21 Facts About Heinrich Sahm

Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Martin Sahm was a German lawyer, politician, and diplomat.

Heinrich Sahm was the mayor of Danzig from 1919 and President of the Senate of the Free City of Danzig under League of Nations mandate from 1920 to 1931.

From 1936 until his death, Sahm served as the ambassador of the German Reich to Norway.

Heinrich Sahm studied law and political science at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the Humboldt University of Berlin and the University of Greifswald.

Heinrich Sahm worked in municipal boards in Szczecin and Magdeburg.

Heinrich Sahm dealt with the issue of food supply to the population.

Heinrich Sahm's position was indirectly strengthened by party fragmentation in the Volkstag, the Parliament of the Free City of Danzig.

Heinrich Sahm effectively opposed the plans of transporting General Jozef Haller's army to Poland via Danzig, fearing that the Polish side would strengthen its influence in the city.

Heinrich Sahm was active in contacts with foreign countries, his trips were aimed at both fostering the growth of trade and emphasizing the distinctiveness of the Free City of Danzig.

Heinrich Sahm was, like almost all Danzig Germans, a supporter of a peaceful revision of the Polish-German border and the incorporation of the Free City of Danzig area into the German state.

Heinrich Sahm maintained good contacts with the German authorities; one of his chancellors, Hans Luther, was his longtime friend.

Heinrich Sahm cooperated with the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its representative office in the Free City of Danzig, especially with the German Consul General, Edmund Freiherr von Therman.

Heinrich Sahm enjoyed great prestige among the Germans in Danzig and in the 1920s he was the most influential politician in Danzig.

Heinrich Sahm was a guarantor of the continuity of the Free City of Danzig political line and the stabilization of the local political scene.

Heinrich Sahm was able to cooperate not only with bourgeois parties, but with the centre-left Senate.

Heinrich Sahm did not accept the offer to become a senator in the Free City of Danzig.

On 14 April 1931, Heinrich Sahm was elected as Oberburgermeister of Berlin; he would be the last freely elected mayor until after the end of the Second World War.

Heinrich Sahm largely cooperated in the dismissal of Jews and Social Democrats from the city administration.

Heinrich Sahm became a founding member of Hans Frank's Academy for German Law on 2 October 1933 and joined the Nazi Party in November of that year.

Heinrich Sahm was named Berlin's representative on the Prussian Provincial Council on 16 October 1934, and was appointed to the Prussian State Council by Prussian Minister President Hermann Goring in 1935.

Heinrich Sahm is buried together with his wife at the Forest Cemetery in Dahlem, there is a plaque commemorating his son Detlef at the grave.