Constantin Fehrenbach, sometimes erroneously Konstantin Fehrenbach, (11 January 1852 – 26 March 1926), was a German politician who was one of the major leaders of the Catholic Centre Party. He served as president of the Reichstag in 1918 and then as president of the Weimar National Assembly from 1919 to 1920. In June 1920, Fehrenbach became Chancellor of Germany. During his time in office, the central issue he had to face was German compliance with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. He resigned in May 1921 when his cabinet was unable to reach a consensus on war reparations payments to the Allies. Fehrenbach remained in the Reichstag and headed the Centre Party's contingent there from 1923 until his death in 1926.
Fehrenbach was considered part of the Centre Party's left wing, which included noted politicians such as Matthias Erzberger and Joseph Wirth, as well as Catholic workers' associations and Catholic trade unions.
Early life
Constantin Fehrenbach was born on 11 January 1852 in Wellendingen near Bonndorf in what was then the Grand Duchy of Baden as the son of Johann Georg Fehrenbach, a teacher (1826–1895), and his wife Rosina (1832–1900), née Gensecke.
From 1865, he attended the Freiburg Boys' Seminary and the Berthold Gymnasium, from which he graduated in 1871. He began studying Catholic theology at the University of Freiburg before switching to law in 1875. During his studies, he joined a student fraternity that gave him access to circles of notables among the local bourgeoisie. In 1882, he began to practise law in Freiburg and soon became a successful criminal lawyer. In 1879, Fehrenbach married Maria (1855–1921), née Hossner, at Freiburg. They had one daughter.
Political career
German Empire
Fehrenbach started his political career in 1884 when he became a member of the Freiburg city council for the Catholic Centre Party. The next year, he was elected to the (state legislature) of Baden, again for the Centre Party. He resigned his seat in 1887 after disagreements with the leader of the party in Baden, , over the dismantling of Otto von Bismarck's anti-Catholic Kulturkampf laws.
Fehrenbach was elected to the Weimar National Assembly on 19 January 1919 in Germany's first election that gave women the right to vote. When the Assembly convened on 6 February to draft and adopt a constitution for Germany and to act as its interim parliament, Fehrenbach was elected its vice president, but since three of the highest offices were in the hands of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Centre Party objected. The Assembly's president then stepped down, and Fehrenbach was elected in his place.
The most important task of his chancellorship was the fulfilment of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Fehrenbach led the German delegation at the Spa conference from 5 to 16 July 1920, where German disarmament and reparations were discussed. The total amount and the terms of reparations payments were also the subject of the conferences at Paris and London during the early months of 1921. At the first London Conference in March, Fehrenbach and his foreign minister Walter Simons protested against what they saw as the exorbitantly high total reparations payments, which had not been finalized in the Versailles Treaty. In order to put pressure on Germany to accept the reparations terms, the Entente on 5 May issued the London ultimatum, which threatened an Allied occupation of the Ruhr if Germany did not comply with the London Schedule of Payments and the Treaty of Versailles' requirements for disarmament and the extradition of German "war criminals".
Before the ultimatum was issued, the American government had declined Germany's request to act as mediator in the reparations dispute, which left Germany with few viable options. Rumors of an ultimatum had reached Fehrenbach's cabinet a few days before 5 May, and since the DVP had already announced that it would no longer support the government's foreign policy, the cabinet resigned on 4 May. Fehrenbach remained in charge of the caretaker government until his replacement by Joseph Wirth of the Centre Party on 10 May.
Post-chancellorship
In 1922, Fehrenbach became a judge on the State Court for the German Reich ().
Fehrenbach died on 26 March 1926 in Freiburg im Breisgau.