Martin Schiele (17 January 1870 – 16 February 1939) was a German manufacturer (brickworks in Reckling and Neu-Schollene, which also included the starch factory in Neu-Molkenberg) and lord of the manor (Rittergut Neu-Schollene near Rathenow). Schiele was also a nationalist (German Conservative Party, DNVP, CNBL), member of the Reichstag, President of the Reichslandbund, the interest group representing farmers in the German Reich, founder of the Christian National Farmers' and Rural People's Party, and in the Weimar Republic briefly Reich Minister of the Interior and twice Reich Minister for Food and Agriculture.
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Life
Schiele, who was of the Protestant faith, came from a farming family with his father being a manor tenant. He first entered politics in 1897 with the German Conservative Party by serving as a member by Stendal's city council later joining the Reichstag in 1914, being re-elected in 1919 as a founding member of the DNVP.
He was part of the leadership of the German National People's Party (DNVP) from its 1918 founding until Alfred Hugenberg became leader in 1928. He was also the chief representative of the agrarian wing of the DNVP. As a member of Hans Luther's coalition government, Schiele secured the restoration of agricultural and industrial protectionism with the tariff of 1925. As minister of food in 1927–28, he favored state credit as a means for subsidising agriculture. From August of 1928 to October of 1930 he served as leader of the Agricultural League, a right-wing agricultural association. Both in government and the League he aligned himself with the Junkers and with nationalism, supporting Eastern Aid and opposing Gustav Streseman's foreign policy.