WEBER, AUGUST

WEBER, AUGUST (1871–1957), politician; Reichstag* faction leader for the DStP. Born in Oldenburg, he took a doctorate in law and became leaseholder for an estate in the Berlin* suburb of Teltow. A committed democrat, he served in the Reichstag during 1907–1912 as a leftist member of the National Liberal Party (NLP). In December 1918 he proposed that the NLP disband and merge with the new DDP. Upon rejection of his proposal, Weber joined the DDP but retired from active politics. He engaged in private business and prospered as both landowner and small industrialist. In June 1928, following the DDP's poor showing in the May Reichstag elections, the Liberale Vereinigung (Liberal Association) invited him to succeed Ernst von Richter* (DVP) and Otto Fischbeck (DDP) as its chairman. Devoted to middle-class unity, he accepted the offer in hopes of achieving a united liberal party. While he gained widespread backing from the DDP and the DVP—including Erich Koch-Weser* and Gustav Stresemann*—the effort was futile. The depression* induced him to resume a political role. In October 1930, after Koch-Weser's resignation as Party chairman, he became vice chairman of the new DStP. A Reichstag deputy from September 1930 until July 1932 and faction chairman throughout, he supported Heinrich Bru¨ning* and was an eloquent opponent of the NSDAP on the floor of the chamber. Convinced that the DStP should dissolve after the July 1932 elections, he resigned his Party membership in November. Under Hitler* Weber attempted to live in Berlin as a private accountant. However, after being imprisoned on six occasions, he and his Jewish wife fled to England in February 1939. He was thereafter engaged in anti-Nazi propaganda activities.