Party politician (1924 to 1930) Having already joined the
Stahlhelm, in 1924 Treviranus was elected for the
German National People's Party (DNVP) to the
Reichstag. From 1925 to 1929 he also was a member of the
Landtag of the Free State of Lippe and served as the head of the DNVP's parliamentary group there. It was largely due to his influence that the DNVP served in government after the
December 1924 election. Hindenburg gave Brüning the task of forming a cabinet that would govern without the
Social Democrats (SPD).
Government minister (1930 to 1932) in
Wilhelmstrasse,
Berlin. Sitting left to right: Minister of the Interior
Joseph Wirth (
Zentrum), Minister of Economic Affairs
Hermann Dietrich (
DDP), Chancellor Brüning (Zentrum), Foreign Minister
Julius Curtius (DVP), Minister Georg Schätzel (
BVP); Standing Left to right: Minister for the Occupied Territories Treviranus (KVP), Minister of Justice
Johann Viktor Bredt (
Wirtschaftspartei), Labour Minister
Adam Stegerwald (Zentrum), Minister of Finance
Paul Moldenhauer (DVP), Minister of Transport
Theodor von Guérard (Zentrum) Treviranus' first position in the new government was as Minister for the
Occupied Territories, i.e. those parts of the
Rhineland under French and Belgian occupation. But Treviranus sparked a
diplomatic incident when in August 1930 he claimed he had resolve to regain ‘‘the lost regions in the East’’ in a speech. Subsequent pressure by
France led to Bruning reshuffling his cabinet; Treviranus became
Osthilfe Commissioner. After the occupation forces were withdrawn following the
Young Plan in June 1930 he became
Minister without Portfolio and he liaised with industry for Hindenburg and Brüning. From 9 October 1931 to 30 May 1932 he served in
Brüning's second cabinet as Minister of Transport. The government adopted a right wing nationalist stance during election campaigns and also at cabinet meetings. When French Foreign Minister
Aristide Briand submitted a plan for a European Union it was rejected by the entire cabinet, and Treviranus said that the plan was an attack on the current German foreign policy at that time. In cabinet meetings he pushed to get the
Versailles Treaty revised. As Reich Commissioner for Eastern Germany, he was not successful in saving the country from bankruptcy and after this failure he resigned in August 1931. The Brüning government went through a crisis in autumn 1931 with a worsening economic situation. Treviranus once again liaised between businesses and the government. On behalf of Brüning, he advised the major
Ruhr industrialists Paul Reusch and
Fritz Springorum not to collaborate with the National Socialists and German nationalists. However, the government fell when embarrassing documents about the behaviour of industry and the banks during the crisis came to light. In the
parliamentary elections of 31 July 1932, Treviranus lost his seat as did his Conservative People's Party. Treviranus went into business; he became chairman of the
Upper Silesian
Bata shoe factory. His political career was over at the age of 41.
Escape and emigration Although a staunch
German nationalist, Treviranus was well known for disliking the Nazi leader
Adolf Hitler. He was also Brüning's close friend and influential with the military. On 30 June 1934, Treviranus escaped the
Night of the Long Knives. While in exile, he recalled that after lunch, a large number of police and
SS men entered his house. His father answered their request to see "Treviranus". Their target and his daughter were playing tennis in the garden when she cried out "front of house full of Nazis!" He got away by jumping over the garden fence, and climbed into his car which had the key already in the ignition and drove away at high speed. Five rifle shots missed. The assassins followed Treviranus but could not shoot him because he drove into town. He borrowed street clothes from a friend, then went to Schleicher's home and asked an SS guard what was happening. Learning that Schleicher had been shot, Treviranus abandoned his car outside the city to pretend that he had escaped into the countryside, took a taxi back into Berlin, was hidden by friends, and helped into the
Netherlands by the same person who had helped Brüning to flee. After a few days' stay in the Netherlands, he went to Great Britain. He met many well-known politicians including
Churchill and
Anthony Eden, at whose behest, he was asked about the character of Hitler and the Nazi movement. He warned of Hitler's aggressive expansion plan. He was formally
expatriated in 1939 by the German Reich and went to Canada in 1943, where he worked as a farmer. He had regular correspondence with the former
Lippe state president
Heinrich Drake from 1966 until his death. He died on June 7, 1971, from heart failure during a stay in
Florence. ==References==