Möller, Karl Leopold von
Former Mayor of Temeswar
Born October 11, 1876, Vienna – February 21, 1943, Jimbolia, Banat.
Post World War I, Möller decided to stay back in Timișoara, where he joined the German Popular Movement of Banat (Bewegung des Banater Deutschtums), bolstering its struggle for self-affirmation. He forayed into the cultural field as a journalist, and later became active in politics. He held the position of editor-in-chief at Schwäbische Volkspresse (established 1921; from 1925 the Banat Deutsche Zeitung) for several years, strengthening the voice of the Swabian-German community. In September 1923 Karl von Möller actively participated in a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the migration of the Swabians organized by the Banat German Movement.
In autumn 1919 he was briefly Deputy Mayor of Timișoara, after which he was elected four times to the Romanian Parliament, in which he served between 1919 and 1927 as a representative of the Swabians in Banat. In the parliamentary debate on the 1923 Constitution of Romania on March 12, 1923, he said he was speaking on behalf of the “Banat Swabian People”, declaring the Germans’ loyalty to their new homeland, but demanded that the new constitution should not jeopardize the existence of minorities from a national point of view; he said the new constitution did not include the promises made to the minorities by the Romanians in Alba Iulia.
In May 1920 the “moderate” Swabians, led by Kaspar Muth [de] formed the Swabian Party of Autonomy, joined by Karl von Möller, Dr Joseph Gabriel, and Peter Schiff of the National Swabian-German party.
In 1927, Möller withdrew from public life and settled in Jimbolia, where he married Margaret Jung, the daughter of a wealthy farmer from the Banat. Together they had two children, Karlheinz and Erich
Last updated: 07/23/2025