Kurt Georg Kiesinger

Kurt Georg Kiesinger
Kurt Georg Kiesinger in February 1967

Chancellor of Germany(West Germany)
In office 1 December 1966 – 21 October 1969
President	Heinrich Lübke Gustav Heinemann
Vice Chancellor	Willy Brandt
Preceded by	Ludwig Erhard
Succeeded by	Willy Brandt
Leader of the Christian Democratic Union
In office 23 May 1967 – 5 October 1971
General Secretary	Bruno Heck
Preceded by	Ludwig Erhard
Succeeded by	Rainer Barzel
Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg
In office 17 December 1958 – 1 December 1966
Deputy	Hermann Veit Wolfgang Haußmann
Preceded by	Gebhard Müller
Succeeded by	Hans Filbinger
President of the Bundesrat
In office 1 November 1962 – 31 October 1963
Preceded by	Hans Ehard
Succeeded by	Georg Diederichs
Member of the Bundestagfor Baden-Württemberg
In office 14 December 1976 – 4 November 1980
Member of the Bundestagfor Waldshut
In office 20 October 1969 – 14 December 1976
Preceded by	Anton Hilbert
Succeeded by	Norbert Nothhelfer
Member of the Bundestagfor Ravensburg – Bodensee
In office 7 September 1949 – 19 February 1959
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Eduard Adorno
Member of theLandtag of Baden-Württembergfor Saulgau
In office 12 March 1961 – 9 December 1966
Preceded by	Christian Rack
Succeeded by	Anton Lutz

Personal details
Born	(1904-04-06)6 April 1904 Ebingen, Württemberg, Germany
Died	9 March 1988(1988-03-09) (aged 83) Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany
Political party	Christian Democratic Union (1946–1988) Nazi Party (1933–1945)
Spouse(s)	Marie-Luise Schneider (m. 1932)
Children	2
Signature

Kurt Georg Kiesinger (German: [ˈkʊʁt ˈɡeːɔʁk ˈkiːzɪŋɐ]; 6 April 1904 – 9 March 1988) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany (West Germany) from 1 December 1966 to 21 October 1969. Before he became Chancellor he was a Nazi Party member, served as Minister President of Baden-Württemberg from 1958 to 1966 and as President of the Federal Council from 1962 to 1963. He was Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union from 1967 to 1971.

Kiesinger gained his certificate as a lawyer 1 March 1933 and worked as a lawyer in Berlin's Kammergericht court from 1935 to 1940.^[1] To avoid conscription, he found work at the Foreign Office in 1940, and became deputy head of the Foreign Office's broadcasting department. During his service at the Foreign Office, he was denounced by two colleagues for his anti-Nazi stance. He had nevertheless joined the Nazi Party in 1933, but remained a largely inactive member. In 1946 he became a member of the Christian Democratic Union. He was elected to the Bundestag in 1949, and was a member of the Bundestag until 1958 and again from 1969 to 1980. He left federal politics for eight years (from 1958 to 1966) to serve as Minister President of Baden-Württemberg, and subsequently became Chancellor by forming a grand coalition with Willy Brandt's Social Democratic Party.

Kiesinger was considered an outstanding orator and mediator, and was dubbed "Silver Tongue". He was an author of poetry and various books, and founded the universities of Konstanz and Ulm as Minister President of Baden-Württemberg.

Early life and Nazi activities[edit]

Born in Ebingen, Kingdom of Württemberg (now Baden-Württemberg), Kiesinger studied law in Berlin and worked as a lawyer in Berlin from 1935 to 1940. As a student, he joined the (non-couleur wearing) Roman Catholic corporations K.St.V. Alamannia Tübingen [de] and Askania-Burgundia Berlin. He became a member of the Nazi Party in February 1933, but remained a largely inactive member.^[2] In 1940, he was called to arms but avoided mobilization by finding a job in the Foreign Office's broadcasting department, rising quickly to become deputy head of the department from 1943 to 1945 and the department's liaison with the Propaganda Ministry.^[3] He worked under Joachim von Ribbentrop, who had been condemned to death at Nuremberg. After the war, he was interned by the Americans for his connection to Ribbentrop and spent 18 months in the Ludwigsburg camp before being released as a case of mistaken identity.^[4]

Franco-German journalist Beate Klarsfeld demonstrated his close connections to Ribbentrop and Joseph Goebbels, the head of Nazi Germany's Propaganda Ministry.^[5] She also asserted that Kiesinger had been chiefly responsible for the contents of German international broadcasts which included anti-Semitic and war propaganda, and had collaborated closely with SS functionaries Gerhard Rühle [de] and Franz Alfred Six. The latter was responsible for mass murders in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe and was tried as a war criminal in the Einsatzgruppen Trial at Nuremberg. Even after becoming aware of the extermination of the Jews, Kiesinger had continued to produce anti-Semitic propaganda.^[6] These allegations were based in part on documents that Albert Norden published about the culprits of war and Nazi crimes.^[7]

During the controversies of 1966, the magazine Der Spiegel unearthed a Memorandum dated 7 November 1944 (six months before the end of the war in Europe) in which two colleagues denounced to SS chief Heinrich Himmler a conspiracy including Kiesinger that was allegedly propagating defeatism. They accused Kiesinger specifically of hampering anti-Jewish actions within his department.^{[citation needed]}

Early political career[edit]

Kiesinger joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in 1946. From 1946 he gave private lessons to law students, and in 1948 he resumed his practice as a lawyer. In 1947 he also became unpaid secretary-general of CDU in Württemberg-Hohenzollern.

In the federal election in 1949 he was elected to the Bundestag. 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.

Minister President of Baden-Württemberg[edit]

Kiesinger became Minister President of the state of Baden-Württemberg on 17 December 1958, an office in which he served until 1 December 1966. As Minister President he founded two universities, the University of Konstanz and the University of Ulm.

Chancellorship[edit]

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Kurt Georg Kiesinger,
Kanzlergalerie Berlin

Kiesinger, Lyndon Johnson, Dean Rusk and Willy Brandt in 1967

President Richard Nixon and Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger waving to the crowd in West Berlin.

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 Vice 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. A number of progressive reforms were also realised during Kiesinger's time as Chancellor. Pension coverage was extended in 1967 via the abolition of the income-ceiling for compulsory membership. In education, student grants were introduced, together with a university building programme, while a constitutional reform of 1969 empowered the federal government to be involved with the Länder in educational planning through joint planning commission. Vocational training legislation was also introduced, while a reorganisation of unemployment insurance promoted retraining schemes, counselling and advice services and job creation places. In addition, under the “Lohnfortzahlunggesetz” of 1969, employers had to pay all employees’ wages for the first 6 weeks of sickness.^[8] In August 1969,^[9] the Landabgaberente (a higher special pension for farmers willing to cede farms that were unprofitable according to certain criteria) was introduced.^[10]

The historian Tony Judt has observed that Kiesinger's chancellorship, like the presidency of Heinrich Lübke, showed the "a glaring contradiction in the Bonn Republic's self-image" in view of their previous Nazi allegiances.^[11] 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.^[5] 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 (although he admitted to joining the German Foreign Ministry to dodge his 1940 draft by the Wehrmacht). 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).

Later years[edit]

Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Kiesinger in 1983

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 on 9 March 1988, four weeks before his 84th birthday. After a requiem mass in Stuttgart's St. Eberhard Church, his funeral procession was followed by protesters (mainly students) who wanted his former membership in the Nazi Party remembered.

Kiesinger's Cabinet[edit]

1 December 1966 – 21 October 1969

Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU) – Chancellor
Willy Brandt (SPD) – Vice Chancellor and Minister of Foreign Affairs
Gerhard Schröder (CDU) – Minister of Defense
Paul Lücke (CDU) – Minister of the Interior
Franz Josef Strauß (CSU) – Minister of Finance
Gustav Heinemann (SPD) – Minister of Justice
Karl Schiller (SPD) – Minister of Economics
Hans Katzer [de] (CDU) – Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
Hermann Höcherl (CSU) – Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry
Georg Leber (SPD) – Minister of Transport
Lauritz Lauritzen (SPD) – Minister of Construction
Bruno Heck (CDU) – Minister of Family and Youth
Käte Strobel (SPD) – Minister of Health
Gerhard Stoltenberg (CDU) – Minister of Scientific Research
Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski (SPD) – Minister of Economic Cooperation
Werner Dollinger (CSU) – Minister of Posts and Communications
Kai-Uwe von Hassel (CDU) – Minister of Displaced Persons, Refugees, and War Victims
Herbert Wehner (SPD) – Minister of All-German Affairs
Carlo Schmid (SPD) – Minister of Bundesrat and State Affairs
Kurt Schmücker (CDU) – Minister of Federal Treasure

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[edit]

^ Braunbuch, chapter "Diplomaten Ribbentrops", 3rd Volume, Berlin, GDR 1968, https://web.archive.org/web/20101120003249/http://braunbuch.de/8-01.shtml
^ Kurt Georg Kiesinger
^ Jeffrey Herf, "Judenhass aus dem Äther. NS-Propaganda für die Arabische Welt während des Zweiten Weltkriegs", in Naziverbrechen. Täter, Taten, Bewältigungsversuche, edited by Martin Cüppers et al., Darmstadt 2013, pp. 45-61, here p. 49.
^ Munzinger-Online, s.v.Kurt Georg Kiesinger, Accessed 2010-10-16
^ a b "'Nazi hunter' Beate Klarsfeld to receive top German honor". Deutsche Welle. 14 May 2015.
^ Transcript of oral history interview Archived 2016-12-28 at the Wayback Machine, Kapitel aus: Beate Klarsfeld: Wherever they may be, 1972, Seite 26–35.
^ "Unwiderstehliche Kraft", Der Spiegel, 28 November 1966 (49), p. 31, 1966
^ The Federal Republic of Germany: The End of an era edited by Eva Kolinsky
^ Agricultural policy in Germany. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 1974-01-01. ISBN 9789264112834.
^ Flora, Peter (1986-01-01). Growth to Limits: The Western European Welfare States Since World War II. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110111330.
^ Judt, Tony (2005). Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945. New York: Penguin. p. 811. ISBN 9780143037750.

Bundestag
Bundestag established	Member of the Bundestag for Ravensburg – Bodensee 1949–1959	Succeeded by Eduard Adorno
Preceded by Anton Hilbert	Member of the Bundestag for Waldshut 1969–1976	Succeeded by Norbert Nothhelfer [de]
Party-list proportional representation	Member of the Bundestag for Baden-Württemberg 1976–1980	Party-list proportional representation
Party political offices
Preceded by Ludwig Erhard	Leader of the Christian Democratic Union 1967–1971	Succeeded by Rainer Barzel
Preceded by Rainer Barzel	Acting Bundestag Leader of the CDU/CSU Group 1973	Succeeded by Karl Carstens
Political offices
Preceded by Gebhard Müller	Minister President of Baden-Württemberg 1958–1966	Succeeded by Hans Filbinger
Preceded by Ludwig Erhard	Chancellor of West Germany 1966–1969	Succeeded by Willy Brandt