Heim, Georg

(1865-1938)

   politician; the most determined of Bavaria's* leading separatists. He was born the youngest of six children in Aschaffenburg; his parents' early death led him to work as a journalist while pursuing language studies. In 1894, upon completing a doctorate in economics at Munich, he went to the Fichtelgebirge (now on the Bavarian-Czech border), where in late 1894 he founded a cooperative for peasants. A teaching position in Ansbach aug-mented his popularity in northeastern Bavaria, and in 1895 he was elected to both the Landtag and the Reichstag.* An adept speaker, he led the Center Party's* farmers'* lobby. In 1898 he founded the Bayerischer Christliche Bauernverein (Bavarian Christian Peasants' Association), a deeply conservative group that opposed the liberal Bauernbund (Peasants' League). Leaving politics in 1911, he dedicated himself exclusively to the Bauernverein. During the war he engaged in efforts to relieve food shortages and was in the forefront of a movement that accused Berlin* of an "immoral price ceiling" injurious to farm-ers. The November Revolution* led him back to politics as a founder of the BVP. He was elected to the National Assembly* and served in the Reichstag during 1920-1924. In 1920 he became president of Bavaria's new State Peas-ants' Chamber.

   Headquartered in the Upper Palatinate's Regensburg, among Bavaria's Prot-estant* districts, Heim's Bauernverein forced the Munich-based chapter of the Center Party to change its name in November 1918 to the BVP. Heim then published an editorial in the Bayerischer Kurier entitled "Eisner's* Erring Ways and Bavaria's Future." A polemic, it proposed creation of a "Greater Bavaria," with a northern border on the Main River (Bavaria before 1870) and political union with the Tirol and Upper Austria. Although he retreated from such ex-tremes, his propositions fueled the lunatic elements among Bavaria's particular-istic population. He strongly opposed the financial reforms of Matthias Erzberger* and the Weimar Constitution,* believing the latter destructive of German federalism.

   Although Heim never held ministerial office, he was among Bavaria's most influential personalities. He opposed the NSDAP, claiming that Hitler* was more dangerous than Eisner, while the Nazis aptly charged him with striving for Bavarian independence. Heinrich Held,* Bavarian Prime Minister during 1924-1933, rose to prominence under his aegis. In 1925 he pressured the BVP to back Paul von Hindenburg* rather than the Catholic* Wilhelm Marx,* thus costing Marx the presidency. He dubbed Hitler a charlatan and supported Hin-denburg again in 1932; in 1933 he ineffectually called for restoration of the Wittelsbachs. He was stripped of his positions by the Nazis and was fortunate to survive the purge of June 1934. He lived out his final years as an agricultural advisor in Würzburg.

   REFERENCES:Dorondo, Bavaria and German Federalism; Garnett, Lion, Eagle, and Swastika; Harold Gordon, Hitler; Mitchell, Revolution in Bavaria; NDB, vol. 8.