Heinrich Brüning

Born Nov. 26, 1885, in Münster; died Mar. 30, 1970. German political figure.

From 1920 to 1930, Brüning held responsible positions in the Catholic trade union organization. In 1924 he was elected to the Reichstag, and in 1929 he became the leader of a splinter group of the Center Party. He had close ties with the Vatican. From March 1930 to May 1932 he was chancellor of the Reich. Brüning’s government made broad application of Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution of 1919 in order to pass extraordinary and antidemocratic laws. It also issued decrees lowering the wages of workers and servants and imposing new taxes on the working class, and it persecuted antifascist workers’ organizations, especially the Communist Party. The policies of Brüning’s government facilitated the establishment in Germany of an openly fascist dictatorship. In 1934, Brüning emigrated to the USA.