Jens Pohl

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Jens Pohl
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1984-0618-408, Günter Mittag.jpg
Official photo, 1976
Chancellor of the Vierz Empire
In office
27 April 1967 – 14 May 1979
MonarchVictor III
Victor IV
Preceded byHans Richter
Succeeded byPhilipp Lorenz
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
10 June 1964 – 27 April 1967
MonarchVictor III
ChancellorOtto Wagner
Hans Richter
Preceded bySiegmund Gehrke
Succeeded byTorsten Hagmann
Imperial Commissioner for Granzery (North Granzery)
In office
9 December 1956 – 10 June 1964
MonarchVictor III
ChancellorOtto Wagner
Hans Richter
Preceded byAlbert Jonke
Succeeded byHelibert Schumacher
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
18 August 1954 – 5 December 1958
MonarchVictor II
Victor III
ChancellorThomas Weber
Otto Wagner
MinisterSiegmund Gehrke
Preceded byHeinz Rieger
Succeeded byGunter Fährmann
Personal details
Born
Jens Erhard Pohl

(1908-11-03)3 November 1908
Oftfeld, Lonzig, Vierz Empire
Died7 October 1981(1981-10-07) (aged 73)
Adtrus, Vierz Empire
Alma materUniversity of Kasenberg
Imperial Political Institute
Military service
Allegiance Vierz Empire
Branch/serviceImperial Vierz Army
Years of service1927–1945
Unit
  • 2nd Army

Jens Erhard Pohl (3 November 1908 – 11 July 1981) was a Vierz statesman and diplomat who served as Chancellor of the Vierz Empire from 1967 to 1979. He held a number of positions in the foreign ministry, including that of foreign minister from 1964 to 1967.

Pohl was born to a working-class family in the village of Ostfeld in Lonzig state. Pohl saw combat in the Great War while performing his military service and was wounded-in-action. He studied at the University of Kasenberg after the war, graduating in 1950, and thereafter studied at the Imperial Political Institute until 1952. He acquired fluency in Granzerian during his studies. Pohl gained employment at the foreign ministry shortly thereafter, and was made Reichskommissar for North Granzery from 1959 to 1964, where he had sway over the country's government. He gained favour with Emperor Victor II, who made him foreign minister in 1964. Pohl's success in negotiating with Apelia during the Silent War propelled him to the position of Chancellor in 1967.

Originally identifying himself as a reformer, he shifted to the national conservative wing of the state and centralized power. He rolled back the democratization measures implemented by previous chancellors. Pohl issued decrees limiting freedom of the press and assembly and curbed the power of the states. Pohl expanded investment in petroleum extraction in West Oridia, while limiting the economic power of the colonial authorities. He oversaw the expansion of natalist policies, and instructed the internal affairs ministry to curb immigration from the colonies and emigration from Vierzland.

Pohl's foreign policy ended the period of detente between Vierzland and the Continental Security Organization. He revived the pre-war Eschau Doctrine of "direct confrontation" with Vierzland's geopolitical foes. In response to Tierada's placement of nuclear-armed ICBMs in Cestros in 1974, Pohl ordered the closure of the Straits of Vell, causing an international crisis that was diplomatically solved only after months of threats of thermonuclear war. Anti-Vierz uprisings in Luepola in March 1979 resulted in a violent crackdown ordered by Pohl.

The Straits Crisis, the deteriorating situation in Luepola, and the poor economic situation onset by international sanctions and low oil prices led Pohl to fall out of favour with Alexander II and his successor, Victor IV. He was dismissed from his position in May 1979, and placed under house arrest until June 1980. He died in Adtrus in 1981 at the age of 73.