Karl Bernard

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Karl Bernard (born April 8, 1890 in Berlin , † January 15, 1972 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a ministerial official during the Weimar Republic and worked in the private banking sector during the National Socialist era . After the Second World War he was involved in the preparation of the currency reform . From 1948 he was chairman of the Central Bank Council of the Bank of German States .

Life

After graduating from high school , Bernard studied law , political science and economics in Paris , Freiburg im Breisgau , Munich , Berlin and Halle an der Saale .

From 1920 he worked as a judge at the Reich Economic Court and was involved in the processing of the War Damage Act. In 1923 he became a Reich Economic Judge. From 1929 Bernard worked in the Reich Ministry of Economics and later in the Prussian Ministry of Economics from 1931 in the rank of Ministerial Councilor. He was heavily involved in the laws on the occasion of the banking crisis of 1931 . Bernard was also involved in the banknote law. As general advisor to his ministry, he played a key role in the preparation of a share reform.

During the National Socialist era , Bernard was dismissed for political reasons in 1935. From 1936 he was a board member of Frankfurter Hypothekenbank . He remained in this position until 1948.

After the end of the Second World War, Bernard was also a member of the special office for money and credit in the Bizone Economic Council. He was chairman of the German commission of experts that prepared the currency reform of 1948 under the direction of the US economist Edward A. Tenenbaum .

After the founding of the Bank deutsche Länder (March 1, 1948), Bernard was elected Chairman of the Central Bank Council on May 5, 1948 , alongside Wilhelm Vocke , who was President of the Board of Directors of the Bank deutscher Länder from May 20, 1948. Bernard played a key role in the development of the Deutsche Mark into a stable currency.

After the Bank deutscher Länder was converted into the Bundesbank on August 1, 1957, Bernard continued to act as President of the Bundesbank until the end of 1957. Vocke also remained in office until the end of the year, because the Bundesbank President Karl Blessing (1900–1971), who was designated by the Federal Government at the time , could not take up his post until January 1, 1958. On that date, Bernard and Vocke retired. Bernard was then Foundation Commissioner of the Carl Zeiss Foundation and a member of the Audit Committee of the European Investment Bank .

The University of Frankfurt awarded Bernard an honorary doctorate in 1954 (Dr. jur. Hc). For his services he was honored with the Great Federal Cross of Merit with Star and Shoulder Ribbon in 1955 and with the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1957.

literature

  • Munzinger: International Biographical Archive . 17/1972 of April 17, 1972.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ What is probably meant is the Foreign Damage Act of July 28, 1921
  2. ↑ a b bundesbank.de
  3. ↑ Transitional regulation: Article 39 of the Bundesbank Act
personal data
SURNAME Bernard, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German ministerial official and bank manager
DATE OF BIRTH April 8, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH 15th January 1972
Place of death Frankfurt am Main