Oskar Gustav Rudolf Hergt (22 October 1869 in Naumburg – 9 May 1967 in Göttingen) was a German lawyer and nationalist politician, who served simultaneously as the minister of Justice and vice-chancellor from 28 January 1927 to 12 June 1928. Hergt attended the prestigious Domgymnasium Naumburg before studying law at Würzburg, Munich and Berlin. He worked as a Gerichtsassessor in Saxony, and as a judge in Liebenwerda. Hergt held various senior offices at the Prussian Ministry of Finance from 1904 to 1914. Previously a member of the FKP, which was dissolved after the First World War, Hergt was a founding member of the right-wing monarchist DNVP and the party's first chairman. First elected to the Reichstag in 1920, he was seen as one of the more moderate members of the party. His support for the Dawes Plan in 1924 was seen as a betrayal of the party's line and led to his replacement with the more hardline conservative Kuno von Westarp. As vice-chancellor, Hergt was the most senior DNVP politician in Wilhelm Marx's coalition government, but after losing the DNVP's leadership election in October 1928 to Alfred Hugenberg, he became an increasingly minor figure in the radicalised DNVP. After the rise of the Nazi Party, Hergt retired from politics.

Oskar Hergt
Vice-Chancellor of Germany
In office
28 January 1927 – 28 June 1928
ChancellorWilhelm Marx
Preceded byKarl Jarres (1924)
Succeeded byHermann Dietrich (1930)
Reich Minister of Justice
In office
28 January 1927 – 28 June 1928
ChancellorWilhelm Marx
Preceded byJohannes Bell
Succeeded byErich Koch-Weser
Chairman of the
German National People's Party
In office
19 December 1918 – 23 October 1924
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byJohann Friedrich Winckler
Member of the Reichstag
In office
1920–1933
ConstituencyHesse-Nassau (1932–1933)
Liegnitz (1920–1932)
Personal details
Born(1869-10-22)22 October 1869
Died9 May 1967(1967-05-09) (aged 97)
Political partyDNVP (1918–1933)
Other political
affiliations
FKP (1902–1918)
OccupationLawyer

References

edit
  • Klaus-Peter Hoepke (1969), "Hergt, Oscar", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 8, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 612–613
edit