Arnold Paulssen

Group photo in the Federal Council, 1900, Arnold Paulssen standing, far right (person no. 14)

Paulssen as a corps student, around 1885/90

His grave in the main cemetery in Weimar

Arnold Rudolf Otto Paulssen (born November 25, 1864 in Sömmerda ; † March 19, 1942 in Weimar ) was a German lawyer and politician ( DDP ).

Life and work

Paulssen was born the son of a commercial employee. He was the great-grandson of Carl Christian August Paulssen and came from an upper-class family from Thuringia. After graduation in 1883 he studied law at the universities of Freiburg , Halle , Berlin and Jena on which he in 1891 with the graduation to the Dr. jur. finished. During his studies he joined the Corps Hasso-Borussia Freiburg in 1883 and the Corps Guestphalia Halle in 1884 . He worked as a district judge in Weimar from 1894 and one year later became finance advisor and lecturer in the Grand Ducal Saxon State Ministry. At the same time he acted as a secret trainee lawyer for Grand Duke Carl Alexander von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach . After his appointment to the Secret Legation Council in 1899, he was Deputy Plenipotentiary in the Federal Council for the Grand Duchy of Saxony and the Thuringian states . In 1905 he was appointed to the State Council and in 1908 to the Secret State Council.

Paulssen was chairman of the Nietzsche Archive Foundation from 1923 . During his time as chairman, there were disagreements with Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche because of her courting for National Socialism in the archive. He resigned from office for health reasons in 1931, but remained on the board, which was now led by Richard Leutheußer . He was also a member of the "Society of Friends of the Nietzsche Archives" until at least 1937.

His son Hans Constantin Paulssen was President of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA).

Arnold Paulssen was married to Bertha nee Saeltzer and is buried in the main cemetery in Weimar.

MP

In the state election of the Free State of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach on March 9, 1919, Paulssen received a mandate. In 1920/21 he was a member of the Thuringian state parliament .

Public offices

Paulssen was head of the Ministry of the Interior and Foreign Affairs of the Grand Duchy of Saxony from 1908 to 1912 and served as the Grand Duchy's representative in the Federal Council from 1912 to 1918. On May 20, 1919 he was elected chairman of the State Ministry of the Free State of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach . He held the office until January 17, 1921. He was then chairman of the regional government until November 17. At the same time, Paulssen was from November 10, 1920 to October 7, 1921 in the newly created state of Thuringia, Minister of State for National Education and Justice and Chairman of the first state government, which was supported by the DDP, SPD and USPD . In 1927/28 he took over the office of Minister of the Interior and Economics, Richard Leutheußer was chairman of this state government. From November 6, 1928 to January 22, 1930, he held the function of the leading state minister under a bourgeois coalition government. At the same time he was Minister of State for Economy, Finance and Public Education.

Arnold Paulssen was particularly successful in bringing together the small states of Thuringia to form the State of Thuringia.

See also

• Cabinet Paulssen I
• Cabinet Leutheusser II
• Paulssen II cabinet

literature

• Eckhard Hansen, Florian Tennstedt (Eds.) U. a .: Biographical lexicon on the history of German social policy from 1871 to 1945 . Volume 1: Social politicians in the German Empire 1871 to 1918. Kassel University Press, Kassel 2010, ISBN 978-3-86219-038-6 , p. 121 f. ( Online , PDF; 2.2 MB).

• Dieter Marek:  Paulssen, Arnold Rudolf Otto. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-00201-6 , pp. 130 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Arnold Paulssen  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Arnold Paulssen in the online version of the Reich Chancellery Edition Files. Weimar Republic