Otto Landsberg | |
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 Council of the People's Deputies: Otto Landsberg (left) with Philipp Scheidemann, Gustav Noske, Friedrich Ebert, Rudolf Wissell (December 1918) | |
| Born | (1869-12-04)4 December 1869 |
| Died | 9 December 1957(1957-12-09) (aged 88) |
Otto Landsberg (4 December 1869 – 9 December 1957) was a German jurist, politician and diplomat. He was a member of the revolutionaryCouncil of the People's Deputies that took power during theGerman Revolution of 1918–19 and then served as Minister of Justice in the first democratically-elected government of Germany in 1919. In that capacity, he also was a member of the German delegation that went to Versailles to receive the Allies'Treaty of Versailles.
Landsberg was born on 4 December 1869 inRybnick in theProvince of Silesia, to a Jewish family. His father was a medical doctor. After passing theAbitur in 1887 inOstrowo, he moved toBerlin to study law. In 1895, having passed the First (1890) and Second State Examination (1895), he opened a lawyer's office inMagdeburg and made a name for himself as a trial lawyer.[1]
Having joined theSPD in 1890, Landsberg was a member of the Magdeburg city council from 1903 to 1909. After failing to get elected forSchwarzburg-Sondershausen in 1907, in 1912, Landsberg succeeded in becoming theReichstag delegate forMagdeburg. Since there were no elections duringWorld War I, he held the seat until 1918.[1]
In May 1912, as a freshman, he refused to leave the chamber with the rest of the SPD for theKaiserhoch (a cheer for the Emperor) but stood up for it, ignoring party tradition. Landsberg's numerous Reichstag speeches subsequently showed him to be an excellent speaker. During World War I, he supported the policies of the majority of the SPD parliamentary group, opposingKarl Liebknecht andHugo Haase. After they had left the party fraction in 1916, Landsberg became even more prominent since he was one of only a few jurists remaining. Of a nationalistic bent, he approved of the war loans and argued in favour of the territorial integrity of the Reich, includingAlsace-Lorraine, but he opposed German annexion of additional territory. He repeatedly demanded domestic reforms, including democratisation and changes to the election laws of Prussia and the Reich.[1]
On 23 October 1918, Landsberg became a member of theFraktionsvorstand (leadership of the SPD Reichstag parliamentary group) and became a delegate to theInterfraktioneller Ausschuß where he argued forproportional representation,female suffrage and the democratisation of the Prussian bureaucracy.[1]
From 10 November 1918 to 13 February 1919, he was one of three (later five) SPD members of theCouncil of the People's Deputies, being responsible for the press, arts and literature. Together withFriedrich Ebert Landsberg fought forparliamentary democracy and a national assembly, opposing aSoviet system and left-wing uprisings. He strongly supportedUpper Silesia remaining a part of the Reich.[1]
On 19 January 1919, Landsberg waselected to theWeimar National Assembly for Magdeburg and Anhalt. On 11 February, Landsberg succeededPaul von Krause as State Secretary of theReichsjustizamt and on 13 February became Minister of Justice in thegovernment of Philipp Scheidemann.[1]
Landsberg was a member of the German delegation that went to Versailles to receive the Allies' demands in the form of theTreaty of Versailles. He opposed signing the Treaty and resigned over the issue, with the other ministers of the cabinet, on 20 June 1919. He refused to participate in the vote on the Treaty in the National Assembly.[1]
His abilities and experience made Landsberg become firstGeschäftsträger (Chargé d'affaires) and thenGesandter (ambassador) of Germany in Belgium. However, he was not very successful in that role, which effectively ended in early 1923, when theOccupation of the Ruhr by French and Belgian troops caused his recall to Berlin. In 1924, he again began practicing law there. He was counsel for his friend Friedrich Ebert in theReichspräsidentenprozeß (the defamation suit brought by President Ebert) in Magdeburg and in the so-calledDolchstoßprozess (seeDolchstoßlegende) in Munich in 1925, he was a witness rebutting the charges against the Social Democrats.[1]
He was a member of theReichstag from 1924 to 1933. In that role, he opposed an amnesty for those convicted ofFeme murders, expressed regret about the state of political discourse and criticised the bias that made many judges treat right-wing defendants more leniently than left-wing ones.[1]
In 1933, Landsberg emigrated first toCzechoslovakia andBelgium, later to theNetherlands. Friends concealed him during the Nazi occupation of that country. He remained in the Netherlands after the end of the Nazi regime in 1945 and died on 9 December 1957 inBaarn.[1]
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Justice Minister of Germany 1919 | Succeeded by |
Council of the People's Deputies – 10 November 1918 to 13 February 1919 | ||
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Scheidemann cabinet – 13 February to 20 June 1919 | ||
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