Paul Freiherr von Eltz-Rübenach


Peter Paul Freiherr von Eltz-Rübenach was Minister of Mail and Minister of Transport of Germany between 1932 and 1937.
Eltz-Rübenach was born in Wahn, a scion of the Rhenish noble house of Eltz. As a nonpartisan he had been appointed Reich Minister for both Transport and Postal Affairs in Chancellor Franz von Papen's "cabinet of barons" on 1 June 1932. He retained the posts under Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and after the Nazi Machtergreifung under Adolf Hitler.
In the course of the rising conflict between the Nazi government and the Catholic Church, Eltz-Rübenach, a devout Catholic, in a cabinet meeting on 30 January 1937 rejected the Golden Party Badge personally offered by Hitler and resigned. Afterwards he became a "suspect person" monitored by the Gestapo, while his pension claims were temporarily revoked.
Eltz-Rübenach died in Linz am Rhein, aged 68.