Karl von Weizsäcker

Karl Hugo Freiherr von Weizsäcker (25 February 1853 – 2 February 1926) was a German politician who served as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Württemberg, and a member of the prominent Weizsäcker family.

He was born Karl Hugo Weizsäcker in Stuttgart, the son of the theologian Karl Heinrich Weizsäcker and his wife, the former Auguste Sophie Christiane Dahm. While serving as a politician at the court of the Kingdom of Württemberg, his family was raised to nobility as von Weizsäcker.

Weizsäcker studied at the University of Tübingen. While serving in the administration of King William II of Württemberg, he was raised to personal nobility on 24 February 1897.

From 1900 onwards, he served as Minister of Culture — until 4 December 1906 when he was made Prime Minister. He served in this office until 6 November 1918, shortly before the monarchy was abolished.

In 1916, he and his family were raised to the hereditary noble title of Baron (Freiherr).

Weizsäcker was the father of Ernst von Weizsäcker and thus grandfather of the physicist Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and of Richard von Weizsäcker, who was President of Germany 1984-94. He died in Stuttgart in 1926.

Notes

Regarding personal names: Freiherr is a former title (translated as Baron). In Germany since 1919, it forms part of family names. The feminine forms are Freifrau and Freiin.