Ruprecht Birnbaum

Ruprecht Birnbaum (1810 - 26 December 1864) was a German Chancellor, politician and industrialist. From 1848 until his death in 1864, he was a member of the Nationalliberale Partei. He is known for his contribution to the Free Trade Consensus as well as founding the Rubiko chocolate factory in Cologne. During his time as Chancellor of Germany, Birnbaum followed a strict anti-slavery policy.

Early life
Ruprecht was born in 1810 in Cologne (Köln) during the French occupation. His father ran a successful imports business, which heavily profited from importing luxury foodstuffs for the High Command of the French occupation forces. When the French left and the Prussians came, Ruprecht’s father continued his successful business of imports. In 1830, at the age of 20, Ruprecht was sent to the State University of Leuven, in what was then still the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, by his father. It is there that Ruprecht was first introduced to the ideas of liberalism, both in the political and the economical sense. He even briefly joined the Belgian nationalists against the Dutch, before returning to Cologne to finish his education there.

Professional life
In 1840, Ruprecht’s father died and his business was inherited by his two sons. Ruprecht and his brother, Karl Birnbaum, imported goods like cacao, sugar and tea from the New World and Africa. That same year, Birnbaum was elected as a member of the Prussian Landtag. Since then he was a staunch liberal defending free trade and laissez faire economics. As a result, Birnbaum joined the newly formed Nationalliberale Partei in 1848. He despised people who have no regards for facts, etiquette and procedure, which led him to be one of the main opponents of a merger between the NLP and DFP. It is during this time that Ruprecht Birnbaum became a member of the Cologne Chamber of Commerce.

In 1850, Ruprecht and his brother were finally able to finance the construction of a chocolate factory on the outskirts of Köln. That same year, Birnbaum’s son, Rudolph, was born. In 1855, Birnbaum became Minister of Trade and Commerce. As Minister of Trade and Commerce, he solified the Free Trade Consensus in official government policy. In 1862, Birnbaum was voted in as Chancellor after the former Chancellor, Wilhelm von Hoth, passed away. Despite winning a narrow victory against Friedrich Krüger, Chancellor Birnbaum enjoyed a high approval rating in the Reichstag. His position as a transitionary Chancellor allowed him to make important choices without appearing partisan. With Ruprecht Birnbaum, one of the biggest proponents of the Free Trade Consensus, as Chancellor, the Consensus finally became entrenched in the highest echelons of government. Birnbaum adhered to a strict anti-slavery policy, as seen in his act to end the slave trade in Zanzibar and put political pressure on the CSA through ambassador Alexander Hartmann. Just as his predecessor, Chancellor Birnbaum died in office and left an important mark on German history.

Political views
Birnbaum was a typical example of a German liberal of the mid-19th century. His views on economics were based on free trade and laissez faire. It was his firm belief that low tariffs would allow German capitalists to cheaply access the foreign goods that they needed in their factories. In addition, Birnbaum was a firm believer in the abolitionist movement. As Chancellor, he worked towards the end of the Arab slave trade in Zanzibar and put diplomatic pressure on the CSA to abolish slavery. His views on the women's rights movement was ambiguous. On the one hand, he supported better education for women, even writing a bill to allow women to teach, but on the other hand he was firmly opposed to any participation of women in politics. Ruprecht Birnbaum was also opposed to social reform as he believed that social welfare should be handled by the Church, not by the State.