Rudolf Hilferding
1877-1941
- Member of the Reichstag from 1924 to 1933
- Finance Minister in 1923 and from 1928 to 1929
Born in Austria, Hilferding joined the USPD in 1919 and became editor-in-chief of its core publication “Freiheit” (Freedom) in the same year. He pushed strongly for the party to rejoin the SPD. This was realized in 1922. After the merger, Hilferding served as an SPD Member of the Reichstag from 1924. In 1923, he was Finance Minister for a few weeks. Hilferding took this post on again from 1928 to 1929. Due to the stock market crash and a falling out with Reichsbank President Schacht, he resigned. After the Nazis seized power, Hilferding went into exile. He was arrested by the Gestapo in Paris in 1941 and died a few days later in the Gestapo’s prison.