Hans Lenz | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Lenz in 1964 | |
| Federal Minister for Scientific Research | |
| In office 14 December 1962 (1962-12-14) – 26 October 1965 (1965-10-26) | |
| Chancellor | Konrad Adenauer Ludwig Erhard |
| Preceded by | Siegfried Balke |
| Succeeded by | Gerhard Stoltenberg |
| Federal Minister of the Treasury | |
| In office 14 December 1961 (1961-12-14) – 19 November 1962 (1962-11-19) | |
| Chancellor | Konrad Adenauer |
| Preceded by | Hans Wilhelmi |
| Succeeded by | Werner Dollinger |
| Member of theBundestag forBaden-Württemberg | |
| In office 6 September 1953 – 5 November 1967 (1967-11-05) | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1907-07-12)12 July 1907 |
| Died | 28 August 1968(1968-08-28) (aged 61) Trossingen,Baden-Württemberg,West Germany |
| Political party | NSDAP (1933–1945) FDP (1948–1968) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Nazi Germany |
| Branch/service | Abwehr |
| Years of service | 1942–1945 |
| Rank | Leutnant |
Hans Lenz (12 July 1907 – 28 August 1968) was a German politician of theFDP. He wasFederal Minister of the Treasury for a brief period underKonrad Adenauer in 1962 and was thenFederal Minister for Scientific Research from 1962 to 1965. Lenz also served as aMember of theBundestag from 1953 to 1967.
Lenz was born inTrossingen into the family behind themusical instrument manufacturing companyHohner. After studying abroad, Lenz completed anapprenticeship in bookselling. He was then a publishing director for different publishing houses in Germany andBrno. Lenz joined theNazi Party in 1933, and wasdrafted into theWehrmacht, whereupon he worked in theAbwehr as an intelligence agent. In this position he rose to the rank ofLeutnant and was awarded theIron Cross twice, but sustained a lifelong injury inPoland. After the war, he joined theDVP, which merged soon after to create theFDP/DVP. He was then elected to theBundestag in 1953, staying there until 1967 when he left for health reasons and was succeeded byGustav Freiherr von Gemmingen-Hornberg.
Lenz was first appointed minister asFederal Minister of the Treasury inKonrad Adenauer's fourth cabinet as part of a black-yellow coalition. During his time as minister, he primarily worked on organizing the departments within the ministry afterFranz Josef Strauss annexed part of it. He also worked on privatizing companies likePreussag and Vereinigte Industrieunternehmungen AG (VIAG). He resigned in 1962 due to theSpiegel affair, but a few months later was appointedFederal Minister for Scientific Research. Lenz was appointed during an important time in science, when theSpace Race was at its height along with thenuclear arms race between theSoviet Union and theUnited States. In this role, he tried to secure funding for the ministry, declaring it must be doubled as Germany had lagged behind other nations. West Germany took a leading part inEuropean Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) during his term and he secured an agreement withNASA to launch German satellites into space in 1968. He left on 26 October 1965.
Lenz was born on 12 July 1907 inTrossingen, which was then part of theGerman Empire. His family had traditionally been instrument makers,[1] as his great-grandfather, Matthias Hohner, founded themusical instrument manufacturing companyHohner.[2][3] However, his father was a merchant.[4] In 1914 he started attending theelementary school in Trossingen, and then from 1917-1922 he attended the Realschule in the town.[5] He transferred to Dillmann-Realgymnasium inStuttgart that year, graduating in 1926.[6] After graduating, he studied modernphilology in Tübingen, Berlin, London, Paris and Reykjavik until 1931.[7] He specialized inNordic philology and the basics ofGerman heroic sagas.[8][9] While studying, he met many leaders of theGerman Democratic Party, includingErich Koch-Weser andTheodor Heuss, which inspired him to join the student union.[10] In 1932 he passed theStaatsexamen,[11] and then began anapprenticeship in Stuttgart in bookselling which he completed in 1935.[10] He then worked as the head of the Priebatsch publishing house inBreslau from 1936 to 1941.[12] In 1942 he began working inBrno-Vienna as publishing director of the Rudolf M. Rohrer publishing house before beingdrafted.[13]
He joined theNSDAP on 1 May 1933.[14] From 1943 he served in theWehrmacht intelligence unit.[1] He eventually rose to the rank ofLeutnant, and received theIron Cross in 1st and 2nd classes.[5] Lenz sustained asplinter in his hip while serving in the intelligence unit inPoland in 1945.[15] He was briefly aprisoner of war inHeilbronn.[1]
After the war he was the deputy director of the State University Institute for Music Education from 1947 to 1950.[16] He first entered politics during this time by joining theDVP in 1948, which was soon after merged to createFDP/DVP.[15] In 1951 he became administrative director of theHohner Foundation.[17] That same year he was elected deputy chairman of the party inWürttemberg-Hohenzollern, which he did until 1952, and sat on the Trossingen municipal council.[18][5]
In 1959 he wrote in the first edition of the German magazineLiberal for the Hohner Foundation.[19] From 1965 until his death he was the President of the Board of Trustees of theDeutsche Stiftung Musikleben and theFriedrich Naumann Foundation.[15]
Lenz won a seat to theBundestag in the1953 West German federal election, representing the FDP viastate list.[20][21]
During his time in the assembly, he took a notable stance againstgrowing state expenditures.[22] He called on the government to make savings and cut some German jobs if need be.[23] He also objected to the expansion of any ministries.[24] During theCold War he called for there to be a more active Eastern European policy while also maintaining ties to the West and for the German ambassador to theSoviet Union,Wilhelm Haas, to be more active.[25]
From 1960 to 1964 he was the vice-president of the FDP.[26] Also, from 1959 to 1966, he was part of the FDP federal executive committee. In the Bundestag he was the deputy chairman of the FDP parliamentary group from 1957 to 1961.[27]
He left the Bundestag for health reasons on 5 October 1967.[28] He was replaced byGustav Freiherr von Gemmingen-Hornberg, as he was the next candidate on the state list in accordance with theFederal Elections Act.[29]
Lenz was appointedFederal Minister of the Treasury inKonrad Adenauer's fourth cabinet on 14 December 1961.[30] He was appointed as part of Adenauer'sblack-yellow coalition.[31] He agreed to take over the treasury as long as the condition was met that he could also be President of the Working Group of Folk Music Associations.[32]
At the time, most of the FDP considered the ministry to just be a liaison office between the economic and finance ministries, but the more liberal members said the office had weight regardless if Strauss had deprecated most of Lenz's functions.[33] Lenz dealt with having a completely disorganized ministry after coming into office, as a few months beforeFranz Josef Strauss had annexed two departments of Treasury Subdivision II A - which was for land acquisition for theBundeswehr and accommodation - as part of his growing ministry.[34] He also wanted to bringFriedrich Karl Vialon into his ministry from the chancellory.[35] His agenda consisted of the privatization ofPreussag, the sale of federal shares in theVolkswagen plant, and also privatizing Vereinigte Industrieunternehmungen AG (VIAG).[36] However, he was personally skeptical of this privatization saying it, at best, popularized the shares.[37]
He resigned on 19 November 1962 as minister because of theSpiegel affair.[38]
He was appointedFederal Minister for Scientific Research on 14 December 1962, again under Adenauer although his term would continue into whenLudwig Erhard was Chancellor in Erhard'sfirst cabinet.[39] He was given the portfolio after the expansion of the Ministry of Atomic Energy underSiegfried Balke.[40] Lenz was appointed during an important time in science, when theSpace Race was at its height along with thenuclear arms race between theSoviet Union and theUnited States.
During his time as minister, funding for the ministry was rapidly increased, more than the rate of the federal budget.[41] However, unlike other nations at the time, space research did not get much funding which halted German competition in the space race.[42] The funding for space research was 1.8% of the national budget, in comparison to the 3% of the American budget, and said that the budget must be doubled by 1970.[43]
In 1963 the first German nuclear program was presented by his ministry.[44] West Germany took a leading part in theEuropean Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) during his term, as they were tasked with developing the satellite forEuropa 1.[45] In 1965 Lenz announced that the government had reached an agreement withNASA in which the Americans would launch a German research satellite into space.[46] It was agreed that the launch would be in 1968 in California.[47]
He left the position on 26 October 1965, and was succeeded byGerhard Stoltenberg in Erhard's second cabinet.[48]
He was married and had three children, one of whom was named Sabena.[49] For his entire life since the injury in Poland he had he suffered from severeosteoarthritis,[8] and had great difficulty walking which required crutches.[49]
Lenz died on 28 August 1968 inTrossingen,West Germany.[5] His death was attributed to the injury he received during the war in Poland.[50]
He was buried in his hometown,Trossingen, at the Hohner family cemetery with a funeral service at theLutheran church and a state ceremony at Ernst Hohner Concert Hall after being transported in a specially designed openhearse.[51] A national day of mourning was scheduled on 3 September 1968.[52]
Nazi Germany:Iron Cross 1st classNazi Germany: Iron Cross 2nd class
West Germany:Grand Cross of the Order of Merit[53]
Iceland:Order of the FalconSince 2006 theDeutsche Stiftung Musikleben has awarded a medal in his honour to individuals or institutions who have made "a special contribution to anchoring music in society and the importance of amateur music-making".[54]
Seit 1961 gab es eine schwarz-gelbe Koalition - auch wenn sie damals noch nicht so genannt wurde.