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Hanns Martin Schleyer | |
|---|---|
 Schleyer in November 1973 | |
| President of theConfederation of German Employers' Associations | |
| In office 1 January 1977 – 18 October 1977 | |
| Preceded by | Otto A. Friedrich |
| Succeeded by | Otto Esser |
| President of the Federation of German Industries | |
| In office 6 December 1973 – 18 October 1977 | |
| Preceded by | Hans Günter Sohl |
| Succeeded by | Nikolaus Fasolt (1978) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1915-05-01)1 May 1915 |
| Died | 18 October 1977(1977-10-18) (aged 62) |
| Manner of death | Assassination |
| Political party | Christian Democratic Union (1970–1977) Nazi Party (1937–1945) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
| Relatives | Johann Martin Schleyer (great-great uncle) |
| Alma mater | Heidelberg University University of Innsbruck (Dr. jur.) |
| Occupation |
|
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | SS (until 1945) |
Hans "Hanns" Martin Schleyer (German pronunciation:[ˈhansˈmaʁtiːnˈʃlaɪɐ]; 1 May 1915 – 18 October 1977) was a German business executive, employer and industry representative,Nazi SS officer, andlobbyist. He served as president of two powerful commercial organizations: theConfederation of German Employers' Associations (German:Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände, BDA) and theFederation of German Industries (Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie, BDI).
Schleyer became a target for radical elements of theWest German student movement in the 1970s due to his roles in these business organisations, his positions in labour disputes, his aggressive television appearances, his conservativeanti-communist views, his prominence as a member of theChristian Democratic Union, and his past as an enthusiastic member of theNazi student movement. During the Nazi era, Schleyer served as anSS officer and reached the rank of SS-Untersturmführer. Schleyer's kidnapping and murder by theRed Army Faction (RAF) during the so-calledGerman Autumn was the climax of one of the most serious crises in the history ofWest Germany.[1][2][3]
Hewas kidnapped on 5 September 1977 by thefar leftterrorist organizationRed Army Faction (Rote Armee Fraktion, RAF) and subsequently murdered; his driver andpolice escort of three policemen were also killed when his car was ambushed. The West German government determined that it was in the national interestnot to negotiate with terrorists.[4] The abduction and murder are commonly seen as the climax of the RAF campaign in 1977, known as theGerman Autumn. After his death Schleyer has been extensively honoured in Germany; the Hanns Martin Schleyer Prize, theHanns Martin Schleyer Foundation and theHanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle are named in his honour. In 2017 German PresidentFrank-Walter Steinmeier and the German government marked the 40th anniversary of the kidnapping.[5][6]
Born inOffenburg,Grand Duchy of Baden, Hanns Martin Schleyer was the eldest child of Ernst Julius Schleyer (1882–1959) and Helene Luise Elisabeth Schleyer (née Rheitinger; 1883–1979). His legal name, as shown by his birth certificate, was Hans Martin Schleyer, but Schleyer himself always spelled his first name with two 'n's since childhood. His father was a judge and his great-great uncle wasJohann Martin Schleyer, a renownedRoman Catholic priest who invented theVolapük language. Schleyer was raisedCatholic by his paternal family, which went against the wishes of hisirreligious father, who was described as "hot-tempered" and holdingnational conservative views.[7]
Schleyer finished hisAbitur inRastatt and began studying law at theUniversity of Heidelberg in 1933, where he first joined thestudent fraternityTeutonia 1842 zu Rastatt before switching toCorps Suevia [de] a year later. In 1939 he obtained a doctorate at theUniversity of Innsbruck.[7]
Early in his life, he became a follower ofNational Socialism. On 1 March 1931, Schleyer became a member of theHitler Youth, theyouth organization of theNational Socialist Party. On 1 July 1933, he joined the SS (SS number 221.714), eventually reaching the rank ofUntersturmführer (Second Lieutenant) in 1945. During his studies, he was engaged in the Nazi student movement. One of his mentors at this time was the student leaderGustav Adolf Scheel.[8]
In the summer of 1935, Schleyer accused his fraternity of lacking "national socialist spirit". He left the fraternity when theKösener SC, anumbrella organization, refused to exclude Jewish members. Schleyer became a leader in the national socialist student movement and, in 1937, joined theNSDAP. At first, he was the president of the student body of theUniversity of Heidelberg. Later,Reichsstudentenführer Scheel sent him to post-AnschlussAustria where he occupied the same position at theUniversity of Innsbruck. On 21 October 1939, Schleyer marriedWaltrude Ketterer (1916–2008), daughter of the physician, city councillor of Munich andSA-ObergruppenführerEmil Ketterer. They had four sons.[7]
DuringWorld War II, Schleyer wasdrafted and served on theWestern Front from 1939 to 1940 where he participated in theInvasion of France. He wasrelieved of combat duties in autumn 1940 when he dislocated both of his arms during a climbing exercise for the plannedinvasion of Britain. He was discharged of military duty on 1 May 1941 at Scheel's request to return to his position at the University of Innsbruck. He was subsequently sent toPrague, where he was appointed president of the student body at theGerman campus of Charles University.
In this position, he metBernhard Adolf, one of the Germaneconomic leaders in theProtectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, who brought Schleyer to the industrial association ofBohemia andMoravia in 1943. The association was responsible forAryanization and theprocurement of slave laborers.[9] Schleyer became an important deputy and adviser to Bernhard Adolf. Schleyer and his wife were given accommodation in houses seized from Jewish residents during their time in Prague. In 1944, they moved to a seized villa estate inBubeneč, after the previous inhabitant, SA-ObersturmführerFriedrich Hermann Klausing [de], had committed suicide in wake of the revelation thathis son had been an orchestrator in the20 July assassination plot against Hitler. On 5 May 1945, Schleyer and his family escaped from the city shortly after the start of thePrague uprising.[10]
After World War II, Schleyer was arrested by French forces while hiding at his parents' home inKonstanz[7] and was held as aprisoner of war for three years by the Allies because of his membership in the SS. In hisdenazification proceeding, Schleyer was initially charged as aMinderbelasteter, but he put in an appeal by falsely understating his rank asOberscharführer so as to reduce his prospective punishment for which he was instead labelled aMitläufer.[11] He was repatriated in 1948 after paying a fine of 300Mark.
After working under theFrench occupation withDirection des Bases Aériennes inLahr, he became secretary of the chamber of commerce ofBaden-Baden shortly after the founding of West Germany. In 1951 Schleyer joinedDaimler-Benz, and, with help from a mentor,Fritz Koenecke [de], eventually became a member of the board of directors. At the end of the 1960s, he was almost appointed chairman of the board, but lost the position toJoachim Zahn. Successively, Schleyer became more involved inemployers' associations, and was a leader in employer and industry associations. He was simultaneously president of theConfederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA) and theFederation of German Industries (BDI).
His uncompromising acts during industrial protests in the 1960s such asindustrial lockouts, his history with the Nazi Party, and his aggressive appearance, especially on TV (The New York Times described him as a "caricature of an ugly capitalist"[12]), made Schleyer the ideal enemy for the 1968 student movement. By mid-1977, authorities identified Schleyer as a high risk target in wake of the RAF murders offederal attorneySiegfried Buback, another formerNazi, and bank director representativeJürgen Ponto earlier that year.[13]
In 1977 Schleyer debated withHeinz Oskar Vetter, chairman of theConfederation of German Trade Unions in a crosstalk at the8. St. Gallen Symposium, which later gained a high profile, after Schleyer's kidnapping.[14]
On 5 September 1977, a RAF unit, KommandoSiegfried Hausner, named after a RAF figure killed during theStockholm embassy attack two years earlier, attacked the chauffeured car carrying Hanns Martin Schleyer, then president of the German employers' association, inCologne, just after the car had turned right from Friedrich Schmidt Strasse into Vincenz-Statz Strasse. His driver was forced to brake when apram suddenly appeared in the street in front of them. The police escort vehicle behind them was unable to stop in time, and crashed into Schleyer's car. Four (or possibly five) masked RAF members then jumped out and sprayed bullets into the two vehicles, killing four members of the convoy. Schleyer was then pulled out of the car and forced into the RAF assailants' own getaway van.
The RAF demanded that the West German government release captured members of their organization. After this demand was declined the RAF members were all eventually found dead in their jail cells. After Schleyer's kidnappers received the news of the deaths of their imprisoned comrades, Schleyer was taken from Brussels on 18 October 1977, and shot dead en route toMulhouse,France, where his body was left in the boot of a greenAudi 100 on the rueCharles Péguy.
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