Heinrich Brüning

Germany state institutions Conservatism and Christian democracy 1885–1970 ○ Natural causes

Centre Party chancellor who ruled by emergency decree in the Depression and was called the "Hunger Chancellor"

Born into a devout Catholic family in Münster, he studied political science and entered the Reichstag for the Centre Party in 1924. When the grand coalition collapsed in March 1930, President Hindenburg appointed him chancellor. Without a parliamentary majority he imposed deflationary austerity by presidential emergency decree, deepening unemployment and poverty and earning the name "Hunger Chancellor". He banned the SA and the SS in April 1932 but resigned in May when Hindenburg refused to sign further decrees. In 1933 he wanted the Enabling Act rejected but voted for it to keep his party united. He left Germany in 1934, taught at Harvard from 1937 to 1952, and died in Vermont in 1970.

Also known as: Heinrich Aloysius Maria Elisabeth Brüning · Heinrich Bruening