German Resistance Memorial Center
- Biographies

Eugen Bolz grew up in a Catholic family and joined the Windhorstbund, the youth organization of the Center Party, at an early age. In 1919 the Center Party politician became Württemberg's minister of justice, and a few years later was appointed minister of the interior. He was married to Maria Hoeness, with whom he had a daughter. In 1928, the center-right coalition elected him president of Württemberg. Bolz supported the policies of Reich Chancellor Brüning, but he underestimated the NSDAP's political goals in late 1932 and only clearly spoke out against Hitler in early 1933. On March 11, 1933 the National Socialists dissolved his government. In June 1933 Bolz himself was taken into "Schutzhaft" ("protective custody") for several weeks. In spite of this, he maintained contact with his political friends from the disbanded Center Party, the outlawed Social Democratic Party, and the earlier liberal German State Party. Later he also volunteered to work with Carl Goerdeler and was to be given the office of a minister following the coup attempt of July 20, 1944. Eugen Bolz was arrested on August 12, 1944. He was sentenced to death by the People's Court on December 21, 1944, and murdered in Berlin-Plötzensee on January 23, 1945.