Franz Matt

Franz Matt (9 September 1860 in Offenbach an der Queich, Kingdom of Bavaria – 4 August 1929 in Munich) was a German lawyer, politician and minister, who belonged to the Bavarian People's Party (BVP).

Cooperation with the new Minister of Education and the Arts (Kultusminister) of the Bavarian Republic, Johannes Hoffmann (SPD), appointed by Kurt Eisner, appeared to be extremely difficult, since Franz Matt rejected Hoffman's school reforms.

In the period following, Franz Matt pursued a comprehensive course correction with regard to school policies and reformed the entire system of higher education in Bavaria.

At the time of the putsch, he was having dinner with Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, the Archbishop of Munich and the Nuncio to Bavaria, Monsignor Eugenio Pacelli, the future pope Pius XII.

When informed of the coup, he as the Vice Prime Minister organized a government-in-exile at Regensburg and called on the police, military, and other public servants to support the government, which effectively doomed the prospects of the putschists.