Arthur von Posadowsky-Wehner


Arthur Adolf, Count of Posadowsky-Wehner, Baron of Postelwitz was a German conservative statesman. He served as the secretary for the Treasury, secretary of the Interior, vice-chancellor of the German Empire and Prussian minister of State.

Biography

Born to Silesian nobility, the son of a judge, Posadowsky-Wehner studied law in Berlin, Heidelberg and Breslau and earned a doctorate in law in 1867. He subsequently acquired an agricultural property, and entered politics in 1871, when he became a member of the province government in Posen. In 1882 he became a member of the Parliament of Prussia, and was appointed Landeshauptmann of Posen in 1885.
Posadowsky was a crucial figure for the election reform in 1903. He took care of a new voting technique to protect the secrecy of the ballot for the German parliament.
Posadowsky-Wehner was the candidate of the German National People's Party for the Presidency of Germany in 1919, but he lost to Friedrich Ebert. Posadowsky-Wehner would begin to distance himself from the DNVP in the aftermath of the Kapp Putsch, eventually leaving the party at the end of 1920.

Honours

He received the following orders and decorations:

Publications

  • Über die Altersversorgung der Arbeiter
  • Geschichte des schlesischen adligen Geschlechtes der Grafen Posadowsky-Wehner, Freiherren von Postelwitz
  • Luxus und Sparsamkeit
  • Die Wohnungsfrage als Kulturproblem
  • ''Volk und Regierung im neuen Reich''