Heinze, Rudolf

(1865-1928)

   politician; first chairman of the DVP's Reichstag* faction. Born in Oldenburg, he took a doctorate in law at Leipzig before serving in 1889-1912 with Saxony's* Justice Office—ultimately, as di-rector of the State Court (Landgerichtsdirektor). He entered politics in 1899 as a member of Dresden's city council and was elected in 1907 to the Reichstag,* serving as a moderate National Liberal until 1912. Although he was returned to Saxony's Landtag in 1915, he was assigned to Constantinople in 1916 as a Justice official. He returned to Germany in July 1918 as Saxony's Justice Min-ister.

   Heinze helped found the DVP in November 1918 and then led the new Party's faction in the National Assembly.* It was his efforts at compromise that sal-vaged a divided parliament faced on 23 June 1919 with the Allied ultimatum over the Versailles Treaty.* A member of the Constitutional Committee, he regretted the Constitution's* failure to centralize the Republic; nevertheless, his role was crucial during 1920-1924 in upholding both the regime and, in most cases, Party leader Gustav Stresemann.* His support of Gustav Bauer* during the Kapp* Putsch led President Ebert* to offer him the Chancellorship in June 1920; unfortunately, his efforts to form a Great Coalition* miscarried on SPD opposition. He was both Vice Chancellor and Justice Minister under Konstantin Fehrenbach* (June 1920-May 1921) and retained the Justice portfolio under Wilhelm Cuno* (November 1922-August 1923). Although he and Stresemann initially split on the issue of reparations,* Heinze ultimately persuaded Strese-mann to support a more compromising foreign policy.

   During the unrest that plagued Saxony in October 1923, Stresemann used his emergency powers to send Heinze to Dresden as Reichskommissar. With Reichs-wehr* support, he forced the resignation of Prime Minister Erich Zeigner* on 29 October. His attempt to install a middle-class premier was averted by the Saxon Landtag, which selected the moderate socialist, Karl Fellisch, on 1 No-vember; Heinze approved the choice. In his final public service, he became chairman in 1926 of the German Consulate's High Court in Egypt.

   REFERENCES:Eyck, History of the Weimar Republic, vol. 1; Larry Jones, German Lib-eralism; NDB, vol. 8; Turner, Stresemann.