Hans Schuberth (April 5, 1897 in

Schwabach Schwabach () is a German city of about 40,000 inhabitants near Nuremberg in the centre of the region of Franconia in the north of Bavaria. The city is an autonomous administrative district (''kreisfreie Stadt''). Schwabach is also the name of th ...

– September 2, 1976 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 Ha ...

) was a German

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

who from 1949 to 1953 was the first Federal Minister for Post and Telecommunications in Konrad Adenauer's first cabinet.

Biography

After graduation in 1914 Schuberth participated as a soldier in the

First World War 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 ...

. After being seriously wounded, as a result of which he had to have a leg amputated, he was from 1915 to 1916 working as an intern at a machines factory in Germany in Dortmund. After he graduated in 1916 to study

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

at the

Technical University Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Establis ...

, which he finished in 1920 as a graduate engineer (mechanical engineering). During his studies he became a member of the Catholic Student Association KDSt.V. Rheno - Franconia in Munich CV. He then worked as an engineer at the German Werke AG in Dachau and

. From 1925 to 1926 he completed an additional study of electrical engineering, which he also graduated with a diploma. He then entered 1926 in the service of the

Reichspost ''Reichspost'' (; "Imperial Mail") was the name of the postal service of Germany from 1866 to 1945. ''Deutsche Reichspost'' Upon the out break of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the break-up of the German Confederation in the Peace of ...

. In 1934 he was forcibly transferred to the Reich Central Post Office in

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, since he refused to join the Nazi party, no longer promoted. He worked at the Reich postal Central Directorate from 1937 in Landshut, then from 1943 in Munich. After the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

, he was appointed in 1945 as Vice President of Oberpostdirektion Munich. In October 1945, he became president of the Postal Directorate Regensburg. In 1947, he was appointed President of the Munich Oberpostdirektion.

Political career

In 1947 he was appointed Secretary of State for Posts and Telecommunications in the Bavarian State Ministry of Transport. From 1947 to 1949 he was then elected Director of the Department of Posts and Telecommunications in the administration of the United Economic Area in

Frankfurt am Main 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 its na ...

. After the general election in 1949 he was appointed on 20 September 1949 as the Federal Minister for Post and Telecommunications in the first cabinet of

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman who served as the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of the Christian Dem ...

. After the parliamentary elections of 1953, he retired under the pretext of sectarian

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

in the Cabinet at the request of Adenauer, who wanted above all to weaken the CSU, before the appointment of his successor in office the Protestant Siegfried Balke on 9 December 1953 to the Federal Government. Schuberth was then briefly at 1953/54, special ambassador to the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

. Schuberth was a deputy of the German Bundestag from 1953 to 1957 as representative of the constituency of Landshut. In 1957 he brought together with other members of parliament from CSU and DP a bill to repeal Article 102 of the Basic Law, to reintroduce the death penalty with the objective of which, however, never came to a vote. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schuberth, Hans 1897 births 1976 deaths People from the Kingdom of Bavaria People from Schwabach Technical University of Munich alumni German Roman Catholics Members of the Bundestag for Bavaria Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Burials at the Westfriedhof (Munich) Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Social Union in Bavaria