Georg Michaelis

Georg Michaelis

Order:	6th Chancellor of Germany
Term of Office:	July 14, 1917–October 31, 1917
Predecessor:	Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg
Successor:	Georg von Hertling
Date of Birth:	September 8, 1857
Date of Death:	July 21, 1936
Political Party:
Profession:	lawyer

Georg Michaelis (September 8, 1857–July 21, 1936) was the first Chancellor of Germany of non-noble background.

He was born in Haynau and raised in Frankfurt an der Oder. He studied jurisprudence in Breslau, Leipzig and Würzburg from 1876 to 1884, earning a PhD. From 1885 to 1889 he lived and worked in Tokyo as a law professor.

After that, he became a member of the Prussian administration. In 1909, he was appointed undersecretary of state to the Prussian Treasury in Berlin. From 1915 onwards he was leader of the Reichsgetreidestelle, an office in which he was responsible for the administration of Prussian corn and wheat in the First World War.

After Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg was forced to resign, on July 14, 1917 Michaelis became Reichskanzler of Germany as well as Minister President of Prussia. He remained in this position until October 31, 1917, when he was forced to resign because he was increasingly seen as a puppet of Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff of the General Staff.

From April 1, 1918 to March 31, 1919 he was Oberpräsident of the Prussian province of Pomerania. After the end of World War I he cooperated with the local workers' and soldiers' council. Nevertheless, he was soon replaced by the Socialist dominated government of Prussia.

After his dismissal, Michaelis worked in the fields of economic lobbying, in student organisations, in the Lutheran church synod of Prussia and became a member of the German National People's Party (DNVP). In 1921, he published his memoirs, Für Staat und Volk. Eine Lebensgeschichte.

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