Joseph Wirth

Infobox Chancellor
name=Joseph Wirth


order=Chancellor of Germany
term_start =10 May 1921
term_end =14 November 1922
predecessor =Konstantin Fehrenbach
successor =Wilhelm Cuno
birth_date =birth date|1879|9|6|df=y
death_date =death date and age|1956|1|3|1879|9|6|df=y
party=Catholic Centre Party

Karl Joseph Wirth, known as Joseph Wirth, (6 September 1879 – 3 January 1956) was a German politician of the Catholic Centre Party who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1921 to 1922. Along with his foreign minister, Walther Rathenau, Wirth set out to follow a policy of "fulfillment" with respect to Germany's reparations in order to show that Germany was incapable of payment.

Wirth was the youngest Chancellor Germany has had as of 2007. He is nowadays best known for his speech in front of the Reichstag after the assassination of Walther Rathenau by rightist extremists in 1922. Wirth - as a centre-right politician - famously proclaimed "The enemy is on the right!". His words later turned out to be prophetic.

First Cabinet, May - October 1921

*Joseph Wirth (Z) - Chancellor and Finance Minister
*Gustav Bauer (SPD) - Vice Chancellor and Treasury Minister
*Friedrich Rosen - Foreign Minister
*Georg Gradnauer (SPD) - Interior Minister
*Robert Schmidt (SPD) - Economics Minister
*Heinrich Brauns (Z) - Labour Minister
*Eugen Schiffer (DDP) - Justice Minister
*Otto Gessler (DDP) - Defence Minister
*Wilhelm Gröner - Transport Minister
*Andreas Hermes (Z) - Food Minister

Changes
*29 May 1921 - Walther Rathenau (DDP) enters the cabinet as Reconstruction Minister.

econd Cabinet, October 1921 - November 1922

*Joseph Wirth (Z) - Chancellor and Foreign Minister
*Gustav Bauer (SPD) - Vice Chancellor
*Adolf Köster (SPD) - Interior Minister
*Andreas Hermes (Z) - Finance Minister and Food Minister
*Robert Schmidt (SPD) - Economics Minister
*Heinrich Brauns (Z) - Labour Minister
*Gustav Radbruch (SPD) - Justice Minister
*Otto Gessler (DDP) - Defence Minister
*Johannes Giesberts (Z) - Postal Minister
*Wilhelm Groener - Transport Minister

Changes
*1 February 1922 - Walther Rathenau (DDP) succeeds Wirth as Foreign Minister. Wirth remains Chancellor
*10 March 1922 - Anton Fehr (Bavarian Peasants' League) succeeds Hermes as Food Minister. Hermes remains Finance Minister.
*24 June 1922 - Upon Rathenau's assassination, Wirth again becomes Foreign Minister.