Joseph Bech

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Joseph Bech (1933)

Joseph Bech (born February 17, 1887 in Diekirch in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg ; † March 8, 1975 in Luxembourg City ) was a Luxembourg statesman and politician. He is considered one of the founding fathers of the European Communities .

Life

Joseph Bech grew up in a politically active family. He studied law in Friborg in Switzerland and in Paris . In 1914, shortly before the outbreak of World War I , he was admitted to the bar.

In June of the same year he was elected to the Chambre des Députés according to the census suffrage as a member of the right-wing Catholic party, a forerunner of today's Christian Social People's Party (CSV) . In 1921 he became Minister of the Interior and Education. After the brief interlude of the Prüm government in 1926, Bech became Minister of State, i.e. chairman of the government, as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Education and Agriculture .

His thoroughly successful government had to tackle major economic ( global economic crisis from 1929) and social problems, and from 1933 onwards he managed to keep a distance from the Hitler regime in Germany , on which Luxembourg was heavily dependent on its export-oriented steel industry . Giving in to efforts to establish an undemocratic corporate state in his own party, Bech tried to pass a law in 1936 that would have banned the Communist Party ("Maulkuerfgesetz", German muzzle law), which resulted in a referendum failing and he had to resign as Minister of State. From 1937 to 1953 he was Foreign Minister and Minister for Viticulture.

The Luxembourg Gray Book, published in London in 1942

During the German occupation of Luxembourg in World War II , Joseph Bech and Pierre Krier were part of the government in exile in London from 1940 to 1945. With the Luxembourg Gray Book he tried to bring the situation in occupied Luxembourg closer to the Allies. There he signed the Benelux treaties for Luxembourg in 1944 . The NATO treaty of April 4, 1949 in Washington, DC and the CECA treaty of April 18, 1951 in Paris are also signed.

From 1953 to 1958 Joseph Bech was Minister of State in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, now for the CSV. He then took over the office of Foreign Minister (1958–1959) as well as that of Foreign Trade Minister and Minister of Viticulture. In the post-war phase, he was actively involved in the European integration process in his various government offices. He is considered a co-founder of the coal and steel union and one of the most consistent exponents of the European idea. From 1959 to 1964 he was President of the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies.

Honors

Cercle Joseph Bech

The circle named after Joseph Bech, a group of strongly conservative members around Frank Engel and Patrick Santer , is close to the CSV and from time to time comes to the public with events and political proposals. The circle is considered to be to the right of the CSV and calls itself a think tank .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eliezer Yapou: Governments in Exile, Luxembourg , accessed on November 21, 2016
  2. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
  3. ↑ The Cercle at the Press. ( Memento of the original from October 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cerclejosephbech.lu
personal data
SURNAME Bech, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Luxembourg statesman and politician, member of the Chambre
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Diekirch , Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 1975
Place of death Luxembourg City