Horst Ehmke | |
|---|---|
 Horst Ehmke in 1973 | |
| Federal Minister of Post and Telecommunications | |
| In office 15 December 1972 – 16 May 1974 | |
| Preceded by | Lauritz Lauritzen |
| Succeeded by | Kurt Gscheidle |
| Federal Minister of Justice | |
| In office 26 March 1969 – 22 October 1969 | |
| Preceded by | Gustav Heinemann |
| Succeeded by | Gerhard Jahn |
| Chief of the Federal Chancellery | |
| In office 22 October 1969 – 15 December 1972 | |
| Preceded by | Karl Carstens |
| Succeeded by | Horst Grabert |
| Federal Minister of Research, Technology, and Post | |
| In office 15 December 1972 – 7 May 1974 | |
| Preceded by | Lauritz Lauritzen |
| Succeeded by | Kurt Gscheidle |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Horst Paul August Ehmke (1927-02-04)4 February 1927 |
| Died | 12 March 2017(2017-03-12) (aged 90) |
| Political party | SPD |
| Occupation | Professor of law |
Horst Paul August Ehmke (4 February 1927 – 12 March 2017) was aGerman lawyer, law professor andpolitician of theSocial Democratic Party (SPD). He served asFederal Minister of Justice (1969), Chief of Staff at theGerman Chancellery andFederal Minister for Special Affairs (1969–1972) and Federal Minister for Research, Technology, and Post (1972–1974).
Ehmke was born in theFree City of Danzig, where he passed hisAbitur.[1] In 1944, at the age of 17, Ehmke was enrolled as a member of theNazi Party, although when this became public knowledge in 2007 as part of a media investigation ofNazi archives, he stated that he had made no application and was previously unaware of the enrollment.[2][3] Following theExpulsion of Germans after World War II he came as arefugee towestern Germany. He studiedLaw andEconomics inGöttingen andPolitical science andHistory atPrinceton University (U.S.) from 1949 to 1950. In 1952, he promoted as Dr. iur., and in 1956, he passed his final examinations. In these years, he was the assistant ofAdolf Arndt, member of theBundestag (SPD).
From 1956 to 1960, Ehmke became a member of theFord Foundation inCologne andBerkeley. After passing hisHabilitation in 1960, he becameProfessor ofpublic law at theUniversity of Freiburg, where he became the Dean.[1] From 1963 on, Ehmke was ordinaryProfessor and held the chair ofLaw at thisuniversity. Since 1974, he was accredited as alawyer.
Ehmke was married and had three children.
Since 1947, Ehmke has been a member of the SPD, where he was a member of the executive board from 1973 to 1991. He was a member of theBundestag from 1969 to 1994 for the state ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia. Here, he was deputy whip of the SPD faction from 1977 to 1990.
Ehmke wasFederal Minister of Justice from toMarch toOctober 1969 before becoming Chief of Staff at theGerman Chancellery from 1969 to 1972 under ChancellorWilly Brandt, being simultaneously theFederal Minister for Special Affairs.[1] After the1972 West German federal election he moved to become Federal Minister for Research,Technology and Post, until he was replaced in May 1974 byHans Matthöfer.[1][4] Ehmke died on 12 March 2017 at the age of 90.[5]
After retiring, Ehmke also wrote detective stories revolving around politics:
Media related toHorst Ehmke at Wikimedia Commons
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