Egon Franke

Egon Franke (11 April 1913 – 26 April 1995 ) was a German politician and a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He served as Federal Minister for Intra-German Relations from 1969 to 1982 and, for the short period between the breakup of the SPD-FDP coalition on 17 September 1982 and the constructive vote of no confidence on 1 October of the same year, by which Helmut Kohl replaced Helmut Schmidt, as Vice Chancellor of Germany. With a tenure of 14 days he is, as yet, the vice chancellor with the shortest time in office.

In 1986 he was accused, along with confidant Edgar Hirt, of embezzlement and suppression of documents. They were accused of stealing 5.56 million marks, and on trial Franke said he knew nothing about the cash, in the end the cash was never found.