- Otto Gessler
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Otto Karl Gessler (or Geßler) (February 6, 1875 – March 24, 1955) was a German politician during the Weimar Republic. From 1910 until 1914, he was mayor of Regensburg and from 1913 to 1919 mayor of Nuremberg. He served in Weimar cabinets from 1919 until 1928, usually as Minister of Defence.
Biography
Gessler was born in Ludwigsburg in the Kingdom of Württemberg. He studied law in Erlangen, Tübingen and Leipzig and received his doctorate there in 1900. Later he became mayor of Regensburg and lord mayor of Nuremberg. Because of a disease he was not actively involved in World War I.
Gessler was one of the founders of the DDP in 1919. After the Kapp Putsch he assumed the office of the Reichswehrministerium from Gustav Noske, of which he was in charge of for different chancellors. As Reichswehrminister he worked closely with the head of the Heeresleitung Hans von Seeckt. Because of the accusation of financial anomalies in his ministry associated with the secret armament of the Reichswehr (the Phoebus scandal)Gessler had to resign in January 1928. From 1928 to 1933 he was president of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (German War Graves Commission) and of the Bund zur Erneuerung des Reiches. After the Machtergreifung of the Nazis, he retired from politics in 1933. He was initiated in the plans of the resistance and was arrested after the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on 20 July 1944. He was detained in a concentration camp until the end of the war.
After the end of World War II, Gessler became involved in the German Red Cross, of which he was chairman from 1950 to 1952.
From 1950 to 1955 Gessler was member of the Bavarian senate.
The hospital in Lindenberg im Allgäu is named for Gessler.
Political offices Preceded by
Gustav NoskeDefence Minister of Germany
1920–1928Succeeded by
Wilhelm GroenerPreceded by
Martin SchieleInterior Minister of Germany
1925-1926Succeeded by
Wilhelm KülzInterior Ministers of Germany Imperial Interior Secretaries
(1871–1918)- Karl Hofmann
- Karl Heinrich von Boetticher
- Arthur von Posadowsky-Wehner
- Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg
- Clemens von Delbrück
- Karl Helfferich
- Max Wallraf
- Karl Trimborn
Weimar Republic
(1918–1933)- Friedrich Ebert
- Hugo Preuß
- Eduard David
- Erich Koch-Weser
- Georg Gradnauer
- Adolf Köster
- Rudolf Oeser
- Wilhelm Sollmann
- Karl Jarres
- Martin Schiele
- Otto Geßler
- Wilhelm Külz
- Walter von Keudell
- Carl Severing
- Joseph Wirth
- Wilhelm Groener
- Wilhelm von Gayl
- Franz Bracht
Nazi Germany
(1933–1945)German Democratic Republic
(1949–1990)- Karl Steinhoff
- Karl Maron
- Friedrich Dickel
- Lothar Ahrendt
- Peter Michael Diestel
Federal Republic of Germany
(1949–)- Gustav Heinemann
- Robert Lehr
- Gerhard Schröder
- Hermann Höcherl
- Paul Lücke
- Ernst Benda
- Hans-Dietrich Genscher
- Werner Maihofer
- Gerhart Baum
- Jürgen Schmude
- Friedrich Zimmermann
- Wolfgang Schäuble
- Rudolf Seiters
- Manfred Kanther
- Otto Schily
- Wolfgang Schäuble
- Thomas de Maizière
- Hans-Peter Friedrich
Defence Ministers of Germany Weimar Republic
(1918-1933)Gustav Noske · Otto Geßler · Wilhelm Groener · Kurt von Schleicher
Third Reich
(1933-1945)Werner von Blomberg (1933-1938)
East Germany
(1949-1990)Willi Stoph · Heinz Hoffmann · Heinz Kessler · Theodor Hoffmann · Rainer Eppelmann
Federal Republic of Germany
(1949-)Theodor Blank · Franz Josef Strauss · Kai-Uwe von Hassel · Gerhard Schröder · Helmut Schmidt · Georg Leber · Hans Apel · Manfred Wörner · Rupert Scholz · Gerhard Stoltenberg · Volker Rühe · Rudolf Scharping · Peter Struck · Franz Josef Jung · Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg · Thomas de Maizière
Categories:- 1875 births
- 1955 deaths
- People from Ludwigsburg
- German Roman Catholics
- German Democratic Party politicians
- Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic
- Government ministers of Germany
- Mayors of places in Germany
- German War Graves Commission
- People from the Kingdom of Württemberg
- Knight Commanders of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- Ravensbrück concentration camp survivors
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