Biography of Bauer, Gustav Adolf - Archontology
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Bauer, Gustav Adolf

Gustav Adolf Bauer

b. 6 Jan 1870, Darkehmen, East Prussia
d. 16 Sep 1944, Hermsdorf, near Breslau

Title: Präsident des Reichsministeriums (President of the Reich Government)
Term: 21 Jun 1919 - 14 Aug 1919
Chronology: 21 Jun 1919, appointed, order issued by the Reich President on 21 Jun 1919 [1]
Title: Reichskanzler (Reich Chancellor)
Term: 14 Aug 1919 - 27 Mar 1920
Chronology: 14 Aug 1919, appointed, order issued by the Reich President on 14 Aug 1919 [2]
  21 Aug 1919, took an oath of office as Reich Chancellor, public ceremony, Weimar [3]
  27 Mar 1920, discharged, order issued by the Reich President on 27 Mar 1920 [4]
Biography:
Attended public school in Königsberg; worked as office assistant in lawyer's office (to 1902); founded the Office Employees Association (1895); editor of Der Bureau-Angestellte (1895-1901); moved to Berlin, where he headed the Central Workers' Secretariat of the Free Trade Unions (1903-1908); assumed the position of the second chairman of the General Commission of Trade Unions of Germany (1908-1918); elected to the Reichstag as a representative of the Social Democratic Party (Socialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, SPD) for Breslau (Ost) (1912-1918); briefly served as state secretary for the Labor Department in the government of Maximilian Prinz von Baden (1918); elected to the Verfassunggebende Nationalversammlung (National Constituent Assembly) in 1919; received a portfolio of labor minister in the Cabinet of Philipp Scheidemann (13 Feb 1919 - 20 Jun 1919); appointed President of the Reich Government (21 Jun 1919 - 14 Aug 1919); invited to the Cabinet the members of three major parties - SPD, Catholic Centre Party (Deutsche Zentrumspartei) and Democrats (Deutsche Demokratische Partei); the most important events of the Bauer's short administration were signing of the Treaty of Versailles (28 Jun 1919) and promulgation of the Weimar constitution (11 Aug 1919; effective 14 Aug 1919); appointed Reich Chancellor (14 Aug 1919 - 27 Mar 1920); had to flee from Berlin during the Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch (13 Mar 1920); subsequent negotiations with the coup organizers caused the fall of the Bauer's government; elected to the Reichstag (1920-1928) as a deputy for Magdeburg; held the offices of minister of the treasury (1920) and transportation (1920) under Hermann Müller; vice-chancellor and minister of the treasury (1921-1922) in the Cabinet of Joseph Wirth; excluded from SPD (1925-1926) for his involvement in a corruption scandal, but eventually was restored as a party member; retired from politics after the expiration of his term as a member of the Reichstag.
Biographical sources: Reichstags-Handbuch. I. Wahlperiode. 1920. Berlin: 1920. S. 168-169; Reichstags-Handbuch. II. Wahlperiode. 1924. Berlin: 1924. S. 375-376; Reichstags-Handbuch. III. Wahlperiode. 1924. Berlin: 1925. S. 196-197.

[1] Bundesarchiv, R 43 I/2787, fl. 3.
[2] Bundesarchiv, R 43 I/2787, fl. 14.
[3] Bundesarchiv, R 43 I/2787, fl. 17-18.
[4] Bundesarchiv, R 43 I/2787, fl. 22.