Bernhard Dernburg

Bernhard Dernburg ( born July 17, 1865 in Darmstadt, † October 14, 1937 in Berlin) was a German politician and banker.

Life and work

Dernburg was the son of journalist and politician Friedrich Dernburg (1833-1911), who belonged to the National Liberal Party. After working for various banks, including Deutsche Bank, he was in 1889 director of the Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft. In 1901, he joined as a board to Darmstadt Bank for Trade and Industry.

He gained a reputation early on as a restructuring. So he founded in 1901 together with Hugo Stinnes from various unprofitable business the German -Luxembourg mining and metallurgical AG ( DL), which quickly was subsequently one of the largest and fastest growing German coal and steel companies. Dernburg held a number of supervisory board mandates in heavy industry, as in the DL and the Phoenix AG of Mining and Metallurgical Plant.

Dernburg in 1902 also spearheaded the transformation of the Cologne Chocolate company Gebr Stollwerck OHG in a family corporation ( Brothers Stollwerck AG) involved. Because of his experience he has gained in USA with preference shares, these shares were also introduced at Stollwerck. Dernburg took over with his Darmstadt Bank the role of the lead manager in the conversion and received a Supervisory Board of Gebr Stollwerck AG.

1906 moved Dernburg in politics, first as Prussian plenipotentiary to the Federal Council in 1907 then as Secretary of State in the Imperial Colonial Office. His name is a fundamental reforms in the German colonial policy is connected. According to Dernburg should now with "Conservation means " colonized instead of " means of destruction ". No more alcohol and weapons trading companies should the colonial economy dominate, but the missionary, the doctor, the railway and the science. The aim of this overseas business promotion nevertheless remained the greatest possible utilization of local manpower by the colonialists. As the first high colonial official of this rank he saw the problems in the colonies and "on site" at. He was in 1907 in German East Africa in 1908 and traveled to the British South Africa as well as German South-West Africa.

After the First World War, Dernburg involved in the establishment of the DDP and became a member of the Imperial Board. He was one of 1919/20, at the Weimar National Assembly. From 17 April to June 20, 1919 Dernburg was Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany in the cabinet Scheidemann.

1920 to 1930 he was a member of the Reichstag as a delegate of the DDP.

Bernhard Dernburg was laid to rest in the cemetery in the Grunewald Dept. III 17th The wall grave site was carried out on a design by Max Seliger.

Publications

  • Colonial financial problems in 1907
  • Colonial Apprenticeship, 1907
  • South African Impressions, 1909
  • Industrial progress in the colonies, 1909
  • The Reichstag and the colonies. Speech to the Reichstag, Berlin, November 29 (online).
118894
de