31 Facts About Wilhelm Marx

Wilhelm Marx was a German judge, lawyer, and politician who twice served as chancellor of Germany during the Weimar Republic, from 1923 to 1925 and again from 1926 to 1928.

Wilhelm Marx briefly held the position of Minister-President of Prussia in 1925.

Wilhelm Marx remained in Germany through the Nazi era and died in Bonn in 1946.

Wilhelm Marx was born in 1863 in Cologne to the Catholic school rector Johann Wilhelm Marx and his wife, Gertrude.

Wilhelm Marx had a sister, Barbara, who later headed the Cologne Ursulines.

Wilhelm Marx was awarded his secondary school certificate at the Marzellengymnasium in 1881.

Wilhelm Marx then studied jurisprudence at the University of Bonn from 1881 to 1884.

Wilhelm Marx started his political activities in Elberfeld, where he became active in the Centre Party.

Wilhelm Marx supported the Reichstag Peace Resolution of 1917 that called for a negotiated peace without the territorial gains that were popular among Rhineland Centre Party members.

Wilhelm Marx was then a member of the Weimar Reichstag from 1920 until 1932.

Wilhelm Marx opposed separatism in the Rhineland and argued against the creation of a Rhineland Republic in December 1918.

Wilhelm Marx supported Centre Party Chancellor Joseph Wirth in his "fulfillment policy" which attempted to comply as far as possible with the Treaty of Versailles, notably the reparation demands of the Allies, in order to show that it would be impossible to meet them.

Independent Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno received Marx's help in mobilizing civil disobedience against the Occupation of the Ruhr by France and Belgium.

Wilhelm Marx then helped replace Cuno's cabinet with the grand coalition headed by Gustav Stresemann of the German People's Party.

On 30 November 1923, Wilhelm Marx formed his minority first cabinet based on the Centre Party, the right-liberal German People's Party, the conservative Catholic Bavarian People's Party and the center-left liberal German Democratic Party.

Wilhelm Marx pushed through the Enabling Act of December 1923 that gave his government the authority "to take such measures as it deems necessary and urgent in view of the plight of the people and the Reich".

In social policy, Wilhelm Marx's government presided over the introduction of family allowances for state employees and the issuing of the Federal Social Welfare Decree on February the 13th 1924.

Wilhelm Marx remained in office as caretaker until 15 January 1925 when the independent Hans Luther took over as chancellor.

In February 1925 Wilhelm Marx became Minister President of Prussia following a call by the Centre Party in the state parliament.

Wilhelm Marx received close to 4 million votes in the first round but in the runoff was defeated by Paul von Hindenburg.

Wilhelm Marx's loss was attributed to the fact that the Bavarian People's Party, a sister party of the Centre, endorsed Hindenburg as a protest against the Marx's cooperation with the Social Democrats.

Wilhelm Marx lost by 13.7 million to Hindenburg's 14.6 million votes.

Wilhelm Marx had resigned after he was unable to form a working cabinet.

Wilhelm Marx considered leaving politics, but on 26 January 1926 he accepted an appointment as Minister of Justice and Minister for the Occupied Territories in the second cabinet of Hans Luther.

Wilhelm Marx's cabinet was formed from the Centre Party, DVP, DDP and BVP.

Wilhelm Marx's cabinet survived the referendum's failure and shortly afterwards succeeded in bringing Germany into the League of Nations.

Wilhelm Marx resigned as chancellor on 17 December 1926 when he lost an SPD-initiated vote of no confidence on the issue of the recently uncovered clandestine military relations between the Reichswehr and the Soviet Union.

In January 1927 Wilhelm Marx formed a new government with the same parties as before but with the addition of the right-wing German National People's Party.

The fourth and final Wilhelm Marx cabinet extended the 1922 Law for the Protection of the Republic, although in order to gain the DNVP's support the extension was limited to two years.

Wilhelm Marx then focused on work for numerous associations and civil organizations.

In 1933, under Nazi Germany, Wilhelm Marx was charged in the trial of the People's Association for Catholic Germany, an organization which he had chaired, but the charge against him was dropped in 1935.