Karl Klasen

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Hermann Josef Abs with his successor speakers Karl Klasen (left) and Franz Heinrich Ulrich (right) on April 12, 1967

Karl Klasen (born April 23, 1909 in Hamburg , † April 22, 1991 in Hamburg) was a German lawyer and president of the Deutsche Bundesbank from 1970 to 1977 .

Life

Karl Klasen gravestone, Ohlsdorf cemetery

Karl Klasen came from a Hamburg family. From 1920 to 1928 he attended secondary school in front of the Holstentor in Hamburg-Stellingen until he graduated from high school. He then completed his law studies in 1933 with a doctorate . Since 1931 he was a member of the SPD , of which he belonged until his death. After graduating, he found a job as a legal advisor at Deutsche Bank in Hamburg. In 1943 he was drafted into the armed forces, from which he was released in early 1945.

In April 1946 he became President of the Hamburg State Central Bank for an electoral term . From 1952 to 1969 Klasen was a member of the board of directors of Deutsche Bank, of which he was spokesman from 1967 to 1969 together with Franz Heinrich Ulrich . On January 1, 1970, he succeeded Karl Blessing as President of the Deutsche Bundesbank; this he held until mid-1977. His successor was his longtime deputy Otmar Emminger .

After leaving the Bundesbank, Karl Klasen was a member of the Deutsche Bank Supervisory Board from 1978 to 1984 .

Karl Klasen's grave is located in the main cemetery Ohlsdorf in Hamburg in grid square Bo 61 (northwest of Chapel 13).

In 1992, Kai-Jacob Klasen donated the Karl Klasen Journalist Prize in memory of his father .

Honors

Quotes about Klasen

  • 1991: “Klasen was at the helm of the Deutsche Bundesbank in those stormy seventies, when the dollar crises shook the world, the Bretton Woods currency system fell apart, the oil crisis broke out and spurts of inflation undermined the stability of monetary value. During his term of office from 1970 to 1977, supported by the then Vice President and his later successor Otmar Emminger , he preserved the Federal Republic as a haven of stability and withstood various dangers. "(Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, April 24, 1991)
  • 1991: "Because the Bundesbank is constitutionally independent of the government, its president is endowed with considerably more authority than his central bank counterparts in other countries. Klasen exercised this authority famously in 1972 when he persuaded the West German cabinet, against the advice of Karl Schiller, to ... ensure the parity of the Deutschmark with the dollar. The showdown resulted in Dr Schiller's resignation and established classes as a national personality. "(The Times, April 26, 1991)
  • 1991: "Karl Klasen never viewed the Bundesbank just as a monetary authority, but always as part of the banking community, how could it have been any different in his career ..." ( Die Zeit , April 26, 1991)
  • 1991: "With all this, Klasen was able to rely on the impact of his personality, which radiated strength and independence, in his dialogue with Bonn - a term that would have been difficult to imagine with his predecessors." (Börsen-Zeitung, 12. July 1991)

Quotes from Klasen

  • "I would like to prophesy that there will be no real inflation in the next ten years either." (When he took office in early 1970)
(Note: this turned out to be a blatant misjudgment: the 1970s were marked by stagflation ; in 1971 the Bretton Woods system collapsed; after the first oil crisis , the ÖTV wage increases of around 11% were implemented ( "Kluncker round , see also wages Price spiral and price-wage spiral ); petrodollars ; national debt of the United States ; eurosclerosis ).
  • 1974: “Stability ceases when in one year the rate of currency devaluation exceeds the 2 percent limit. But even after that it does not immediately turn into inflation. For me, inflation is a strong decrease in purchasing power in a rapid, constantly increasing manner. ”(Hamburger Abendblatt, October 31, 1974)
  • 1975: "Full employment can only be regained in the long term through a stability policy, but not through more inflation." (Lecture in Frankfurt, January 21, 1975)
  • 1975: “If one tries to break the vicious circle of inflation, it does not go without sacrifice. But the longer you wait, the greater the sacrifices you have to make. The economic policy of the Federal Republic did not hesitate, and the fruits of this conscious and initially harsh policy are now ripe. ”(Handelsblatt, December 30, 1975)
  • 1977: “We must not tire of pointing out again and again that everyone has to keep their claims within the scope of the efficiency of the economy. Special advantages of individual groups through the exploitation of given positions of power ultimately harm the whole and ultimately everyone. "(Address in Hamburg, February 24, 1977)

literature

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ [1]
  2. ↑ spiegel.de: [2]
  3. ↑ Celebrity Graves
  4. ↑ Die Welt, March 28, 2012
  5. ↑ spiegel.de: [3]
  6. ↑ a b c d bundesbank.de ( Memento from June 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Klasen, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer, President of the Deutsche Bundesbank (1970–1977)
DATE OF BIRTH April 23, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH April 22, 1991
Place of death Hamburg