Hans Ehard (10 November 1887 – 18 October 1980) was a German lawyer and politician, a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU) party.

Biography

Hans Ehard was born in

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castl ...

in 1887, the son of a local official, August Ehard. He was married in 1916 to Annelore Maex. After his wife died in 1957, he married Sieglinde Odörfer in 1960. After studying jurisprudence in Munich and

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg ...

, Ehard became public prosecutor in the

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 l ...

n Ministry of

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

in 1919. In this office, he was the main prosecutor of

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

and Ludendorff in 1924, after their failed attempt to overthrow the Bavarian government in 1923. In 1933 he became President of the high court in Munich, a position he held until the end of the war. He sympathised with the '' Bavarian People's Party'' but was not politically active in those years. After the war, in 1945, he briefly served under Schäffer as Minister of Justice, later serving in Hoegner's first cabinet as undersecretary of state in the Ministry of Justice. He was a member of the constituent assembly, and was elected Minister President on 21 December 1946 with a coalition of CSU, SPD and the Economic Structure Combination (''

Wirtschaftliche Aufbau-Vereinigung The Economic Reconstruction Union (Wirtschaftliche Aufbau-Vereinigung or WAV) was a German political party that was active immediately in Allied-occupied Germany after the Second World War. Although usually translated into English as the Economic ...

''). He became the first freely elected Bavarian prime minister since 1933. He was a member of the Bavarian ''

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 ...

'' from 1946 to 1966. When the SPD withdrew its Ministers from the coalition, he was able to form a CSU-only government on 21 September 1947. During the formation years of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

, he advocated a strongly federalist concept for the new country, in opposition to most of the SPD-ruled states, who wanted a strong central government. He also argued for a form of European federation.Documents on the history of European integration
google book review, author: Walter Lipgens, Wilfried Loth, publisher: Walter de Gruyter, page 508, accessed: 9 May 2008 From 1949 to 1955 he was also chairman of the CSU. From 1954 to 1957, his party was in opposition to the SPD-lead coalition government. As of 2021, these three years were the CSU's only period outside of government. Ehard held in those years the position of President of the ''Landtag'', from 1954 to 1960. From 26 January 1960 to 11 December 1962, he again served as Minister President, stepping down to become Justice Minister, in which capacity he served until 5 December 1966 Ehard had been President of the ''Schutzgemeinschaft Deutscher Wald'' (SDW), an environmental charity, as well as of the Bavarian

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

. In 1957 he was made an honorary citizen of city of Munich, the British equivalent being

Freedom of the City The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...

. Hans Ehard was the oldest former Minister-President of Germany from 9 June 1980 to November 1985, preceded by Wilhelm Kaisen and succeeded by

Max Seydewitz Max Seydewitz (December 19, 1892 – February 8, 1987) was a German politician (SPD, SAPD and SED). Between 1947 and 1952 he was the Minister-President of Saxony in the German Democratic Republic. Life Max Seydewitz was born in a small town ...

. Counting only the Ministers-President of the FRG he was succeeded by Bruno Diekmann on 27 March 1990. He died in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

Post-War career

*1945 Bavarian Minister of Justice *1946–1954 Bavarian Prime Minister *1949–1955 Chairman of the CSU *1950–1951 President of the Bundesrat *1951–1952 Bavarian transport minister *1954–1960 President of the Bavarian

*1960–1962 Bavarian Prime Minister *1961–1962 President of the State Senate *1962–1966 Bavarian Minister of Justice

Honours and awards

* Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

(1953) * Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-rankin ...

(1956) * Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver with Sash of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (1957) * Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (1961) * Grand Officer of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleo ...

(France, 1962) * Honorary Member of the

Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg The Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg (german: Akademie der Bildenden Künste Nürnberg) was founded in 1662 by Jacob von Sandrart and is the oldest art academy in German-speaking Central Europe. The art academy is situated in Nuremberg. Classes ...

(1962) * Bayerische Verfassungsmedaille (Bavarian Constitution Medal) in Gold

References

Sources

Universitätsbibliothek Regensburg - Boisls bayrische Biography - Hans Ehard
(in German), page 167

(in German)

External links