Franz Blücher

Franz Blücher (24 March 1896 – 26 March 1959) was a German politician and member of the German Parliament (Bundestag).
Blücher was born in Essen, Rhine Province, German Empire.
After World War II, Blücher was one of the founders of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and served as chairman in the British occupation zone (1946-1949) and as Federal Chairman (1949-1954).
From 1949 to 1957, he was a member of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's cabinet. As representative of the second-largest government party, he was the first Vice-Chancellor of Germany (West Germany) and also held the Ministry for Matters of the Marshall Plan, which in 1953 was renamed Ministry for Economic Cooperation.
In 1956, he - along with other fifteen ministers and parliamentarians - sided with Chancellor Adenauer against his party and formed the Free People's Party (FVP), which early in 1957 merged with the German Party (DP).
Franz Blücher died on 26 March 1959 in Bad Godesberg, North Rhine-Westphalia.

Blücher was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Berlin (1954) and the University of the Punjab in Lahore (1957). In 1954 he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit and the Grand Cross of the Greek Order of George I. In 1955, he received the Grand Cross of Merit of the Italian Republic.

In 1956, Blücher received the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria.