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| name=Kurt Georg Kiesinger
| name=Kurt Georg Kiesinger
| image=Kiesinger cropped.JPG
| image=Kiesinger cropped.JPG
| order = Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F024016-0009, Oberhausen, CDU-Parteitag Rheinland, Kiesinger.jpg
| order=[[Chancellor of Germany (Federal Republic of Germany)|Chancellor of West Germany]]
| term_start =1 December 1966
| term_start =1 December 1966
| term_end =21 October 1969
| term_end =21 October 1969

Revision as of 19:05, 7 December 2012

Kurt Georg Kiesinger
Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F024016-0009, Oberhausen, CDU-Parteitag Rheinland, Kiesinger.jpg
In office
1 December 1966 – 21 October 1969
PresidentHeinrich Lübke (1966-1969)
Gustav Heinemann (1969)
DeputyWilly Brandt
Preceded byLudwig Erhard
Succeeded byWilly Brandt
Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg
In office
17 December 1958 – 16 December 1966
Preceded byGebhard Müller
Succeeded byHans Filbinger
Personal details
Born(1904-04-06)6 April 1904
Ebingen, Kingdom of Württemberg
Died9 March 1988(1988-03-09) (aged 83)
Tübingen, West Germany
Political partyNSDAP (1933-45), CDU
OccupationLawyer
Kurt Georg Kiesinger,
Kanzlergalerie Berlin
President Nixon and Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger waving to the crowd in Berlin.

Kurt Georg Kiesinger (German pronunciation: [ˈkʊʁt ˈɡeːɔʁk ˈkiːzɪŋɐ]; 6 April 1904–9 March 1988) was a German politician affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was Chancellor of West Germany from 1 December 1966 until 21 October 1969.

Early career and wartime activities

Born in Ebingen, Kingdom of Württemberg (now Baden-Württemberg), Kiesinger was educated in Berlin and became a lawyer. As a student, he joined the (non-couleur wearing) Roman Catholic corporations Alamannia Tübingen and Askania-Burgundia Berlin. He became a member of the Nazi Party in February 1933, a few weeks after Hitler became chancellor. In 1940, he was called to arms but avoided mobilization by finding a job in the foreign ministry's radio propaganda department, rising quickly to become the ministry's connection with Goebbels' propaganda ministry. After the war, he was interned and spent 18 months in the Ludwigsburg camp before being released as a case of mistaken identity.[1]

During the controversies of 1966, the magazine Der Spiegel unearthed a Memorandum dated November 7, 1944 (five months before the war's end) by which a colleague denounced to Himmler a conspiracy including Kiesinger that was propagating defeatism and hampering anti-Jewish actions within their department and several others.

Post war rise

By the time the first national elections were held in the Federal Republic in 1949, Kiesinger had joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and won a seat in the Bundestag, the West German parliament. In 1951 he became a member of the CDU executive board. During that time, he became known for his rhetorical brilliance, as well as his in-depth knowledge of foreign affairs. However, despite the recognition he enjoyed within the Christian Democrat parliamentary faction, he was passed over during various cabinet reshuffles. Consequently, he decided to switch from federal to state politics: He was appointed Prime Minister (Ministerpräsident) of the state of Baden-Württemberg on 17 December 1958, an office in which he served until 1 December 1966.

Chancellorship and last years

In 1966 following the collapse of the existing CDU/CSU-FDP coalition Kiesinger was elected to replace Ludwig Erhard as Chancellor, heading a new CDU/CSU-SPD alliance. The government formed by Kiesinger remained in power for nearly three years with the SPD leader Willy Brandt as Deputy Federal Chancellor and Foreign Minister. Kiesinger reduced tensions with the Soviet bloc nations establishing diplomatic relations with Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia but he opposed any major conciliatory moves.

One of his low points as Chancellor was in 1968 when Nazi-hunter Beate Klarsfeld, who campaigned with her husband Serge Klarsfeld against Nazi criminals, publicly slapped him in the face during the 1968 Christian Democrat convention, while calling him a Nazi. She did so in French and - whilst being dragged out of the room by two ushers - repeated her words in German saying "Kiesinger! Nazi! Abtreten!" ("Kiesinger! Nazi! Step down!") Kiesinger, holding his left cheek, did not respond. Up to his death he refused to comment on the incident and in other opportunities he denied explicitly that he had been opportunistic by joining the NSDAP in 1933 (albeit he conceded joining the Nazi Foreign Ministry to dodge his 1940 draft by the Wehrmacht). During his period as Chancellor, he made Carl Schmitt his regular intellectual companion (also a 1933 NSDAP late joiner, Francisco Franco apologist, and hyperactive anti-Jewish Nazi intellectual until falling out of Nazi grace in 1936). Other prominent critics included the writers Heinrich Böll and Günter Grass (in 1966, Grass had written an open letter urging Kiesinger not to accept the chancellorship). Philosopher Karl Jaspers, who had taken up residency in Switzerland, surrendered his German passport in protest.[clarification needed]

After the election of 1969, the SPD preferred to form a coalition with the FDP, ending the uninterrupted post-war reign of the CDU chancellors. Kiesinger was succeeded as Chancellor by Willy Brandt. Kiesinger continued to head the CDU/CSU in opposition until July 1971 and remained a member of the Bundestag until 1980. Of his memoirs only part one (Dark and Bright Years) was completed, covering the years up to 1958. He died in Tübingen. After a requiem mass in Stuttgart's St. Eberhard church, his funeral procession was followed by protesters (mainly students) who wanted his entire legacy remembered - even after his death - especially his former membership in the Nazi Party.

Kiesinger's Ministry

1 December 1966 - 21 October 1969

Changes

  • 2 April 1968 - Ernst Benda (CDU) succeeds Lücke as Minister of the Interior.
  • 16 October 1968 - Aenne Brauksiepe (CDU) succeeds Heck as Minister of Family and Youth. Erhard Eppler (SPD) succeeds Wischnewski as Minister of Economic Cooperation.
  • 7 February 1969 - Heinrich Windelen (CDU) succeeds von Hassel as Minister of Displaced Persons, Refugees, and War Victims after the latter was elected to President of the Bundestag.
  • 26 March 1969 - Horst Ehmke (SPD) succeeds Heinemann as Minister of Justice after the latter was elected to 5th President of Germany.

References

  1. ^ Munzinger-Online, s.v.Kurt Georg Kiesinger, Accessed 2010-10-16

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kurt Georg Kiesinger.
  • Gassert, Philipp. Kurt Georg Kiesinger 1904-1988. Kanzler zwischen den Zeiten DVA, München 2006.
Political offices
Preceded by Chancellor of West Germany
1966–1969 		Succeeded by


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