Vilhelm Buhl

Infobox Prime Minister
name=Vilhelm Buhl


order=Prime Minister of Denmark
term_start =May 4, 1942
term_end =November 9, 1942
predecessor =Thorvald Stauning
successor =Erik Scavenius
term_start2 =May 5, 1945
term_end2 =November 7, 1945
predecessor2 =German military rule
(last Prime Minister: Erik Scavenius)
successor2 =Knud Kristensen
birth_date =birth date|1881|10|16|mf=y
birth_place =
death_date =death date and age|1954|12|18|1881|10|16|mf=y
death_place =
party=Social Democrats

Vilhelm Buhl (October 16, 1881 - December 18, 1954) was Prime Minister of Denmark from 4 May 1942 to 9 November 1942 as head of the "Unity Government" (the Cabinet of Vilhelm Buhl I) during the German occupation of Denmark of World War II, until the Nazis ordered him removed. He was Prime Minister again from 5 May 1945 to 7 November 1945 as head of a unity government (the "Cabinet of Vilhelm Buhl II") after the liberation of Denmark by the British Field Marshal Montgomery.

Vilhelm Buhl was a member of the Social Democrats, and had held the post of Finance Minister in the cabinets of Thorvald Stauning from 20 July 1937 to 4 May 1942.

During Nazi Germany's occupation of Denmark, Thorvald Stauning had created a "unity government". When Thorvald Stauning died in May 1942, Vilhelm Buhl succeeded him. This government only lasted six months, because of a diplomatic incident in which King Christian X sent a short and formal reply to a long birthday telegram from Adolf Hitler. Hitler was outraged by this insult, and as a result Vilhelm Buhl was replaced by Erik Scavenius. Werner Best was sent to Denmark as a new tough Nazi commander.

After the liberation of Denmark on 5 May 1945, the politicians and the resistance fighters formed a unity government (Cabinet of Vilhelm Buhl II). Many Danes were dissatisfied with the politicians because of their policy of coorporation with the Germans that had dominated at the start of the war, hence the inclusion of the resistance fighters. Notable members of the cabinet included Aksel Larsen, Hans Hedtoft, H. C. Hansen, Knud Kristensen and John Christmas Møller. The government presided over the trials of the people who had coorporated with the Germans, as a result of which 45 persons were executed. After the elections in October 1945 Knud Kristensen became the new prime minister.

References

*Kristian Hvidt, "Statsministre i Danmark fra 1913 til 1995" (1995)