Preceded by Heinrich Held Role Politician Nationality German Party Nazi Party | Religion Lutheranism Succeeded by Paul Giesler Name Ludwig Siebert | |
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Born 17 October 1874
Ludwigshafen ( 1874-10-17 ) Political party National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) Died November 1, 1942, Prien am Chiemsee, Germany | ||
Ludwig Siebert (17 October 1874 in Ludwigshafen – 1 November 1942 in Stock am Chiemsee) was a Nazi politician and Bavarian prime minister from 1933 to 1942.
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Life
Siebert was born in Ludwigshafen, in the then Bavarian region of Palatinate, in 1874. He studied law, and after this became a civil servant in the Kingdom of Bavaria. He served as a prosecutor in Neustadt an der Weinstraße, and later in Fürth. Siebert was mayor of Rothenburg ob der Tauber from 1908 to 1919. He afterwards, in 1919, became the mayor of Lindau and while serving in this position in 1931, joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party from the Bavarian People's Party.
He became prime minister of Bavaria in 1933 with the Nazi takeover of power in Germany. As the prime minister of Bavaria, Siebert did not have the power and authority his predecessors had in the Weimar Republic. In this position, he was engaged in a power struggle with the Reichstatthalter of Bavaria, Franz Ritter von Epp, which he won.
In May 1933, Siebert arrived in Passau for the opening of the Ostmarkmuseum.
He also held the posts of Minister of Finances (1933–1942) and for Economy (1933-1934/1936-1942).
He initiated the so-called "Siebert Program" to fight unemployment in Bavaria. The program turned out to be insufficient to create new employment due to lack of funds within the Bavarian government and support from the German government.
Siebert also had personal orders from Hitler to look after the restoration of all castles in Germany and was especially interested in the restoration of the historical town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber from 1937 to 1941.
From 1933 until his death, he was chairman of the board of the Bayerische Berg-, Hütten- und Salzwerke AG (BHS), a large Bavarian mining company. He also served from 1939 to 1942 as the head of the Deutsche Akademie, a predecessor of the Goethe Institut.
His brother was a highly decorated officer in the Wehrmacht, Generalmajor Friedrich Siebert (1888–1950).