Heinrich Windelen (25 June 1921 – 16 February 2015) was a German politician of theChristian Democratic Union. He served as a Member of theBundestag from 1957 to 1990, and asFederal Minister for Displaced Persons, Refugees and War Victims in theCabinet Kiesinger in 1969 and asFederal Minister of Intra-German Relations in theCabinet Kohl II from 1983 to 1987.

Windelen was born inBolkenhain,Silesia (nowBolków, Poland), the third of eight children of Engelbert and Anna Windelen. His father was an active member of theZentrumspartei and theReichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold. Former ChancellorJoseph Wirth visited Windelen's family several times. Windelen passed hisAbitur in 1939 inStriegau and was drafted to the mandatoryReichsarbeitsdienst. In 1940, he began studying physics and chemistry at theUniversity of Breslau.^{[citation needed]}

In 1941, he was conscripted into theWehrmacht and became a POW in 1945 with the rank of aFeldwebel. Notably, he did not become an officer because of his distance to the Nazi regime.^[1]

He came as arefugee toWest Germany followingThe Expulsion in 1945, and became a member of the CDU in 1946. Windelen was a member of the Bundestags from 1957 to 1990. In 1969, he became Federal Minister for the Expellees. Windelen was Vice-president of the Bundestages (1981–1983) and Bundesminister for intra-German relations (1983–1987). He was honorary chairman of CDU inNorth Rhine-Westphalia.^[2] He died at the age of 93 on 16 February 2015.^[where?][3]

• 1969: Grand Cross of theOrder of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

• SOS für Europa, Stuttgart, Seewald-Verlag, 1972,ISBN 3512002315
• Der Haushaltsausschuß im politischen Prozeß, in:Verwaltung und Fortbildung, Jg. 1978, Heft 3, Seiten 93 bis 100.
• Strukturveränderungen in der öffentlichen Finanzwirtschaft. Geldpolitik und Haushaltspolitik, in:Geld und Währung, Bonn 1979, Seiten 55 bis 61.
• Das Parlament zwischen Ausgabenfreude und Haushaltskontrolle, in:Günter Triesch,Staatsfinanzen und Wirtschaft, Köln 1981, Seiten 111 bis 130.

• Rudolf Vierhaus undLudolf Herbst (Hrsg.):Biographisches Handbuch der Mitglieder des Deutschen Bundestages 1949–2002. Band 2, N–Z, Saur, München 2002,ISBN 3-598-23782-0, S. 960

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• Literature by and about Heinrich Windelen in theGerman National Library catalogue

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