Gustav Adolf Bauer

Gustav Bauer, who worked as office administrator in Königsberg, founded the Office Employees Association in 1895. He subsequently moved to Berlin, where he headed the Central Workers' Secretariat of the Free Trade Unions (1903). By 1908 Bauer assumed the position of the second chairman of the General Commission of Trade Unions of Germany. In 1912 he entered Reichstag as a representative of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from Breslau and briefly served as state secretary for the Labor Department in the government of Maximilian, Prinz von Baden (1918). Elected to the Verfassungsgebende Nationalversammlung (National Constituent Assembly) in 1919, Bauer received a portfolio of labor minister in the Cabinet of Philipp Scheidemann (13 Feb 1919 - 20 Jun 1919). When Scheidemann resigned, Reich President Friedrich Ebert called on Bauer, who was appointed President of the Reich Government shortly after midnight on 20 Jun 1919. His cabinet, which gathered for the first meeting on 21 Jun 1919, included members of the three major parties - SPD, Catholic Center and Democrats (DDP). 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). In March 1920 his government had to flee from Berlin during the Kapp Putsch. Subsequent negotiations with the coup organizers caused the fall of the Bauer's government, who resigned on 26 Mar 1920. Bauer held the offices of minister of the treasury (Mar 1920 - Jun 1920) and transportation (May 1920 - Jun 1920) under Hermann Müller. He was the deputy Reich Chancellor and minister of the treasury (10 May 1921 - 22 Nov 1922) in the Cabinets of Joseph Wirth. In 1925-1926 Bauer had been excluded from SPD for his involvement in a corruption scandal, but eventually was restored as a party member. He retired from politics after the expiration of his term as a member of the Reichstag (1920-1928). Biography source: [3]