʲɪn; – 18 December 1980) was a Soviet statesman during the Cold War. He served as the Premi ...

, the

Premier of the Soviet Union The Premier of the Soviet Union (russian: Глава Правительства СССР) was the head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The office had four different names throughout its existence: Chairman of the ...

, to discuss a trade agreement between their two respective countries.

Honours

In 1991, Schiller was honoured with the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Grand Cross with Star and Sash). Karl-Schiller Berufskolleg is a vocational college in Dortmund named after Schiller. The school was renamed for Schiller in 1999.

References

* * Take, Gunnar: ''Forschen für den Wirtschaftskrieg. Das Kieler Institut für Weltwirtschaft im Nationalsozialismus'', Berlin: de Gruyter, 2019. .

External links

* Obituary in the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

* Biography in German

* Dissertation about Karl Schiller from 2006 (in German)

an

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schiller, Karl 1911 births 1994 deaths 20th-century German economists Economy ministers of Germany Finance ministers of Germany German Protestants Senators of Hamburg Senators of Berlin 20th-century German politicians Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Heidelberg University alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Keynesians Members of the Bundestag for Berlin People from the Province of Silesia Politicians from Wrocław Sturmabteilung personnel Studienstiftung alumni University of Hamburg faculty University of Kiel alumni Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany