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Hans-Ulrich Klose | |
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.jpg) Klose in 1978 | |
| Chair of theForeign Affairs Committee | |
| In office 26 October 1998 – 17 October 2002 | |
| Deputy | Carl-Dieter Spranger |
| Preceded by | Karl-Heinz Hornhues |
| Succeeded by | Volker Rühe |
| Vice President of the Bundestag | |
| In office 10 November 1994 – 26 October 1998 | |
| President | Rita Süssmuth |
| Preceded by | Renate Schmidt |
| Succeeded by | Anke Fuchs |
| Leader of theSocial Democratic Party in theBundestag | |
| In office 12 November 1991 – 10 November 1994 | |
| Chief Whip | Peter Struck |
| Preceded by | Hans-Jochen Vogel |
| Succeeded by | Rudolf Scharping |
| First Mayor of Hamburg | |
| In office 12 November 1974 – 25 May 1981 | |
| President | Walter Scheel Karl Carstens |
| Chancellor | Helmut Schmidt |
| Second Mayor | Dieter Biallas Helga Elstner |
| Preceded by | Peter Schulz |
| Succeeded by | Klaus von Dohnanyi |
| Hamburg Senator for the Interior | |
| In office 10 October 1973 – 12 November 1974 | |
| First Mayor | Peter Schulz |
| Preceded by | Heinz Ruhnau |
| Succeeded by | Werner Staak |
| Member of theBundestag forHamburg-Bergedorf-Harburg | |
| In office 22 September 2002 – 22 September 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency created |
| Succeeded by | Metin Hakverdi |
| Member of theBundestag forHamburg-Harburg | |
| In office 6 March 1983 – 22 September 2002 | |
| Preceded by | Herbert Wehner |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1937-06-14)14 June 1937 Breslau,Germany |
| Died | 6 September 2023(2023-09-06) (aged 86) |
| Citizenship | German |
| Political party | SPD |
| Alma mater | University of Hamburg |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Germany |
| Branch/service |  Bundeswehr |
| Unit |  Panzergrenadierbrigade 17German Army (Heer) |
Hans-Ulrich Klose (14 June 1937 – 6 September 2023) was a German politician from theSocial Democratic Party and a member of the German Federal parliament (German:Bundestag). Klose was theFirst Mayor (German:Erster Bürgermeister) of the Free and Hanseatic City ofHamburg from 1974 up to 1981, serving asPresident of theBundesrat in 1979–80.
Klose was born inBreslau,Province of Lower Silesia (nowWrocław). After the end ofWorld War II, Klose's family fled from Breslau and moved toBielefeld. In 1957 he received his high-school diploma and started studying law at the universitiesof Freiburg andHamburg. In 1961 he passed theFirst, in 1965 theSecond Legal State Examination, and started working as a lawyer in Hamburg.
After joining theSocial Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in 1964, Klose became a member of theHamburg Parliament (Hamburgische Bürgerschaft) in 1970, where he was vice chairman of his faction. Two years later he became first chairman of the SPD parliamentary group. In October 1973, Klose succeededHeinz Ruhnau asminister of the interior of Hamburg.[citation needed]
Only a year later, on 12 November 1974, Klose became First Mayor (Erster Bürgermeister) ofthe Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg at the age of 37. At the time, he was widely regarded as a leading figure in the left wing of the party.[1] After a party internal argument about the construction of theBrokdorf Nuclear Power Plant, he resigned from his office on 25 May 1981.[citation needed]
In the1983 elections, Klose was elected as a member of the German Parliament, theBundestag, for the SPD. In this position, he succeededHerbert Wehner. From 1987 to 1991 he was treasurer of his party (German:Bundesschatzmeister), serving as part of the party's national leadership under chairmanHans-Jochen Vogel.[citation needed]
From 1991 to 1994 Klose served as chairman of the SPD group in the Bundestag, and in this position also leader of the opposition; at the time, he was chosen over two better-known candidates.[2] In his role as opposition leader, he worked with hisCDU/CSU counterpartWolfgang Schäuble on establishing a majority for a landmark 1993constitutional amendment on tightening the Germany'sasylum law, barring entry to thousands of foreigners who arrive in the country each week to seek asylum.[3]
Ahead of the 1994 elections, SPD chairmanRudolf Scharping included Klose in hisshadow cabinet for the party's campaign to unseat incumbentHelmut Kohl as Chancellor.[4] During the campaign, he served as shadow minister of defence. Following the party's defeat in the elections, Klose resigned from the group's leadership to make room for Scharping. Instead he was elected one of thevice presidents of the German Bundestag the same year.[citation needed]
In 1998 Klose became chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. From 2002, he served as its vice president, alongside chairmanRuprecht Polenz. From January 2003 Klose also chaired the German-American Parliamentary Friendship Group. Within his parliamentary group, he served on its task force onAfghanistan andPakistan between 2009 and 2013.[citation needed]
On 16 March 2010,Germany's Minister for Foreign AffairsGuido Westerwelle appointed Klose to succeedKarsten Voigt as the government's coordinator for German-American affairs, a rare case of a senior political appointment not being given to a member of the governing party.[5] He resigned from that position in 2011.[citation needed]
After leaving politics, Klose took up a position as senior advisor to theRobert Bosch Foundation.[citation needed]
In March 2013 theCongressional Study Group on Germany presented Klose with the inaugural International Statesmanship Award "for his longstanding service to strengthening the US-German relationship".[11]
From 1992 Hans-Ulrich Klose was married to his third wife, a physician. He had two daughters and two sons from his first two marriages. He died from complications ofAlzheimer's disease on 6 September 2023, at the age of 86.[12]
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