Johannes Hoffmann (3.7.1867 Ilbesheim/Landau – 15.12.1930 Berlin)

Johannes Hoffmann was born in what was then the Bavarian Rhineland-Palatinate and grew up in a rural environment. He completed a traineeship to become an elementary school teacher and in 1890 obtained a position in the industrial city of Kaiserslautern. In 1908, the family man gave up this secure existence because, under the monarchy, his successful candidacy for the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in the Bavarian state parliament meant that he was dismissed from his teaching post. After taking this risky step of becoming a professional politician, he was also successfully elected to the Reichstag in 1912. As a result of the November Revolution of 1918, Hoffmann unexpectedly found himself in a position of responsibility in the Bavarian government. As a staunch supporter of the separation of church and state, he now initiated far-reaching reforms in the school system as Minister of Education in Kurt Eisner's cabinet.

In March 1919, he was faced with an even more difficult task; after Eisner's assassination, the Bavarian parliament unanimously elected the SPD politician as prime minister, thereby signaling its opposition to the claim to power of the radical revolutionaries. However, the new government was unable to prevent the establishment of the Munich Soviet Republic. After relocating from Munich to Bamberg, the government accepted military aid from the Reich. Politically weakened, the State Premier now decided to form a coalition with the Bavarian People’s Party (BVP) and the German Democratic Party (DDP) in order to further develop the democratic reorganization of Bavaria. However, this success only briefly masked the numerous conflicts between the unequal government partners. Hoffmann eventually resigned in the wake of the Kapp Putsch and withdrew from Bavarian state politics.

He subsequently made no secret of his dislike of the emerging Bavarian ‘cell of order’ and in October 1923 even attempted to separate the Bavarian Rhineland-Palatinate from Bavaria. Hoffman, who remained a member of the Reichstag, was denounced by sections of the Bavarian public as a traitor and a 'church hater' and died in 1930.