Erwin Planck

1893 Berlin (Germany) – 1945 Berlin-Plötzensee (Germany)
Politician
Country: Germany

Erwin is Max Planck’s favourite son. The two communicate daily. Max Planck desperately appeals to the Nazis when his son is arrested after the failed assassination attempt on Hitler in 1944. The Nobel Prize winner’s pleas are in vain, however. Erwin Planck is executed in January 1945 for being in contact with the armed opposition and working on a new Basic Law.

Like his father, Erwin has a liberal-conservative outlook. During the Weimar Republic, he works as a senior ministerial official in the imperial chancellery. In this position, he is also a guest at the president’s dinners held at Harnack House. He is dismissed in 1933 and pursues a career in industry. His refined upbringing has a major influence upon him. Playing music, visiting the opera and intellectual discourse are very much a part of his life. He is a talented cellist and regularly meets with his father and Albert Einstein to play as a trio.

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