Heinrich Albert (politician)

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Heinrich Friedrich Albert (12 February 1874 – 1 November 1960) was a German civil servant, diplomat, lawyer, and businessman who held several government and corporate roles in the Weimar Republic and beyond.

Born in Magdeburg, Albert studied law and began his career as a judge before joining the Imperial interior ministry. He later served as Germany’s commercial attaché in Washington, D.C. (1914–1917), and during World War I helped manage enemy property. He returned to high government work after the war, becoming chief of the Reich Chancellery (1919–1921), the top administrative official to the chancellor, and later a Staatssekretär (state secretary).

In November 1922, Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno appointed him Reich Minister of the Treasury; in April 1923 the treasury was merged into the finance ministry. In March 1923 he also became Reich Minister for Reconstruction, remaining in that post until the cabinet resigned in August 1923. In November 1923, President Friedrich Ebert asked him to form a new government, but the effort failed due to lack of party support.

After leaving frontline politics, Albert started his own law firm in 1924 and worked with U.S. business interests. In 1932 he became general director of Norddeutscher Lloyd, a shipping company, a position he held until 1933. From 1937 to 1945 he was chairman of the supervisory board of Ford’s German subsidiary, and he also served on other corporate boards.

Albert died in Wiesbaden in 1960. His time in the United States during 1914–1917 led to suspicions of espionage, and the FBI kept a file on him.