Karl Rudolf Heinze (22 July 1865 – 26 May 1928) was a German jurist and

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 ...

. During the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is ...

, as a member of the right-of-centre

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 ...

(DVP) he was

vice-chancellor of Germany The vice-chancellor of Germany, unofficially the vice-chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (), officially the deputy to the federal chancellor (), is the second highest ranking German cabinet member. The chancellor is the head of governm ...

and minister of Justice in 1920/21 in the cabinet of

Konstantin Fehrenbach Constantin Fehrenbach, sometimes falsely,Bernd Braun: ''Constantin Fehrenbach (1852–1926)'', in: Reinhold Weber, Ines Mayer: ''Politische Köpfe aus Südwestdeutschland'', Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005, p. 106. Konstantin Fehrenbach (11 January 185 ...

and from 1922 to 1923 again minister of Justice under

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 ...

Early life

Karl Rudolf Heinze was born on 22 July 1865 in Oldenburg in what was then the

Grand Duchy of Oldenburg The Grand Duchy of Oldenburg (, also known as Holstein-Oldenburg) was a grand duchy within the German Confederation, North German Confederation and German Empire that consisted of three widely separated territories: Oldenburg, Eutin and Bi ...

as the son of Max Heinze, a professor of the history of philosophy. He attended the '' Gymnasium'' in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

from 1874 to 1881. Following the ''Abitur'' he studied at

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...

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 ...

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 Leipzig, where he was awarded the ''doctor juris'' in 1887. After voluntarily serving for one year in the military in 1888, Heinze worked from 1898 to 1912 in the judicial service of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

, at the end in the position of ''Landgerichtsdirektor''. He then joined the ', the prosecution at the Reichsgericht in Leipzig. In 1914, he became a ''Reichsgerichtsrat''. In 1900, Heinze married Anna (1863-1948) née Hotop. They had three sons and a daughter.

Political career

Empire

Heinze began his political career in 1899, when he became a ''Stadtverordneter'' (member of the city council) at Leipzig. From 1903 he was an unsalaried ''Stadtrat'' (member of the city government) in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

. From 1907 to 1912, he held a seat in the Reichstag for the National Liberal Party where he was a member of the party's right wing. In 1915-16, Heinze was a member of the ''Landtag'' (diet) of the Kingdom of Saxony. On account of personal contacts to Turkey, Heinze then was appointed Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Justice of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

. He remained there until the summer of 1918. From July to November 1918, Heinze was Minister of Justice of the Kingdom of Saxony and briefly the last ''Ministerpräsident'' of the King of Saxony.

Weimar Republic

In the German Revolution of 1918-19 Heinze was instrumental in founding the ''

Deutsche Volkspartei 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 (Germany), National Liberal Party of the German Empire. A right-liberal, or conservative-liberal polit ...

'' (DVP). He was a leading member of the DVP first in 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 ...

(1919/20) and then of the Reichstag (1920–24). In June 1919, Heinze played a key role in making possible a compromise between the opposition and the government on the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

, paving the way to its acceptance by the National Assembly. In June 1920, he tried unsuccessfully to form a new government, after the Reichstag elections had caused the resignation of the previous government of Hermann Müller. However, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) refused to work with the DVP, whose foreign policy stance the Social Democrats considered too nationalistic. When

became Chancellor, Heinze became Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Justice in his cabinet. The Fehrenbach cabinet resigned in May 1921. From November 1922 to August 1923, Heinze was once again Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Justice in the cabinet of

. Heinze organized supplies for the population of the Ruhr area during the occupation by French and Belgian troops. The passive resistance against the occupiers resulted in economic collapse and hyper inflation in Germany, leading to the resignation of the Cuno cabinet in August 1923. In October 1923, the ''Ministerpräsident'' of the Free State of Saxony, Erich Zeigner refused to disband the ''Proletarische Hundertschaften'' (an armed militia of communist workers) and to dismiss the communist members of his cabinet. ''Reichswehrminister''

Otto Gessler Otto Karl Gessler (or Geßler) (6 February 1875 – 24 March 1955) was a liberal German politician during the Weimar Republic. From 1910 until 1914, he was mayor of Regensburg and from 1913 to 1919 mayor of Nuremberg. He served in numerous W ...

ordered the

Reichswehr ''Reichswehr'' () was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshape ...

into Saxony and on 28. October president

Friedrich Ebert Friedrich Ebert (; 4 February 187128 February 1925) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the first president of Germany from 1919 until his death in office in 1925. Ebert was elected leader of the SPD on t ...

, making use of Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution dismissed Zeigner. Chancellor

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 ...

(DVP) appointed Heinze ''

Reichskommissar (, rendered as "Commissioner of the Empire", "Reich Commissioner" or "Imperial Commissioner"), in German history, was an official gubernatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and Nazi Germany. Ger ...

'', effectively Zeigner's successor. Heinze attempted to install a bourgeois government but was forestalled by the Saxony diet, which on 31 October elected Alfred Fellisch (SPD) as ''Ministerpräsident'' and head of a social-democratic cabinet. From 1924 to 1926, Heinze lived secludedly in Dresden. In 1926/27, on the suggestion of the Turkish government, Heinze chaired the ''Konsularobergericht '' (a disciplinary court for the foreign service) in Egypt. He died on 26 May 1928 in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heinze, Rudolf 1865 births 1928 deaths People from Oldenburg (city) People from the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg German Lutherans National Liberal Party (Germany) politicians German People's Party politicians Government ministers of Germany Vice-Chancellors of Germany Members of the 12th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the Weimar National Assembly Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic Ministers-President of Saxony Members of the Second Chamber of the Diet of the Kingdom of Saxony Heidelberg University alumni