Matthias Erzberger was a politician of the Catholic Centre Party, member of the Reichstag and minister of finance of Germany from 1919 to 1920.
Erzberger in 1919
Painting depicting the signature of the armistice in the railway carriage. Behind the table, from right to left, General Weygand, Marshal Foch (standing) and British Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss and fourth from the left, British Naval Captain Jack Marriott. In the foreground, Erzberger, Generalmajor Detlof von Winterfeldt (with helmet), Alfred von Oberndorff, and Ernst Vanselow.
Erzberger and Minister Eduard David in Berlin, May 1919
Erzberger's birthplace in Buttenhausen is now a small museum.
The Centre Party, officially the German Centre Party and also known in English as the Catholic Centre Party, is a Christian democratic political party in Germany. It was most Influential in the German Empire and Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it successfully battled the Kulturkampf waged by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck against the Catholic Church. It soon won a quarter of the seats in the Reichstag, and its middle position on most issues allowed it to play a decisive role in the formation of majorities. The party name Zentrum (Centre) originally came from the fact that Catholic representatives would take up the middle section of seats in parliament between the social democrats and the conservatives.
Peter Reichensperger.
View of Soest.
Ludwig Windthorst, leader of the party 1874-1891.
Centre Party Member of Reichstag (First line sitting from left to right: Paul Letocha, Dr. Ludwig Windthorst, Graf v. Johann Anton von Chamaré, Anton von Dejanicz-Gliszczynski, Albert Horn second line-standing-left to right: Graf v. Friedrich von Praschma, Philipp Schmieder (not Centre party), Dr. Felix Porsch, Dr. Frhr. Clemens Heereman von Zuydwyck, Julius Szmula)
