Karl Kurt Klein

Karl Kurt Klein
Karl Kurt Kelin in 1936
2nd Prime Minister of Crisana
In office October 28, 1920 – October 28, 1924
President	Vasile Goldiş
Preceded by	Aurel Lazăr
Personal details
Born	6 May 1897 Albeștii Bistriței, Austria-Hungary
Died	7 August 1969 Debrecen, Crisana
Cause of death	Stroke
Political party	Crisan People's Party
Alma mater	University of Debrecen

Karl Kurt Klein (6 May 1897 - 7 August 1969) was a German (Saxon) philosopher, university professor and politician. He served as prime minister of Crisana 2 times between 1921-1924 and 1932-1936. And mayor of Debrecen from 1928 to 1932.

Biography

Early Life

Karl Kurt Klein graduated at the Brukenthal High School, taking the baccalaureate in 1915. He attended the university of Debrecen, obtaining a degree in philology in 1919. Klein became in 1920 Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Debrecen. He settled in Debrecen due to the huge turmoil in the region fallowing the fall of Austria-Hungary, even if he has been born in Sibiu.

Politics

Klein created a small club of people interested in philosophy and politics at the University of Debrecen, there he came in contact with the philosophy of socialism and marxist communism. In a short period of time after studying them he adopted his own view of socialism, know as Kleinism resembling very well Social Democracy, tho he was a very well know populist. In 1919 after graduating the University of Debrecn he created a small political group know as the People's Action made up of Germans and Hungarians. In January 1920 he founded together with Béla Kun the Crisan People's Party. Soon in the month of August of that year what was about to be known as the Bloody August of 1920 happened in Crisana, that month the ethnicities of the country clashed in violent protests and fights on the streets of major cities like Arad, Oradea and Debrece, the city where Klein lived. On the 13th of August he together with other members of the P.P.C has held a speech about the fight for equality and rights of the people in that country, the people of Debrecen were amazed by his charisma and prepared to start a socialist revolution in the country. In order to stop this, Vasile Goldiş told prime minister Aurel Lazar to resign. Due to internal turmoil and external pressure Aurel Lazar resigned on the 25th of September 1920 and general elections were held on the 10th of October. Some people speculate that the elections were rigged due to the extremely low turnout of ~25% in order to make Klein prime minister so that the turmoil and urge for revolution would end, and this happened as Karl Kurt Klein was sworn in as the 2nd Prime Minister of Crisana on the 28th of October 1920, the national holiday of Crisana.

First Premiership

His first action was to change the constitution and make it more egalitarian. A vote was held in the parliament where the coalition of the Crisan People's Party and the Hungarian Party held majority of the seats, thus Klein was allowed to change the constitution. The 1920 constitution also knows as Klein's Constitution made changes to Article nr.13, making Hungarian Romanian and German Official Languages, and Jewish, Slovak and Ukrainian recognized languages. he changed the Article nr.3 regarding citizenship, making every Crisan-born a citizen regardless of the citizenship of his parents, their religion or nationality. He has also made changed to Article nr.16; 32; 33; 36; 37 and 43, thus ensuring the equality of all peoples of Crisana. On the 12th of January 1921, president Vasile Goldis approved the new constitution. During his premiership laws were passed concerning property, wealth and justice. His greatest achievment was the Land Refrom of 1921. Every family lacking a house or land would gain one at the expense of the state, making him popular among the Romanians that lived without land of their own from the times of Austria-Hungary. His dreams of an utopia in Crisana created huge problems to the country's economy, making it indebt. His success towards the people and his rise in such a short time gave him the hopes of becoming president of Crisana in the 1923 elections, but the party of Vasile Lucaciu, a catholic priest, was more popular among the catholic nation of Crisana, thus he lost the elections and his premiership ended on the 28th of October 1924, when the catholic party gained majority during the general elections. His premiership was marked by social and economic progress, but also poor management in infrastructure and public health and also a huge debt of over 3 billion $. At the time of his premiership he was the youngest prime minister in the World

Mayorship

Following the 1928 general elections he became mayor of Debrecen