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{{Short description|German politician (1875–1955)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name               = Otto Gessler
| image              = Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1968-100-04A, Otto Karl Geßler.jpg
| imagesize          = 
| smallimage         =
| caption            = Gessler in the 1920s
| office             = [[List of German defence ministers|Reich Minister of Defence]]
| term_start         = 27 March 1920
| term_end           = 19 January 1928
| chancellor         = [[Hermann Müller (politician, born 1876)|Hermann Müller]]<br />[[Constantin Fehrenbach]]<br />[[Joseph Wirth]]<br />[[Wilhelm Cuno]]<br/>[[Gustav Stresemann]]<br/>[[Wilhelm Marx]]<br/>[[Hans Luther]]
| predecessor        = [[Gustav Noske]]
| successor          = [[Wilhelm Groener]]
| office1            = [[Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany)|Reich Minister of the Interior]]
| term_label1        = Acting
| term_start1        = 23 October 1925
| term_end1          = 5 December 1925
| chancellor1        = Hans Luther
| predecessor1       = [[Martin Schiele]]
| successor1         = [[Wilhelm Külz]]
| office2            = [[Reich Ministry for Reconstruction|Reich Minister for Reconstruction]]
| term_start2        = 25 October 1919
| term_end2          = 24 March 1920
| chancellor2        = [[Gustav Bauer]]
| predecessor2       = ''Office established''
| successor2         = [[Walther Rathenau]]
| office4            = Member of the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]]
| term_start4        = 1920 
| term_end4          = 1924
| constituency4      = National list 
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|df=yes|1875|02|06}}
| birth_place        = [[Ludwigsburg]], [[Kingdom of Württemberg]], [[German Empire]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1955|03|24|1875|02|06}}
| death_place        = [[Lindenberg im Allgäu]], [[Bavaria]], [[West Germany]]
| constituency       =
| party              = [[German Democratic Party]] 
| otherparty         = [[Progressive People's Party (Germany)|Progressive People's Party]] (1910-1918)
| spouse             = 
| children           =
| profession         = Politician 
| relations          = 
| signature          =
| footnotes          =
}}
'''Otto Karl Gessler''' (or '''Geßler''') (6 February 1875 &ndash; 24 March 1955) was a [[Classical liberalism|liberal]] German politician during the [[Weimar Republic]]. From 1910 until 1914, he was mayor of [[Regensburg]] and from 1913 to 1919 [[mayor of Nuremberg]]. He served in numerous Weimar cabinets, most notably as ''Reichswehrminister'' (Minister of Defence) from 1920 to 1928.

==Early life==
Otto Karl Gessler was born on 6 February 1875 in [[Ludwigsburg]] in the [[Kingdom of Württemberg]] as the son of the non-commissioned officer Otto Gessler and his wife Karoline (née Späth). He finished school in 1894 with the [[Abitur]] at the ''Humanistisches Gymnasium'' in [[Dillingen an der Donau]]. He studied law in [[Erlangen]], [[Tübingen]] and [[Leipzig]] and received his doctorate there in 1900. Initially, he  worked for the judicial service of Leipzig. He then moved to [[Bavaria]] and served in various positions in the Bavarian justiciary (1903 clerk in the Bavarian Ministry of Justice, 1904 prosecutor in [[Straubing]], 1905 ''Gewerberichter'' in [[Munich]]) before moving into public administration. In 1903, Gessler married Maria Helmschrott (died 1954).<ref name=Bio>{{cite web|url=http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz20810.html|title=Biografie Otto Karl Gessler (German)|publisher=Bayerische Nationalbibliothek|access-date=26 March 2014}}</ref><ref name=DHM>{{cite web|url=http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/biografien/GesslerOtto/index.html |title=Biografie Otto Gessler (German) |publisher=Deutsches Historisches Museum |access-date=26 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515183826/http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/biografien/GesslerOtto/index.html |archive-date=May 15, 2013 }}</ref><ref name="PDB"/>

==Political career==

===Empire and Weimar Republic===
Gessler was mayor of [[Regensburg]] from 1910 to 1914 and lord mayor of [[Nuremberg]] from 1913 to 1919. Because of reduced mobility due to a handicap he did not serve during [[World War I]]. He successfully headed the town administration of Nuremberg in the war years and contributed to the fact that there were no leftist takeovers in Nuremberg and [[Franconia]] the immediate aftermath of the war during the [[German Revolution of 1918-19]].<ref name="Bio"/><ref name="DHM"/>

Gessler was close to [[Friedrich Naumann]] and became one of the founders of the [[German Democratic Party|DDP]] in November 1918. In October 1919, he was appointed as ''Reichsminister für Wiederaufbau'' ([[Reich Ministry for Reconstruction|Minister for Reconstruction]]) in the [[Bauer cabinet|cabinet]] of [[Gustav Bauer]]. Gessler was not a staunch supporter of the new republic, describing himself as a "republican by reason" only.<ref name="Bio"/><ref name="DHM"/>

After the [[Kapp Putsch|Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch]] in March 1920 he assumed the office of ''Reichswehrminister'' (Minister of Defence) from [[Gustav Noske]] who was forced to resign as a result of the putsch.<ref name="Bio"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Quigley|first=Carroll|title=Tragedy And Hope|year=1966|publisher=Macmillan|location=New York|isbn=0-945001-10-X|pages=425|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KQZxAAAAIAAJ&q=tragedy+and+hope}}</ref>

Gessler kept that position for the next eight years, despite numerous changes of government. As ''[[Defence minister|Reichswehrminister]]'' he worked closely with ''Chef der Heeresleitung'' [[Hans von Seeckt]] in setting up the ''[[Reichswehr]]'' and turning it into a modern army. Gessler did not see his role as controlling the military, but rather in cooperating with the military command staff, which for its part viewed the Reichswehr's position as an independent and autonomous "state within the state".<ref name="DHM"/> From 1920 to 1924, Gessler was also a member of the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]].<ref name=PDB>{{cite web|url=http://www.hdbg.de/parlament/content/persDetail.php?id=3502|title=Dr. Otto Gessler (German)|publisher=Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte|access-date=26 March 2014}}</ref>

Gessler played a key role in the 1923 [[German October]]. He and left-wing SPD premier of Saxony [[Erich Zeigner]], an outspoken critic of the Reichswehr, shared a mutual antipathy. Gessler and conservative elements considered the Saxon and Thuringian governments suspect due to their reliance on the [[Communist Party of Germany|Communist Party]] for a parliamentary majority. Tensions grew throughout August and September as public clashes increased and Gessler cut contact with Zeigner. In early October, he called for the federal government to exercise its emergency powers, granted in response to the ongoing economic crisis and [[occupation of the Ruhr]], to depose the state government. In the interim, he handed executive power to the Reichswehr commanders in the two states, who banned public gatherings and took control of the state police. At the same time, Gessler sought to avoid confrontation with the ultraconservative Bavarian government, who established a quasi-dictatorship in the latter months of the year and were known to be plotting a putsch against Berlin. The KPD were in fact planning a national uprising, and as preparation entered into coalition government in both Saxony and Thuringia alongside the SPD. However, after a joint conference in Chemnitz on 21 October indicated no desire for even a [[general strike]] among the left, plans were called off. Nonetheless, Chancellor [[Gustav Stresemann]] and the cabinet were swayed to Gessler's side and approved action; the state was occupied by the Reichswehr on 22 October.

Five days later, they demanded the formation of new governments in both Saxony and Thuringia without the Communists or else they would be deposed and Reich commissars installed to govern the states. While Thuringian premier August Frölich agreed to resign, Zeigner refused, stating that only the state parliament had the authority to force a change in government. The federal cabinet requested and received approval from President [[Friedrich Ebert]] on 29 October to depose him. This intervention, combined with the lack of action against the rebellious Bavarian government, led the SPD to threaten to quit cabinet. Gessler encouraged their departure, stating that their continued presence further incited the Bavarians to action; a "negotiated solution" could only be reached with them out of the picture. Historian [[Heinrich August Winkler]] described his stance as "nothing less than a partial capitulation" to the Bavarian regime. The SPD parliamentary group voted to withdraw from cabinet, and the rump minority government fell less than a month later, ending Stresemann's tenure as Chancellor.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ullrich|first=Volker|author-link=Volker Ullrich|date=2023|title=Germany 1923|publisher=[[Boni & Liveright|Liveright]]|page=127-158|isbn=9781324093466}}</ref>

From October to December 1925, Gessler also served as provisional Minister of the Interior and in May 1926 was Vice-Chancellor of Germany for a few days. In January 1927, the DDP voted against working with the coalition of the cabinet of [[Wilhelm Marx]]. To retain his position as Minister of Defence, Gessler left the party.<ref name="DHM"/><ref name="PDB"/>

After the accusation of financial anomalies in his ministry associated with the secret re-armament of the Reichswehr (also known as [[The Lohmann Affair]]) Gessler was forced to resign in January 1928.<ref name="DHM"/>

From 1928 to 1933, he was president of the ''Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge'' (''[[German War Graves Commission]]'') and of the ''Bund für die Erneuerung des Reiches''. From 1931 to 1933, Gessler was president of the ''Verein für das Deutschtum im Ausland'' (VDA, today ''[[Verein für Deutsche Kulturbeziehungen im Ausland]]'').<ref name="DHM"/>

===After 1933===
After the ''[[Machtergreifung]]'' of the [[Nazi Party|Nazis]] in 1933, he retired from politics, in part due to ill health, and at first lived in seclusion at [[Lindenberg im Allgäu]]. Later in [[World War II]], however, he became a member of the resistance group around [[Franz Sperr]], had contacts with the [[Kreisau Circle]],<ref>[https://www.bavariathek.bayern/medien-themen/portale/geschichte-des-bayerischen-parlaments/person/116599723 “Otto Geßler”], “in Parliamentary Data Bank of the Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte in the Bavariathek.</ref> was included the resistance’s [[20 July plot|1944 plans]], and, in the event that the coup succeeded, was slated to be political commissioner in Military District VII ([[Munich]]) in the shadow cabinet of General [[Ludwig Beck]] and [[Carl Friedrich Goerdeler]]. He was named in documents of [[Claus von Stauffenberg]] and was arrested two days after the [[July 20 Plot|assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler]] of 20 July 1944. He was detained and tortured at [[Ravensbrück concentration camp]] and then held at various Berlin prisons until his release in February 1945.<ref name="DHM"/><ref name="PDB"/>

After the end of World War II, Gessler became involved in humanitarian organizations. In 1949, he became president of the Bavaria Red Cross (a post he retained until his death) and in 1950 president of the [[German Red Cross]]. He was instrumental in the post-war reconstruction of the organization, serving as president until 1952.<ref name="Bio"/><ref name="DHM"/>

From 1950 to 1955, Gessler was member of the [[Bavarian senate]].<ref name="PDB"/>

==Death and legacy==
Gessler died on 24 March 1955 in Lindenberg im Allgäu.<ref name="Bio"/> In 1958, his memoirs ''Reichswehrpolitik in der Weimarer Zeit'' were published posthumously.<ref name="DHM"/>

The hospital in Lindenberg is named for Gessler.

==Further reading==

* Möllers, Heiner: ''Reichswehrminister Otto Geßler. Eine Studie zu "unpolitischer" Militärpolitik in der Weimarer Republik'' (= ''Europäische Hochschulschriften''. Reihe 3. ''Geschichte und ihre Hilfswissenschaften''. Bd. 794). Lang, Frankfurt am Main u.a. 1998, {{ISBN|3-631-33191-6}}.
* {{NDB|6|350||Geßler, Otto Karl|Vogelsang, Thilo|116599723}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{PM20|FID=pe/006045}}

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{{S-off}} 
{{Succession box 
  | title = [[Defence Minister of Germany]]
  | years = 1920&ndash;1928
  | before = [[Gustav Noske]]
  | after = [[Wilhelm Groener]]
}}
{{Succession box 
  | title = [[Interior Minister of Germany]]
  | years = 1925-1926
  | before = [[Martin Schiele]]
  | after = [[Wilhelm Külz]]
}}
{{S-end}}

{{Interior Ministers of Germany}}
{{Defence Ministers of Germany}}
{{Cabinet Bauer}}
{{Cabinet Muller I}}
{{Cabinet Fehrenbach}}
{{First Wirth cabinet}}
{{Second Wirth cabinet}}
{{Cuno cabinet}}
{{First Stresemann cabinet}}
{{Second Stresemann cabinet}}
{{First Marx cabinet}}
{{Second Marx cabinet}}
{{First Luther cabinet}}
{{Second Luther cabinet}}
{{Third Marx cabinet}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gessler, Otto}}
[[Category:1875 births]]
[[Category:1955 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Ludwigsburg]]
[[Category:German Democratic Party politicians]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic]]
[[Category:Ministers of the Reichswehr]]
[[Category:Members of the Bavarian Senate]]
[[Category:Mayors of Regensburg]]
[[Category:German War Graves Commission]]
[[Category:People from the Kingdom of Württemberg]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]
[[Category:Ravensbrück concentration camp survivors]]
[[Category:German Red Cross personnel]]