Philipp Scheidemann

Philipp Scheidemann
Scheidemann c. 1918
Minister President of Germany
In office 13 February 1919 – 20 June 1919
President	Friedrich Ebert
Deputy	Eugen Schiffer Bernhard Dernburg
Preceded by	Friedrich Ebert (de facto)
Succeeded by	Gustav Bauer
Mayor of Kassel
In office 19 November 1919 – 1 October 1925
Preceded by	Erich Koch-Weser
Succeeded by	Herbert Stadler
Minister for the Colonies
In office 13 December 1918 – 13 February 1919
Chancellor	Friedrich Ebert
Preceded by	Wilhelm Solf
Succeeded by	Johannes Bell
Staatssekretär without Portfolio
In office 4 October 1918 – 9 November 1918
Chancellor	Max von Baden
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
In office 20 October 1917 – 15 June 1919
Serving with	Friedrich Ebert
Preceded by	Hugo Haase
Succeeded by	Herman Müller Otto Wels
Member of the Reichstag for Hesse-Nassau
In office 6 February 1919 – 22 March 1933
1919–1920	Weimar National Assembly
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Member of the Reichstag for Düsseldorf 3
In office 3 December 1903 – 9 November 1918
Preceded by	Louis Sabin
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann 26 July 1865 Kassel, Electorate of Hesse
Died	29 November 1939 (aged 74) Copenhagen, Denmark
Political party	SPD (1883–1939)
Spouse	Johanna Dibbern
Children	Lina Liese Hedwig

Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (26 July 1865 – 29 November 1939) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). In the first quarter of the 20th century he played a leading role in both his party and in the young Weimar Republic. During the German Revolution of 1918–1919 that broke out after Germany's defeat in World War I, Scheidemann proclaimed a German Republic from a balcony of the Reichstag building. In 1919 he was elected Reich Minister President by the National Assembly meeting in Weimar to write a constitution for the republic. He resigned the office the same year due to a lack of unanimity in the cabinet on whether or not to accept the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

Scheidemann continued to be a member of the Reichstag until 1933 and served as mayor of his native city of Kassel from 1920 to 1925. After Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, he went into exile because he was considered one of the "November criminals" held to be responsible for Germany's defeat in the war and the collapse of the German Empire. While in exile he wrote extensively about German politics. He died in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1939.