Constantin Fehrenbach was born on January 11, 1852 in Wellendingen near Bonndorf (in the Grand Duchy of Baden). He was the son of Johann Georg Fehrenbach (a teacher) and Rosina (née Gensecke). From 1871 to 1878, Fehrenbach studied theology… then turned to law at Freiburg im Breisgau. In 1882, he began to practice law and soon became a successful criminal lawyer.
After two years in the legal field, Fehrenbach entered the political arena by becoming a member of the Freiburg city council. In 1885, he became a member of the Landtag (diet) of Baden for the German Centre Party (Zentrum). However, Fehrenbach resigned his seat in 1887 after disagreements with the party leader, Theodor Wacker.
In 1895, Fehrenbach became Stadtrat (member of the city government) in Freiburg. One year later, he was Kreisabgeordneter (district representative). In 1901, Fehrenbach was reelected to the Landtag… and remained in that capacity for twelve years. He was president of the Landtag from 1907 to 1909.
In 1903, Fehrenbach also became a member of the Reichstag… where his oratory skills were widely acclaimed. His speech on the Saverne Affair in 1913 earned Fehrenbach nationwide fame. In it, he declared his defense of the people’s rights of Alsace and all citizens of the German Reich against the powers of the military.
Three years into the Great War, Fehrenbach became chairman of the Hauptausschuss of the Reichstag. He supported the July 1917 “peace resolution” and favored negotiations in
attaining such a peace.
In June 1918, with the Kaiser’s legions closing in on Paris for a second time, Fehrenbach became the last president of the Imperial German Reichstag, replacing Johannes Kaempf. But five months later, the war was clearly lost. Kaiser Wilhelm II had fled to Holland, and the nation was in the throes of revolution…
As the victorious Allied nations discussed Germany’s punishment at Versailles, Fehrenbach became president of the Weimar National Assembly in February 1919. In that capacity, he was successful due to (1) a gift for achieving compromise and (2) a quiet and self-controlled nature. Within the Zentrum, Fahrenbach was a member of the party’s right wing.
On June 25, 1920, Fehrenbach succeeded Hermann Müller as Chancellor. He formed the first Weimar Republic cabinet without the participation of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Despite its absence, the SPD remained the largest party in the newly-elected Reichstag, which succeeded the National Assembly.
As Chancellor, Fehrenbach represented Germany at the 1920 Spa Conference of 1920 and the 1921 London Conference. He tried in vain to get the U.S. government to work as a mediator. In social policy, unemployment benefits were improved under Fehrenbach’s watch. The maximum benefit for single males over the age of twenty-one increased in November 1920… from seven to ten marks.
But on May 4, 1921, Fehrenbach resigned from the Chancellory. The German People’s Party (DVP) had withdrawn its foreign policy support in trying to cooperate with the Allies on the issue of reparations. In particular, Fehrenbach had failed to get the Reichstag’s approval for a fixing of German reparation payments at 132 billion gold marks. However, he remained in charge of the caretaker government for six more days. On May 10th, Joseph Wirth formally succeeded Fehrenbach as Chancellor.
In 1922, Fehrenbach became a judge on the Staatsgerichtshof, the legal guardian of the Weimar Constitution. In late 1923, he was elected head of the Zentrum faction in the Reichstag, an office Fehrenbach held until his dying day. He also became vice-chairman of the Verein zur Abwehr des Antisemitismus, an organization that fought anti-Semitism.
Constantin Fehrenbach died in Freiburg im Breisgau on March 26, 1926 at the age of seventy-four.