Gustav Stresemann

Gustav Stresemann was the exceptional political figure of his time. His early death in 1929 has long been viewed as the beginning of the end for the Weimar Republic and the opening through which Hitler was able to come to power. His career was marked by many contradictions but also a pervading loyalty to the values of liberalism and nationalism. This enabled him in time both to adjust to defeat and revolution and to recognize in the Republic the only basis on which Germans could unite, and in European cooperation the only way to avoid a new war. His attempt to build a stable Germany as an equal power in a stable Europe throws an important light on German history in a critical time. Hitler was the beneficiary of his failure but, so long as he was alive, Stresemann offered Germans a clear alternative to the Nazis. Jonathan Wright's fascinating new study is the first modern biography of Stresemann to appear in English or German.

As a foreign minister and chancellor of Weimar Germany, Gustav Stresemann is a familiar figure for students of German history – one who, for many, embodied the best qualities of German interwar liberalism. However, a more nuanced and ambivalent picture emerges in this award-winning biography, which draws on extensive research and new archival material to enrich our understanding of Stresmann’s public image and political career. It memorably explores the personality of a brilliant but flawed politician who endured class anxiety and social marginalization, and who died on the eve of Germany’s descent into economic and political upheaval.

The first major study of Stresemann following declassification of his papers in the previous year. Written by Hans W. Gatzke, then a Professor at John Hopkins, who was intrigued by the enigmatic Gustav Stresemann (1878-1929), a German politician and statesman who served briefly as Chancellor in 1923 and Foreign Minister 1923-1929, during the Weimar Republic. He was co-laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926. His most notable achievement was the reconciliation between Germany and France, for which he and Aristide Briand received the Nobel Peace Prize. During a period of political instability and fragile, short-lived governments, he was generally seen as the most influential cabinet member in most of the Weimar Republic’s existence. During his political career, he represented three successive liberal parties; he was the dominant figure of the German People’s Party during the Weimar Republic. The study is based on the unpublished papers of Dr. Gustav Stresemann, which came into Allied possession at the end of World War II as part of the vast collection of German Foreign Ministry documents. They were opened to research in the spring of 1953, as the result of a U.S.-British agreement. “A valuable contribution, enhanced by Mr. Gatzke’s penetrating insights and sureness of style.”—Fritz Stern, Columbia University