Falk

Falk, ADALBERT, Prussian statesman, one of the foremost combatants in the Kulturkampf (the struggle between church and state in Germany), was born at Metschkau, in Silesia, 10th August 1827. Educated for the law, he held various judicial and administrative posts in his native province, until he was appointed Minister of Public Worship and Education in 1872. In this capacity he was mainly instrumental in carrying the so-called May laws (because passed in May 1873, 1874, and 1875), aimed at the hierarchical supremacy of the Church of Rome, by limiting the influence of the clergy in the schools, by reorganising the seminaries for the training of teachers, and by defining in a stricter and more comprehensive manner the relations generally of the clergy to the state. When, however, Bismarck came to bid for the support of the clerical party, in order to carry out his later internal policy, Falk resigned in 1879. Thereafter he retired altogether from political life.