Anton Fehr

Anton Fehr (24 December 1881 - 2 April 1954) was a German politician and dairy scientist of the Bavarian Peasants' League (BB) and the Reich Minister for Food and Agriculture in 1922.

He primarily dealt with a grain levy, which resulted in protests, and was the go-to person for Bavarian affairs after anger in Bavaria from the emergency decree enacted after Walther Rathenau's assassination, helping create the "Berlin Protocol" to appease them.

He helped expand of dairy schools in the region, dealt with the reconstruction of Bavarian animal breeding after World War One, and promoted hop cultivation.

It was not until the 20 July plot that he received attention again, when he was arrested on accusations of being part of Franz Sperr's circle, a resistance group of Bavarian monarchists, and was held in Ravensbrück concentration camp until the end of the war.

Anton Fehr was born on 24 December 1881 in Lindenberg im Allgäu, which was located in the Kingdom of Bavaria in the German Empire.

[4] After graduating with his abitur he did the second education pathway, doing an agricultural internship on estates with dairies in Ottobeuren and Kühbach and then attending school.

[10] In addition, during the midst of World War One, he was appointed head of the Bavarian State Fat Office in Munich, which he did until 1922.

He was not allowed to speak for most of his early years in parliament besides declaring that there shouldn't be uniform salaries for civil servants across Germany, saying it was a serious interference in self-government.

[15] Fehr was generally considered part of the right-wing, conservative fraction of the Bavarian Peasants' League for most of his time until the end of the Weimar Republic when he drew closer to the NSDAP.

[21] After the assassination of Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau, he expressed approval of a measure that repealed the emergency decree to protect the Republic in Bavaria and allow reviews to go to Bavarian courts.

[24][5] Then, in September 1922, he declared that there would be a mass food shortage, but worried that a monarchist or communist uprising would occur as a result.

[5] It was widely expected he would resign in 1928 as a result of his party having their coalition friendship with the German nationalists terminated, however he continued as minister.

[9] In 1935, in a special issue of the anti-Semitic tabloid newspaper Der Stürmer, he was accused of again taking bribes in his time as Reich Minister.

[6] This stemmed from a case in 1929 where Fehr had reportedly taken bribes from August Bauernfreund, including unpaid packages of sausage due to hyperinflation, and having continued interest in board he supervised on during as time as Reich Minister.

[5] A settlement was agreed to: Streicher and his editor Karl Holz stated they did not want to claim that Fehr and Niklas had committed bribery.

[34] In July 1949, during Denazification, a committee for Lindau led by Otto Biehl declared him unencumbered (having no ties to the Nazi regime).

[42] An Anton Fehr Foundation was also set up in Kempten which was intended to provide support to students that wanted to get into dairy and milk schools.

The Dr. Anton Fehr School, a school building originally for emmental cheese production but was named after him for his work in dairy science, that existed until 1970.
A picture of mature hops in a yard. A notable focus of his administration was on hops in response to an outbreak of disease.
Fehr was imprisoned at Ravensbrück concentration camp , pictured here, form 1944 to 1945 after his alleged involvement in the 20 July plot for his alleged involvement with Franz Sperr 's circle of Bavarian monarchists.
Fehr lived the majority of his life in Lindenberg im Allgäu, which earned him the honorary nickname König des Allgäus (King of Allgäu) and he was awarded with honorary citizenship.