Walter von Keudell

Walter von Keudell (17 July 1884 – 7 May 1973) was a German forest expert and politician. He served as interior minister of Germany between 1927 and 1928 during the period of the Weimar Republic.

Early life Von Keudell was born in Castellamare di Stabia, Naples, Italy, on 17 July 1884. He was the oldest son of Robert von Keudell, German diplomat and a member of the Reichstag.

However, he returned to politics and was elected as a member of the Reichstag for the German National People's Party (DNVP) from 1924 to 1930 (after 1929, the Christian-National Peasants' and Farmers' Party).

On 31 January 1927 von Keudell was appointed Reichsinnenminister (minister of the interior) and vice chancellor in the fourth cabinet of chancellor Wilhelm Marx. He was one of three nationalist cabinet members. The cabinet resigned on 12 June 1928 and Carl Severing replaced von Keudell as interior minister on 29 June 1928 when the new government headed by Hermann Müller took office.

Shortly after the Nazi seizure of power, von Keudell joined the Nazi Party on 1 March 1933, and on 8 August he was appointed Prussian Oberlandforstmeister and head of the Prussian Landesforstverwaltung (State Forest Administration) in Brandenburg.

On 3 July 1934, Reichsforstmeister Hermann Göring appointed von Keudell as Generalforstmeister in the newly established Reichsforstamt (Reich Forestry Office) and, on 1 March 1935, appointed him to the Prussian State Council. Von Keudell was removed from office on 1 November 1937 (im einstweiligen Ruhestand) when he refused to implement the forest policy of Göring which advocated the use of the mandatory cutting quota in private forests as in public forests. He married Johanna von Kyaw on 6 February 1912. They had four children. He died in Bonn on 7 May 1973.