Martin Schiele


[Image:Martin Schiele - Grabstein.jpg|thumb|Schiele's gravestone]
Martin Schiele was a German manufacturer and lord of the manor. Schiele was also a nationalist, member of the Reichstag, President of the Reichslandbund, the interest group representing farmers in the German Reich, founder of the Christian National Farmers' and Rural People's Party, and in the Weimar Republic briefly Reich Minister of the Interior and twice Reich Minister for Food and Agriculture.

Life

He was part of the leadership of the German National People's Party from its 1918 founding until Alfred Hugenberg became leader in 1928. He was also the chief representative of the agrarian wing of the DNVP. As a member of Hans Luther's coalition government, Schiele secured the restoration of agricultural and industrial protectionism with the tariff of 1925. As minister of food in 1927-28, he favored state credit as a means for subsidising agriculture.
He was persuaded by President Hindenburg to return as minister of food in Heinrich Brüning's cabinet. The Agricultural League under Schiele's leadership was criticised by Richard Walther Darré's Nazi agrarian apparatus. Schiele ceased to be leader of the Agricultural League shortly after the 1930 election. Unhappy with Hugenberg's leadership, Schiele left the DNVP and moved closer to the Conservative [People's Party (Germany)|Conservative People's Party].

Family

Schiele, who was of the Protestant faith, came from a farming family; his father was already a manor tenant.

Marriage

Schiele was married to Thekla, née Borchmann, daughter of the wealthy merchant and brickworks owner Theodor Hubert Borchmann.

Daughter Erika

On 14 July 1920, Erika Schiele married her fiancé 1st Lieutenant Otto Lüdecke. Otto and Erika would have four children: