PEEBLES PROFILES
EPISODE 174
Johannes Giesberts
THE TRADE UNIONIST POLITICIAN
Johannes Giesberts was born in Straelen on February 3, 1865. After attending school, he started an apprenticeship as a baker. Giesberts then worked as a laborer into his mid-thirties. He was even employed as a workers’ secretary in Cologne.
From the time he was twenty-eight, Giesberts was involved in the Catholic labor movement.
In 1899, he co-founded the Christian Metalworkers Association. Giesberts was also editor for the Westdeutsche Arbeiterzeitung in Munich-Gladbach for six years.
From 1901 until 1905, Giesberts was a member of the board of the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions. At times, he also worked for the Central Journal of Christian Trade Unions.
When he entered the political arena, Giesberts aligned himself with the German Center Party (DZP). In 1905, he was elected to the Reichstag representing the DZP. A year later, Giesberts became a member of the Prussian House of Representatives (serving in both capacities through most of the Great War). He also became a member of the Munich-Gladbach City Council.
THE MYSTERIOUS DELEGATE
On New Year’s Day 1918 was appointed as a socio-political advisor to the Reich Economic Office. In October of that year, he was appointed state secretary of the newly formed Reich Ministry of Labor. By that time, the war was being lost, and the chancellorship was in the hands of the more liberal Prince Max von Baden.
After the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the signing of the armistice in November 1918, Germany was in the throes of revolution. In February 1919, Johannes Giesberts became Reich Post Minister. He was also one of the prominent members of the German delegation (headed by Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau) at the Paris Peace Conference.
Along with Giesberts and Brockdorff-Rantzau, the list included:
– Reich Law Minister Dr. Otto Landsberg of the Social Democratic Party (SPD)
– Lord Mayor of Hanover Robert Leinert (SPD), also president of the Prussian state parliament and newspaper editor of Volkswille (Popular Will)
– Professor Walther Schücking of the German Democratic Party (DDP), an authority in public international law from the University of Marburg
– Dr. Carl Melchior, manager of M. M. Warburg & Co. Bankers of Hamburg
Of those men, Reich Post Minister and trade unionist Johannes Giesberts of the German Center Party (DZP) was the least known!
When the terms of the treaty were given by the victorious Allies to the delegation at Versailles, they were far harsher than the Germans could contemplate! In an angry speech to the Conference on May 7, 1919, Brockdorff-Rantzau refuted the claim that Germany and Austria were solely responsible for the war, although he accepted a partial guilt especially with regard to what has become known as the “rape of Belgium”. He pointed out that both sides should be bound by Wilson’s Fourteen Points.
Ultimately, the tenor of his speech convinced the Allied delegation that Germany would maintain an aggressive posture. This contributed to the Allied insistence on harsh terms for Germany in the settlement agreement.
After Brockdorff-Rantzau sent a list of counter proposals to the Allies, it became apparent that the victors were not willing to make any changes (save in very minor matters) to the original treaty draft, and that Germany was likely to sign it nonetheless. As a result, Brockdorff-Rantzau (along with the cabinet of Philipp Scheidemann) resigned on June 20, 1919… protesting the signature of what he believed to be a Diktat. The name of Johannes Giesberts would not appear on the treaty as well.
One week later, a new German delegation of only two men (Hermann Müller and Dr. Johannes Bell) put the pen to a treaty that was detested by many of their countrymen for years to come…
THE POSTWAR ERA
With the establishment of the Weimar Republic, Johannes Giesberts was a member of the National Assembly in 1919 and 1920. He was again elected to the Reichstag in June 1920, serving for thirteen years representing Düsseldorf -Ost. Giesberts was also a member of the Reichstag’s executive committee for the DZP on two separate occasions: (1) June to November 1920 and (2) from June 1924 to March 1933.
On November 22, 1922, Giesberts left his post as Germany’s first Reich Post Minister. Over the years, he served in that capacity in governments headed by Chancellors Philipp Scheidemann, Gustav Bauer, Hermann Müller, Constantin Fehrenbach, and Joseph Wirth. But in November 1925, Giesberts became a member of the Reich Post Board.
In May 1933, Johannes Giesberts retired after serving a short prison sentence for allegedly violating cooperative law. He died in Munich-Gladbach on August 7, 1938 at the age of seventy-three.