Hermann Robert Dietrich (14 December 1879 – 6 March 1954) was a German politician of the liberal German Democratic Party and served as a minister during the Weimar Republic.[1]

Hermann Dietrich
Vice-Chancellor of Germany
In office
30 March 1930 – 1 June 1932
ChancellorHeinrich Brüning
Preceded byOskar Hergt (1928)
Succeeded byFranz von Papen (1933)
Reich Minister of Finance
In office
26 June 1930 – 1 June 1932
ChancellorHeinrich Brüning
Preceded byHeinrich Brüning (acting)
Succeeded byLutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk
Member of the Reichstag
In office
1920–1933
ConstituencyNational List (1932-1933)
Baden (1920-1932)
Personal details
Born
Hermann Robert Dietrich

(1879-12-14)14 December 1879
Died6 March 1954(1954-03-06) (aged 74)
Political partyGerman Democratic Party
OccupationPolitician

Finance Minister of Germany

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In 1930, Dietrich succeeded Paul Moldenhauer as Finance Minister of the Weimar Republic. In the midst of the Great Depression, Dietrich became the "chief proponent" of government contracts in 1930 in an attempt to offset the drastic increase in unemployment. Because the contracts were contingent on the reduction of prices, he and the Provisional National Economic Council had to authorise the reduction of wages in the German industrial community.[2]

Dietrich, along with the economists Heinrich Brüning and Adam Stegerwald, firmly believed that accelerating the pace of the agricultural sector at the cost of Germany's industrial capacity would solve unemployment.

During President Paul von Hindenburg's bid for re-election, Dietrich was one of few elites in the cabinet barred from speaking at the president's candidacy campaigns for allegedly being "too far left".[3]

References

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  1. ^ Frölich, Jürgen (2005). "'He served the German people well'. Der politische Weg Hermann Dietrichs vom badischen Nationalliberalen zum baden-württembergischen Freidemokraten". Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins (in German). 153: 619–640. ISSN 0044-2607.
  2. ^ Mommsen, Hans (1 March 1998). The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy. UNC Press Books. p. 369.
  3. ^ Mommsen, Hans (1 March 1998). The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy. UNC Press Books. p. 407.
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