Hans-Christoph Seebohm (4 August 1903 – 17 September 1967) was a German politician of the national conservative German Party (Deutsche Partei, DP) and after 1960 the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).[1] He was Federal Minister of Transport for 17 years and the fourth Vice Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1966.
Seebohm attended school in Dresden, Saxony and studied mining at the universities of Munich and Berlin-Charlottenburg. Passing the Staatsexamen in 1928, he worked as a junior civil servant at Halle and obtained a doctorate level degree from the Technical College of Berlin in 1932. He became a mining director at Silesian Gleiwitz and Bytom and upon the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938/39 supervised the "Aryanization" of the mines at Královské Poříčí (Königswerth).
After World War II, he joined the regionalist Lower Saxon State Party in the British occupation zone under Heinrich Hellwege, which in 1947 was renamed German Party (DP). Seebohm became president of the chamber of commerce at Braunschweig and was a member of the Landtag state assembly of Lower Saxony from 1946 until 1951. From 1946 until 1948 he held the office of Minister for Reconstruction, Labour and Health in Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf's Lower Saxon state government. In the run-up to the first federal election of 1949, he and his party fellows Hellwege and von Merkatz negotiated a national conservative alliance with the Deutsche Rechtspartei and Hessian National Democrats, which however were aborted by the British occupation forces. In 1952, Seebohm was elected DP chairman, but refused to assume office.
Minister for Transport[]
From 1949 until his death he was a member of the Bundestag for the constituency of Hamburg-Harburg. From 20 September 1949 until 30 November 1966 he also served as Federal Minister for Transport, firstly under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who forced him to join the CDU in 1960 as he wouldn't support the DP any longer; then under Ludwig Erhard, under whom he ultimately, but briefly, served as Vice-Chancellor. Seebohm was a firm supporter of the Bundesbahn, and went to some length to hamstring the trucking industry.[2] In April 1953, second trailers were prohibited. In 1954 a law was passed dictating that half of all transports in Germany had to be carried by train; this would be promoted by subventioning rates for train transports. Trucking remained popular, however, due to its higher flexibility.[3] Thus, in 1956, the rules were tightened yet more: Sunday truck traffic was prohibited, along with a host of other new restrictions. Trucks were restricted to a 24-tonne (53,000 lb) GVW, with a maximum axle load of 8 tonnes (18,000 lb), and a maximum overall length of 14 metres (46 ft).[4] A minimum power-to-weight requirement of 6 PS/tonne (max 373 lb/hp) was instituted. These various restrictions forced truck manufacturers to develop entirely new trucks meeting the ever tightening requirements, and had a detrimental effect on exports.[4] In 1960 an easing of the restrictions was announced; railroad and trucking transport were now working in conjunction. Paradoxically, meeting the tough restrictions had forced the German trucking industry to become lean and innovative, leaving them in a much stronger position than before Seebohm's programs.[5]
When the 1966 grand coalition under Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger took office, he left the cabinet, having served as a federal minister for seventeen years, a record beaten only by Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher's 23 years (with an interruption in 1982) but as of 2011 still the record for uninterrupted service.
Spokesperson for the Sudeten Germans[]
From 1959 Seebohm acted as spokesperson of the Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft (Sudeten German Homeland Association) of German expellees from Czechoslovakia, where he held his so-called "weekend speeches". In line with West German government policy at the time, he questioned the borders of Germany, referring to the borders of the 1937 German Reich as base of any border revision and stating that Germans should also never forget about the eastern territories lost after World War I according to the resolutions of the Treaty of Versailles, while at the same time even demanding restoration of the 1938 Munich Agreement.[6]
Seebohm died a few months after his retirement and is buried in the Bad Pyrmont cemetery.
^Gräf, Holger (2017). "Willkommen im Wohlstand" [Welcome to Prosperity]. Historischer Kraftverkehr (in German). No. 3 (June/July). Cologne, Germany: Verlag Klaus Rabe. p. 7. ISSN1612-4170.
Speaker:Heinrich Hellwege until 2 November 1949; until 21 December 1949; Hans Mühlenfeld until 15 March 1953; Hans-Joachim von Merkatz from 17 March 1953
Members:
Ahrens
Bahlburg (from 13 September 1951 Non-attached, from 24 January 1952 DP-Gast, from 10 September 1952 Non-attached)
Campe (from 23 January 1950, until 8 January 1952)
(from 22 March 1952)
(from 19 January 1950 Non-attached, from 28 March 1950 DRP-Gast, from 16 September 1950 Non-attached, from 29 April 1953 WAV)
Dorls (from 13 December 1950 WAV-Gast, from 17 January 1951 WAV, from 26 September 1951 Non-attached, am 23 October 1952 Mandatsaberkennung)
(from 7 September 1949 Nationale Rechte, from 5 October 1950 Non-attached (DRP), from 26 March 1952 DP-Gast, from 11 February 1953 Non-attached)
(from 29 February 1952)
(from 5 October 1950 FDP-Gast, from 20 December 1950 FDP)
(from 15 September 1949 Nationale Rechte, from 6 September 1950 Non-attached, from 13 December 1950 WAV-Gast, from 17 January 1951 WAV, from 26 September 1951 Non-attached, until 21 February 1952)
Thadden (from 15 September 1949 Nationale Rechte; 1950 DRP, from 20 April 1950 Non-attached)
Clausen (from 23 January 1952 FU-Gast, from 3 July 1953 Non-attached)
(CDU/CSU-Gast)
Freudenberg (from 5 December 1952 Non-attached)
(Non-attached, from 4 May 1950 WAV-Gast, from 13 October 1950 BHE/DG, from 21 March 1952 Non-attached, from 26 March 1952 DP/DPB-Gast, from 26 June 1952 Non-attached)
Berg (from 27 June 1955, from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Blank (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Blücher (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Luchtenberg (from 18 September 1954, until 9 April 1956)
Manteuffel (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
(until 14 May 1956)
Mende
Middelhauve (until 10 September 1954)
Neumayer (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
(until 20 September 1955)
Preiß (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
(from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
(from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Scheel
(from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Stammberger
Starke
(from 13 January 1954 Non-attached, from 6 February 1957 GB/BHE)
(from 15 May 1956)
(from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 23 June 1956 CDU/CSU)
(until 17 September 1954)
Wirths (until 16 June 1955)
DPS:
(from 4 January 1957, Guest of FDP-Fraktion)
(from 4 January 1957, from 8 January 1957 Guest of FDP-Fraktion)
(from 4 January 1957, Non-attached, from 8 January 1957 Guest of FDP-Fraktion)
Speaker: until 15 March 1955; 15 March 1955 till 26 April 1956; from 26 April 1956]]
Members:
(from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
Czermak (from 14 July 1955 FDP)
Eckhardt (from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
(until 13 October 1953)
Finck (from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
(from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
(from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 FDP, from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Kraft (from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
(from 20 August 1954 CDU/CSU)
Oberländer (from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
(from 15 October 1953, from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)