Otto Landsberg

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Otto Landsberg

Otto Landsberg (born December 4, 1869 in Rybnik , Upper Silesia ; † December 9, 1957 in Baarn , Netherlands ) was a German lawyer , member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany ( SPD ) since 1890 and German Minister of Justice from 1919 to 1920.

First cabinet meeting of the Scheidemann cabinet on February 13, 1919 in Weimar. From left: Ulrich Rauscher , Head of Press of the Reich Government, Robert Schmidt , Nutrition, Eugen Schiffer , Finance, Philipp Scheidemann , Reich Chancellor, Otto Landsberg, Justice, Rudolf Wissell , Economy, Gustav Bauer , Labor, Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau , Foreign Affairs, Eduard David without Portfolio, Hugo Preuss , Interior, Johannes Giesberts , Post, Johannes Bell , Colonies, Georg Gothein , Schatz, Gustav Noske , Reichswehr

Life and work

Landsberg came from a Jewish family. After graduating from high school in Ostrowo in the province of Posen in 1887 , Landsberg studied law in Berlin . After the first state examination in 1890 he worked as a court trainee in Gostyn , Ostrowo and Posen and passed the second state examination in 1895. In 1895 he settled in Magdeburg as a lawyer . During the First World War , Landsberg was assigned to the “right” wing of the SPD. At the same time, however, he spoke out against annexation requests even in the Social Democrats with regard to Belgium, which were put forward primarily by Eduard David . After the November Revolution of 1918, he became People's Commissar of the interim government in Prussia together with Paul Hirsch and Kurt Rosenfeld . He was a member of the German delegation to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. From 1920 to 1923 he was envoy of the German Reich in Belgium . In early 1924 he opened a law firm in Berlin. In 1925 he represented Friedrich Ebert in the Munich court case for the " stab in the back " as legal counsel.

After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists, he emigrated to the Netherlands in 1933 via Czechoslovakia and Belgium . In the Netherlands, Otto Landsberg was spared in World War II despite his Jewish and political origins in old age. Landsberg lived in the province of Utrecht after the end of World War II until his death in 1957 at the age of 88 .

MP

Landsberg was a city councilor in Magdeburg from 1903 to 1909. In the Reichstag election in 1912 , he was elected to the Reichstag of the German Empire in the constituency of Magdeburg 4 (until 1918). In 1919/20 he was a member of the Weimar National Assembly . From December 1924 to 1933 he was again a member of the Reichstag for the SPD.

Public offices

Landsberg became a member of the Council of People's Representatives in 1918 , where he was responsible for press, art and literature. In the council he spoke out in favor of the dissolution of Prussia and a reorganization of the empire, but could not get his way. In 1919 he was first State Secretary of the Reich Justice Office , then he belonged to Scheidemann's cabinet as Minister of Justice .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c M. Zimmermann (1997). The German Jews 1914-1945 , p. 25
  2. ↑ http://www.dhm.de/ausstellungen/holocaust/r1.htm
  3. ↑ Susanne Miller / Erich Matthias (edit.): The war diary of the Reichstag member Eduard David 1914 to 1918. (Sources on the history of parliamentarism and political parties. On behalf of the Commission for the history of parliamentarism and political parties . Series 1: Von the constitutional monarchy to a parliamentary republic, vol. 4). Düsseldorf 1966, p. 141

literature

  • Otto Landsberg . In: Franz Osterroth : Biographical Lexicon of Socialism . Volume 1. Deceased personalities . JHW Dietz Nachf., Hanover 1960, p. 176 f.
  • Maria Keipert (Red.): Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service 1871–1945. Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service. Volume 3: Gerhard Keiper, Martin Kröger: L – R. Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2008, ISBN 978-3-506-71842-6 .
  • Martin Schumacher (Hrsg.): MdR The Reichstag members of the Weimar Republic in the time of National Socialism. Political persecution, emigration and expatriation, 1933–1945. A biographical documentation . 3rd, considerably expanded and revised edition. Droste, Düsseldorf 1994, ISBN 3-7700-5183-1 .
  • Hans-Ludwig Abmeier:  Landsberg, Otto. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-428-00194-X , p. 514 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Otto Landsberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Otto Landsberg  - Quotes
personal data
SURNAME Landsberg, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer and politician (SPD), MdR
DATE OF BIRTH 4th December 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH Rybnik , Upper Silesia
DATE OF DEATH December 9, 1957
Place of death Baarn , Netherlands