Ludwig Erhard (1897 - 1977) |
Ludwig Erhard (4. February 1897 - 5. May 1977) was a German politician (CDU)
and Chancellor of Germany
from 1963 until 1966.
Born in Fürth, Germany, from 1913 to 1916 Erhard was a commercial apprentice.
After his apprenticeship he worked as retail salesman in his father's draper's shop.
He joined the German forces during World War I
1916 as artilleryman, fought in Romania and was seriously injured near Ypres in 1918.
Erhard could no longer work as a draper and began to study economics, first in
Nuremberg, later in
Frankfurt am Main.
He received his Dr. oec. from Franz Oppenheimer in 1925.
During his time in Frankfurt he married Luise Schuster. After his graduation
they moved to Fürth and he became executive in his parents' company in 1925.
After three years he became assistant at the Institut für Wirtschaftsbeobachtung
der deutschen Fertigware, a marketing research institute. Later, he became
deputy director of the institute.
The war years
Due to his injuries Erhard did not have to join military forces during
World War II.
Instead, he worked on concepts for the peace period after the war.
Those kind of studies were forbidden by the Nazis who had declared Total war.
He lost his job in 1942 but continued to work on his own on the subject.
In 1944
he wrote War Finances and Debt Consolidation (orig: Kriegsfinanzierung und
Schuldenkonsolidierung). In this study he already assumed that Germany had
lost the war. He sent his thoughts to Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, a central
figure in the German resistance against the Nazi government, who recommended
Erhard to his comrades.
Erhard's leading role in the redevelopment of the German economy
After the war Erhard became economic consultant for the American military
administration of Bavaria who made him Minister of Economics in the Bavarian
cabinet of Wilhelm Hoegner. After the American and British administration had
created the Bizone, Erhard became chairman of the Sonderstelle Geld und Kredit
in 1947, an expert commission preparing the currency reform.
In 1948 he was elected Director of Economics by the Bizonal Economic Council.
On 20. June 1948, the
D-Mark was introduced. Erhard abolished
the price-fixing
and production controls that had been enacted by the military administration.
This exceeded his competence, but he succeeded with this courageous step.
In 1949 he stood for election in a constituency in
Baden-Württemberg for the
first German parliament after the war and gained a direct mandate. Later in
the year he joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). In September, Erhard
was appointed Minister of Economics in the first cabinet of
Konrad Adenauer.
His party made his concept of social market economy part of the party platform.
Erhard as Chancellor
After the resignation of Adenauer in 1963, Erhard was elected Chancellor with
279 against 180 votes on 16. October. In 1965 he was re-elected.
On 26. October 1966, Minister Walter Scheel (FDP) resigned, protesting against
the budget released the day before. The other ministers who were members of the
FDP followed his example - the coalition was broken. On December 1, Erhard resigned.
His successor was Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU), who was leading a big coalition.
Erhard kept on his political work. He was a member of the
German parliament
up to his death in Bonn on 5. May 1977. He is buried in Gmund, near the Tegernsee.
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