Walter von Keudell

Walter von Keudell (17 July 1884 – 7 May 1973) was a German forest expert and politician. He served as interior minister of Germany between 1927 and 1928 during the period of the Weimar Republic.

Walter von Keudell
Interior Minister of Weimar Republic
In office 31 January 1927 – 12 June 1928
Chancellor	Wilhelm Marx
Preceded by	Wilhelm Külz
Succeeded by	Carl Severing
Personal details
Born	17 July 1884 Castellamare di Stabia
Died	7 May 1973 (aged 88) Bonn
Nationality	German

Early life

Von Keudell was born in Castellamare di Stabia, Naples, Italy, on 17 July 1884.[1] He was the oldest son of Robert von Keudell, German diplomat and a member of the Reichstag.[1] His mother was Alexandra von Grünhof. He had a brother, Otto von Keudell, and a sister, Hedwig von Keudell.

Career

Von Keudell started his career in the forest administration in Frankfurt/Oder in 1908. From 1915 he worked at the Reichsgetreidestelle (Reich grain administration). From 1916 to 1920 von Keudell was Landrat at Königsberg (Neumark) (today Chojna). As a result of the failed Kapp Putsch, which he supported, von Keudell had to retire and worked as a farmer at Gut Hohenlübbichow.[2]

However, he returned to politics and was elected as a member of the Reichstag for the German National People's Party (DNVP) from 1924 to 1930 (after 1929 Christian-National Peasants' and Farmers' Party).[2][3]

On 31 January 1927 Von Keudell was appointed Reichsinnenminister (minister of the interior) in the fourth cabinet of chancellor Wilhelm Marx.[3][4] He was one of three nationalist cabinet members.[5] The cabinet resigned on 12 June 1928 and Carl Severing replaced von Keudell as interior minister on 29 June 1928 when the new government headed by Hermann Müller took office.[6]

Von Keudell joined the NSDAP in 1933 and from that year was Oberlandforstmeister and head of the Prussian Landesforstverwaltung in Brandenburg.[2][7]

In 1934, von Keudell became Generalforstmeister. In 1936, Reichsforstmeister Hermann Göring appointed von Keudell as his Staatssekretär and deputy at the Reichsforstamt (ministry of forest affairs). He served in this capacity until 1937. That year he also was a member of the Reichsverkehrsrat (Reich transportation council).[2][8][9] Von Keudell was removed from office in 1937 (im einstweiligen Ruhestand) when he refused to implement the forest policy of Göring which advocated the use of the mandatory cutting quota in private forests as in public forests.[9] Friedrich Alpers succeeded von Keudell in the post.[9][2]

In 1948, von Keudell joined the Christian Democratic Union.[2]

Personal life and death

Walter von Keudell was a devout Protestant.[10] He died in Bonn on 7 May 1973.[1]

References

1. "Walter von Keudell". Munzinger. 16 July 1973. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
2. "Keudell, Walter von". Bundesarchiv. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
3. Hermann Beck (15 January 2011). The Fateful Alliance: German Conservatives and Nazis in 1933: The Machtergreifung in a New Light. Berghahn Books. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-85745-410-2.
4. Eastern, Northern and Central Europe. Annex: International Organisations. Walter de Gruyter. 1 January 2006. p. 785. ISBN 978-3-11-093910-1.
5. Ellen Lovell Evans (1981). The German Center Party, 1870-1933: A Study in Political Catholicism. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. – via Questia (subscription required)
6. Walter H. Kaufmann (1953). Monarchism in the Weimar Republic. New York: Bookman Associates. – via Questia (subscription required)
7. Rüdiger Bergien. (2012). Die bellizistische Republik: Wehrkonsens und "Wehrhaftmachung" in Deutschland 1918-1933, Oldenbourg Verlag, p. 367
8. Franz-Josef Brüggemeier; Mark Cioc; Thomas Zeller (2005). How Green Were the Nazis?: Nature, Environment, and Nation in the Third Reich. Ohio University Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-8214-1647-1.
9. Thomas Lekan; Thomas Zeller (2005). Germany's Nature: Cultural Landscapes and Environmental History. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. – via Questia (subscription required)
10. Noel D. Cary (1996). The Path to Christian Democracy: German Catholics and the Party System from Windthorst to Adenauer. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. – via Questia (subscription required)

External links

• Newspaper clippings about Walter von Keudell in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW