Reinhold Rehs | |
|---|---|
| Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein | |
| In office 1950–1953 | |
| Member of theBundestag | |
| In office 1953–1969 | |
| Constituency | Rendsburg-Neumünster |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1901-10-12)12 October 1901 |
| Died | 4 December 1971(1971-12-04) (aged 70) |
| Political party | SPD CDU |
Reinhold Rehs (12 October 1901 – 4 December 1971) was a German politician and chairman of theFederation of Expellees in 1967-70.
Rehs was born in Klinthenen (now Znamenka inPravdinsky District), district ofGerdauen,East Prussia (today Russia) as a son of a teacher ofHuguenot descent, his family lived in East Prussia since theirflight from France. He visited school inKönigsberg and studied law at the Universities ofKönigsberg andHeidelberg. He worked as a journalist for the "Ostpreußische Zeitung" in Königsberg (1923–24) and became a lawyer there in 1928.[1] He joined theSA in 1933 and theNazi Party in 1937.
InWorld War II he was conscripted to theLuftschutzwarndienst (air defence warning service) and became the head of the regional warning service ofDanzig in 1944. Rehs was badly wounded in February 1945 and wasevacuated to Western Germany. In August 1945 Rehs started to work as a jurist at theSchleswig-Holstein State employment office and joined theSocial Democratic Party of Germany in 1948.[1]
Rehs was elected a Member of theLandtag of Schleswig-Holstein in 1950[2] and Member of theBundestag in 1953.[3] He became the Speaker (Chairman) of theLandsmannschaft Ostpreussen in 1966 and President of the Federation of Expellees in 1967. WhenWilly Brandt first announced his intended turnaround concerning theFormer eastern territories of Germany at the SPD party congress in March 1968, Rehs, sitting in the first row, left the audience in protest.[4]After Brandt became Chancellor Rehs seceded from the SPD in 1969 and joined the CDU in protest against the change in the GermanOstpolitik leading to theTreaty of Warsaw[3][5]
Rehs died in 1971.