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Rudolf Seiters Bundesminister a. D. | |
|---|---|
 Seiters in 1989 | |
| Vice President of the Bundestag (on proposal of the CDU/CSU-group) | |
| In office 26 October 1998 – 17 October 2002 | |
| President | Wolfgang Thierse |
| Preceded by | Michaela Geiger |
| Succeeded by | Norbert Lammert |
| Minister of the Interior | |
| In office 26 November 1991 – 7 July 1993 | |
| Preceded by | Wolfgang Schäuble |
| Succeeded by | Manfred Kanther |
| Head of the Chancellery Minister for Special Affairs | |
| In office 21 April 1989 – 25 November 1991 | |
| Chancellor | Helmut Kohl |
| Preceded by | Wolfgang Schäuble |
| Succeeded by | Friedrich Bohl |
| Chief Whip of theCDU/CSU group in theBundestag | |
| In office 15 November 1984 – 21 May 1989 | |
| Leader | Wolfgang Schäuble |
| Preceded by | Wolfgang Schäuble |
| Succeeded by | Friedrich Bohl |
| Whip of theCDU/CSU group in theBundestag | |
| In office 14 October 1982 – 15 November 1984 Serving with Wolfgang Bötsch, Agnes Hürland-Büning | |
| Leader | Alfred Dregger |
| Chief Whip | Wolfgang Schäuble |
| Preceded by | Wolfgang Schäuble Wilhelm Rawe Dorothee Wilms |
| Succeeded by | Friedrich Bohl |
| In office 9 November 1971 – 14 December 1976 Serving with Josef Rösing,Leo Wagner, Olaf Baron von Wrangel, Paul Röhner, Gerhard Reddemann,Paul Mikat,Philipp Jenninger | |
| Leader | Karl Carstens Helmut Kohl |
| Preceded by | Will Rasner |
| Succeeded by | Walter Wallmann |
| Member of theBundestag forUnterems (Emsland; 1969–1980) | |
| In office 20 October 1969 – 17 October 2002 | |
| Preceded by | Josef Stecker |
| Succeeded by | Gitta Connemann |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1937-10-13)13 October 1937 (age 87) Osnabrück,Province of Hanover,Prussia,Nazi Germany(now Germany) |
| Political party | Christian Democratic Union(1958–) |
| Children | 3 |
| Residence | Papenburg |
| Alma mater | University of Münster |
| Occupation |
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Rudolf Seiters (born 13 October 1937 inOsnabrück) is a Germanpolitician of theCDU (Christian Democratic Union) party.
From 1989–1991, he wasFederal Minister for Special Affairs and the head of the Office of theGerman Chancellery. From 1991–1993, he was theMinister of the Interior. From 1998–2002, he was theVice President of the GermanBundestag, or Parliament. Since 2003, he has been the president of theGerman Red Cross.
After graduating from theGymnasium Carolinium in Osnabrück in 1959, Seiters graduated from theUniversity of Münster with a degree inJurisprudence, finishing his first examinations (roughly equivalent tobachelor's degree) in 1963, and his second examination (professional degree) in 1967. From 1968 to 1969, he was a legal assistant in the office of the Osnabrück Department of the Economy and Social Housing. Since November 2003, he has been the president of the German Red Cross.
He is married with three daughters and lives inPapenburg. In 2000, he was given an honorary doctorate from theBundeswehr University Munich.
Since 1958, he has been a member of theCDU. From 1963 until 1965, he was the Borough-president of the Osnabrück-Emsland chapter of the CDU youth organizationJunge Union. Then, from 1965 to 1968, he was the president of the state chapter inHannover and 1968–1971 of the newly foundedLower Saxony chapter. From 1967–1971, he was furthermore a member of the Federal Executive Board of the Junge Union and then from 1971–1973 a member of the Federal Managing Board of the CDU itself. From 1972 to 1998, he was deputy secretary of the CDU in Lower Saxony and from 1992–1998 also a member of the CDU National Executive Committee.
From 1969–2002, Seiters was a member of the German Parliament, theBundestag. Ih the years 1971–1976 and 1982–1984, he served as an executive officer (Geschäftsführer) of the CDU/CSU parliamentary fraction. From 1984 to 1989, he was the party fraction's Head Executive Officer. After the1994 elections, he became the deputy chair of the fraction, a position he retained until 1998 when he became Vice President of the Bundestag.
In 1989, thousands of East Germans took refuge the Prague embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany. Rudolf Seiters successfully negotiated with the East German government (DDR) the passage of the embassy refugees to the Federal Republic of Germany.[1]
Seiters was named on 21 April 1989 as theFederal Minister for Special Affairs and the head of the Office of theGerman Chancellery. On 26 November 1991, he was appointedthe Minister of the Interior. On 27 June 1993, in a German Police raid in the train station of theMecklenburgian town ofBad Kleinen, both the wanted terrorist of theRed Army Faction (RAF),Wolfgang Grams, and aGSG 9 agent,Michael Newrzella, lost their lives. Seiters took responsibility for the raid and stepped down on 4 July 1993.
Seiters was a member of theCabinet Kohl III and theCabinet Kohl IV.
