Paul von Breitenbach

Paul Justin von Breitenbach (April 16, 1850 – March 10, 1930) was a Prussian politician and railway planner.

Breitenbach was central to the building of the underground in Berlin, specifically the line between the city center and Berlin-Dahlem (today U3). The "Breitenbachplatz" in Dahlem was named after him in 1913.

Life

Breitenbach was born in Danzig (Gdańsk) in the Province of Prussia. He studied law in Leipzig and Berlin until 1869. In 1881 he moved to the town of Altona near Hamburg.

From 1873 he was "Gerichtsreferendar" (Assistant), and from 1877 "Gerichtsassessor" at the civic court in Berlin. In 1878 he entered the Prussian state railway bureaucracy, first in Hanover, then from 1880 on in Breslau (Wrocław). In July 1884 he came to Berlin to work for the state-owned Berlin-Hamburg railway.

From 1893-95, Breitenbach was the director of the "Eisenbahn-Betriebsamt" (Railways Working Office), first in Hanover, later in Hamburg. In 1896 he was a commissioner to the Prussian Minister for Public Works in Mainz. In 1897 he became president of the "Königliche Preußische und Großherzogliche Hessische Eisenbahndirektion", the Prussian and Hessian railway management in Mainz.

In 1903 Breitenbach moved to Cologne, taking up the post as president of the "Königliche Eisenbahndirektion". From there, the Reichskanzler Bernhard von Bülow made Breitenbach the Minister of Public Works in 1906. He remained there until 1916. During this time, he was also the leader of the "Reichsamt für die Verwaltung der Reichseisenbahnen in Elsass-Lothringen".

In 1909 he was ennobled by William II, German Emperor, and, in 1913, he received the Order of the Black Eagle.

From May 1916 until November 1917, Breitenbach was the vice president of the government of Prussia. After the German Revolution, on November 11 1918, he went into pension. He died in Bückeburg.