Hans-Christoph Seebohm | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Seebohm in 1964 | |
| Vice Chancellor of Germany West Germany | |
| In office 8 November – 1 December 1966 | |
| Chancellor | Ludwig Erhard |
| Preceded by | Erich Mende |
| Succeeded by | Willy Brandt |
| Federal Minister of Transport | |
| In office 20 September 1949 – 30 November 1966 | |
| Chancellor | Konrad Adenauer (1949–1963) Ludwig Erhard (1963–1966) |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Georg Leber |
| Member of theBundestag | |
| In office 7 September 1949 – 17 September 1967 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Hans-Christoph Seebohm (1903-08-04)4 August 1903 Emanuelssegen, Germany |
| Died | 17 September 1967(1967-09-17) (aged 64) Bonn, West Germany |
| Political party | NLP (1945–1957) DP (1947–1960) CDU (from 1960) |
| Children | 2, includingThomas Seebohm |
| Alma mater | Technische Universität Berlin |
| Occupation | Mining director, industrial manager, politician |
Hans-Christoph Seebohm (4 August 1903 – 17 September 1967) was a German politician of the national conservativeGerman Party (Deutsche Partei, DP) and after 1960 theChristian Democratic Union (CDU).[1] He was theminister of Transport for 17 years and thevice chancellor of West Germany in 1966.
Seebohm attended school inDresden,Saxony and studiedmining at the universities ofMunich andTechnische Hochschule in Berlin-Charlottenburg (nowTechnische Universität Berlin). Passing theStaatsexamen in 1928, he worked as a junior civil servant atHalle and obtained adoctorate level degree fromTechnische Hochschule Charlottenburg . He became a mining director at SilesianGleiwitz andBytom and upon theGerman occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938/39 supervised the "Aryanization" of the mines atKrálovské Poříčí (Königswerth).
AfterWorld War II, he joined the regionalistLower Saxon State Party in theBritish occupation zone underHeinrich Hellwege, which in 1947 was renamed German Party (DP). Seebohm became president of thechamber of commerce atBraunschweig and was a member of theLandtag state assembly ofLower Saxony from 1946 until 1951. From 1946 until 1948 he held the office of Minister for Reconstruction, Labour and Health inHinrich Wilhelm Kopf's Lower Saxon state government. In the run-up to the firstfederal election of 1949, he and his party fellows Hellwege andvon Merkatz negotiated a national conservative alliance with theDeutsche Rechtspartei andHessian National Democrats, which however were aborted by the British occupation forces. In 1952, Seebohm was elected DP chairman, but refused to assume office.
From 1949 until his death he was a member of theBundestag for the constituency ofHamburg-Harburg. From 20 September 1949 until 30 November 1966 he also served as Federal Minister for Transport, firstly under ChancellorKonrad Adenauer, who forced him to join the CDU in 1960 as he wouldn't support the DP any longer; then underLudwig Erhard, under whom he ultimately, but briefly, served as Vice Chancellor. Seebohm was a firm supporter of theBundesbahn, and went to some length to hamstring the trucking industry.[2] In April 1953, second trailers were prohibited. In 1954 a law was passed dictating that half of all transports in Germany had to be carried by train; this would be promoted by subventioning rates for train transports. Trucking remained popular, however, due to its higher flexibility.[3] Thus, in 1956, the rules were tightened yet more: Sunday truck traffic was prohibited, along with a host of other new restrictions. Trucks were restricted to a 24-tonne (53,000 lb) GVW, with a maximum axle load of 8 tonnes (18,000 lb), and a maximum overall length of 14 metres (46 ft).[4] A minimumpower-to-weight requirement of 6 PS/tonne (max 373 lb/hp) was instituted. These various restrictions forced truck manufacturers to develop entirely new trucks meeting the ever tightening requirements, and had a detrimental effect on exports.[4] In 1960 an easing of the restrictions was announced; railroad and trucking transport were now working in conjunction. Paradoxically, meeting the tough restrictions had forced the German trucking industry to become lean and innovative, leaving them in a much stronger position than before Seebohm's programs.[5]
When the 1966grand coalition under ChancellorKurt Georg Kiesinger took office, he left the cabinet, having served as a federal minister for seventeen years, a record beaten only by Foreign MinisterHans-Dietrich Genscher's 23 years (with an interruption in 1982) but as of 2011 still the record for uninterrupted service.
From 1959 Seebohm acted as spokesperson of theSudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft (Sudeten German Homeland Association) ofGerman expellees from Czechoslovakia, where he held his so-called "weekend speeches". In line with West German government policy at the time, he questioned the borders of Germany, referring to the borders of the 1937German Reich as base of any border revision and stating that Germans should also never forget about theeastern territories lost afterWorld War I according to the resolutions of theTreaty of Versailles, while at the same time demanding restoration of the 1938Munich Agreement, advocating the “return of the stolen Sudeten German homeland to the Sudeten German people.”[6]
Seebohm's irredentist leanings about the Sudetenland were a source of embarrassment for the Bonn government, which had to counter West Germany didn't have any claim on these regions and causing him to be chided by Erhard.[7] Adenauer had hoped he would have so much work to do he wouldn't have time for radical activities.[8]Der Spiegel described him as someone who “with never tiring energy defies Cabinet decision whenever ademagogic opportunity presents itself.”[9]
Seebohm died a few months after his retirement and is buried in theBad Pyrmont cemetery.
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