Eugen Gerstenmaier | |
|---|---|
 Eugen Gerstenmaier 1960 | |
| President of the Bundestag West Germany | |
| In office 16 November 1954 – 31 January 1969 | |
| Preceded by | Hermann Ehlers |
| Succeeded by | Kai-Uwe von Hassel |
| Member of theBundestag | |
| In office 7 September 1949 – 19 October 1969 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1906-08-25)25 August 1906 Kirchheim unter Teck,German Empire |
| Died | 13 March 1986(1986-03-13) (aged 79) Oberwinter,West Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Political party | CDU |
Eugen Karl Albrecht Gerstenmaier (25 August 1906 – 13 March 1986) was a German Protestanttheologian,resistance fighter in theThird Reich, and aCDUpolitician. From 1954 to 1969, he served as the thirdpresident of the Bundestag. With a tenure of over 14 years, he is, as yet, the longest serving presiding officer of the German parliament and also the only person to preside over theBundestag during four legislative periods (the2nd,3rd,4th, and5th Bundestag).
Gerstenmaier was born inKirchheim unter Teck. After training as asalesman, Gerstenmaier did hisAbitur and then studiedphilosophy,German language andliterature, and Protestanttheology inTübingen,Rostock andZurich. In 1934, he was detained for a short time for being a member of theConfessing Church. In 1935, he becameTheodor Heckel's assistant in theGerman Evangelical Church's office for outside affairs. After theMunich Conference in 1938, Gerstenmaier joined the resistance group about theKreisau Circle.
On 20 July 1944, the day ofClaus Schenk von Stauffenberg'sattempt onAdolf Hitler's life at theWolf's Lair inEast Prussia, Gerstenmaier was at his assigned place at theBendlerblock inBerlin to support the attemptedassassination andcoup d'état against theNazi régime. Along with many others, he was arrested after the plot failed, and on 11 January 1945, Gerstenmaier was sentenced by theVolksgerichtshof to seven years in labour prison (Zuchthaus). This by the standards of "hanging judge"Roland Freisler unusually lenient sentence (the prosecution had demanded death by hanging) may partially be explained by Gerstenmaier's playing the "unworldly theologian" role to the hilt, partially by intercession on his behalf with Freisler by acting national press chiefHelmut Sündermann.[1] He spent only a few months there as he was freed byUS troops at the end of thewar. Along withHermann Ehlers, a German politician, he was active in the Evangelical Aid organization (Evangelisches Hilfswerk); from 1945 to 1951, he was its leader.
From 1949 to 1969, Gerstenmaier was a member of theBundestag for the CDU. From 1949 to 1953, he was the Acting Chairman of the Foreign Board at the Bundestag, and eventually, until 17 December 1954, the chairman.
After Hermann Ehlers's sudden death in 1954, Gerstenmaier became his successor (until 1969) as Bundestag President. With his election on 16 November 1954 arose a unique situation with two factional colleagues running against each other for the Bundestag Presidency. Against the "official" CDU/CSU candidate Gerstenmaier, whom many members, and the governing coalition, saw as being too close to the Church, stoodErnst Lemmer, put forward byFDP memberHans Reif, who lost only on the third ballot by a mere 14 votes. From 1957 until 12 October 1959, Gerstenmaier was Chairman of the Subcommission for managing the Bundestag "household".
On 31 January 1969, Gerstenmaier resigned his post as Bundestag President after public controversy about claims of certain compensation benefits, to which he was legally entitled. However, the sheer amount of these claims was consideredscandalous, and the suspicion that political influence was at work could not be allayed. His successor wasKai-Uwe von Hassel.
Gerstenmeier died inBonn. The 29-floor highrise in Bonn, in whose building Gerstenmaier had played such a significant rôle, and in which each member of the Bundestag had an office, is nicknamed"Langer Eugen" ("Long Eugen") after Eugen Gerstenmaier. It has, however, been described as "Bonn's ugliest building". Since June 2006 it is seat ofUnited Nations Organizations.
Eugen Gerstenmaier belonged to a CDU faction who internally criticizedKonrad Adenauer's policy of engaging the West because that brought along with it a tendency to turn away from the goal of reuniting Germany. Even insocial policy, Gerstenmaier was rather critical of Adenauer and supportedLudwig Erhard's position instead, with pointedlyChristian-Protestant arguments against the "totalwelfare state". From 1956 to 1966, he was acting CDU Federal Chairman.
Gerstenmaier belonged to the select committee of both "Union" parties (the CDU and CSU) which on 24 February 1959 put forward Ludwig Erhard as a candidate forFederal President (Bundespräsident), although Erhard declined the honour.
In 1980, Gerstenmaier was the CDU's delegate alongsideHermann Kunst (chairman),Alex Möller (for theSPD),Rudolf Hanauer (for the CSU) andBernhard Leverenz (for the FDP) on the Arbitration Committee for Overseeing Compliance with the Election Campaigning Agreement in the Bundestag election campaign.
From 1977 until his death, Gerstenmaier was Chairman of the Association of Former Members of the German Bundestag (or as of 1984, the Association of Former Members of the German Bundestag and theEuropean Parliament).
In 1957, Gerstenmaier received theGrand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria.[2]
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