21 Facts About Walter Simons

Walter Simons was a German lawyer and politician.

Walter Simons was born on 24 September 1861 at Elberfeld in the Prussian Rhine Province.

Walter Simons's family were Huguenots who had come to the Rhineland after 1685.

Walter Simons attended a Gymnasium at Elberfeld and attained the Abitur in 1879.

Walter Simons went on to study law, economics and history at Strasbourg, Leipzig and Bonn.

Walter Simons married Erna Ruhle at Solingen in 1890.

In 1907, Simons was promoted to Geheimer Regierungsrat and Vortragender Rat, responsible for international law.

Walter Simons represented the Reich at several international conferences and in 1911 moved to the Auswartige Amt where he became Geheimer Legationsrat and Justitiar.

Walter Simons was close to the chancellor and was an important influence on the reform of the German constitution of 1871 known as the Oktoberreformen which strengthened the position of the Reichstag.

Walter Simons worked on plans to have Wilhelm II resign in favour of a relative and participated in negotiations at the Reichsamt des Innern about a new constitution.

In November 1918, Walter Simons became Ministerialdirektor and head of the law department at the Foreign Office.

Since he opposed German signature of the Treaty, Walter Simons resigned his post and became managing director of the Reichsverband der deutschen Industrie.

From January to May 1922, Walter Simons was delegate at the German-Polish negotiations on Upper Silesia.

On 1 October 1922, Walter Simons was appointed president of the Reichsgericht at Leipzig on the suggestion of Reichsprasident Friedrich Ebert.

Walter Simons himself was suggested as a potential candidate for Reichsprasident after the first round of voting had failed to yield an outright winner.

From 1922 to 1926, Simons was president of the I Zivilsenat and from 1926 to 1929 president of the III.

Walter Simons was president of the State Court for the German Reich.

Walter Simons was attacked by the SPD for his criticism of judges being members of the SPD or the Republikanischen Richterbund, an association of judges which was close to the party.

Since 1926, Walter Simons had been honorary professor for international law at the University of Leipzig and president of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Volkerrecht.

Walter Simons was active and influential in the Lutheran church, as the first non-theologian to be president of the Evangelisch-sozialer Kongresses and member of the Deutsche Evangelischer Kirchenausschuss.

Walter Simons was the father of Hans Simons, father-in-law of Ernst Rudolf Huber and grandfather of Wolfgang Huber.