Köhler, Erich

Politician, Member of the State Parliament, Member of the Bundestag, 1st President of the Bundestag

Born: 27.06.1892 in Erfurt

Died: 23.10.1958 in Wiesbaden

Köhler studied economics and political science in Marburg, Berlin, Leipzig and Kiel, took part in the First World War as a soldier and was awarded his doctorate in 1919 with a thesis entitled "Relations of Thuringian industry to the world market". In the same year, he found a job as managing director of the employers' association in Kiel and held this position until 1933.

During the Weimar Republic, he joined the DVP (German People's Party) and was a member of the Schleswig-Holstein state executive and the party's Berlin central executive. After the National Socialists seized power, he had to give up his job and offices because of his marriage to a Jewish woman. After a long period of unemployment, he worked as an insurance agent. However, he continued to be persecuted by the Gestapo.

In 1945, Köhler became managing director of the Wiesbaden Chamber of Industry and Commerce and co-founder of the Hessian CDU, whose parliamentary group he led in the Hessian state parliament from 1946. He became a member of the Constituent Assembly and took over the presidency of the Economic Council of the Bizone in 1947.

In 1949, he was elected to the first German Bundestag as a direct candidate for the Wiesbaden constituency. Konrad Adenauer (CDU), whom Köhler would later swear in as the first Federal Chancellor, nominated him for the office of President of the Bundestag. He was elected to the office with a large majority (346 out of 402 votes). However, Köhler's time in office was not under a good star. His unstable state of health overshadowed his work from the outset. He also found it difficult to gain the support of the key figures of the first legislative period - Konrad Adenauer (CDU), Kurt Schumacher (SPD) and Theodor Heuss (FDP) - and even faced a vote of no confidence. Köhler resigned on 18.10.1950.

Elected to the Bundestag again in 1953, he decided not to run again in 1957 for health reasons. In the same year, he was awarded the Grand Federal Cross of Merit with Star and Shoulder Ribbon by Federal President Theodor Heuss.

The last years of his life were overshadowed by serious illness, which made it impossible for him to continue his political work.