Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Encyclopedia
Hans-Dietrich Genscher (born 21 March 1927) is a German
politician
of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP). He served as Foreign Minister
and Vice Chancellor of Germany from 1974 to 1982 and, after a two-week pause, from 1982 to 1992, making him Germany's longest serving Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor. In 1991, he was Chairman of the OSCE
.
), now a part of Halle
, in what later became East Germany. He was drafted to serve as a member of the Air Force Support Personnel (Luftwaffenhelfer
) at the age of 16. In 1945 he became a member of the Nazi Party. According to Genscher's statements, this happened through a collective application in his Wehrmacht
unit and against his own intentions.
Genscher fought as a young man in the Wehrmacht at the end of the Second World War
. In 1945, Genscher was a young soldier in General Walther Wenck
's 12th Army. Genscher briefly became an American and British prisoner of war
. After World War II
, he studied law and economics at the universities of Halle and Leipzig
(1946–1949) and joined the East German Liberal Democratic Party
(LDPD) in 1946.
, where he joined the Free Democratic Party (FDP). He passed his second state examination in law in Hamburg
in 1954 and became a solicitor in Bremen.
In 1965 Genscher was elected on the North Rhine-Westphalian FDP list to the West German parliament
and remained a member of parliament until his retirement in 1998. After serving in several party offices, he was appointed Minister of the Interior by Chancellor Willy Brandt
, whose Social Democratic Party
was in coalition with the FDP, in 1969; in 1974, he became foreign minister and Vice Chancellor.
In 1972, while Minister for the Interior, he rejected Israel’s offer to send an Israeli special forces unit to Germany to deal with the Black September
hijacking of the 1972 Summer Olympics
. The crisis ended in a bloody shootout at Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base
which left 11 hostages, 5 terrorists, and 1 German policeman dead. Genscher's popularity with Israel
declined further when he endorsed the handing over of the three captured hijackers to the Palestinians following the hijacking of a Lufthansa plane on 29 October 1972.
In the SPD-FDP coalition, he helped shape Brandt's policy of deescalation with the communist East, commonly known as Ostpolitik
, which was continued under Helmut Schmidt
after Brandt's resignation in 1974.
Still, Genscher was one of the FDP's driving forces when, in 1982, the party switched sides from its coalition with the SPD to support the CDU/CSU
in their Constructive Vote of No Confidence
to have Helmut Schmidt
replaced with Helmut Kohl
as Chancellor. Despite the great controversy that accompanied this switch, he remained one of the most popular politicians in West Germany. He retained his posts as foreign minister and vice chancellor through German reunification and until 1992, when he stepped down for health reasons.
, and which led to German reunification
, when Communist eastern European governments toppled in the late 1980s; for example, he visited Poland
to meet Lech Wałęsa
as early as 1988. In 1988, he was awarded the Prize For Freedom
of the Liberal International
. One event remembered by many is his 30 September 1989 speech from the balcony of the German embassy in Prague
, in whose courtyard thousands of East German citizens had assembled to flee to the West, when he announced that he had reached an agreement with the Communist Czechoslovakian government that the refugees could leave: "We have come to you to tell you that today, your departure ..." (German: "Wir sind zu Ihnen gekommen, um Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass heute Ihre Ausreise ..."). After these words, the speech drowned in cheers.
In 1991, Genscher raced to recognize the Republic of Croatia in the Croatian War of Independence
shortly after the Serbian attack on Vukovar
. The rest of the European Union
was pressured to follow suit soon afterward.
Genscher was also an active participant in the further development of the European Union
, taking active part in the Single European Act
Treaty negotiations in the mid 1980s, as well as the joint publication of the Genscher-Colombo plan with Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Emilio Colombo
which advocated further integration and deepening of relations in the European Union
towards a more federalist
European State.
's lifting of excommunication
of the bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X. Genscher wrote in the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung
: Poles can be proud of Pope John Paul II
. At the last papal election, we said We are the pope! But please—not like this.
He argued that Pope Benedict XVI
is making a habit of offending non-Catholics
. This is a deep moral and political question. It is about respect for the victims of crimes against humanity, Genscher said.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP). He served as Foreign Minister
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany)
The Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs is the head of the Federal Foreign Office and a member of the Cabinet of Germany. The current office holder is Guido Westerwelle...
and Vice Chancellor of Germany from 1974 to 1982 and, after a two-week pause, from 1982 to 1992, making him Germany's longest serving Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor. In 1991, he was Chairman of the OSCE
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is the world's largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, human rights, freedom of the press and fair elections...
.
Early life
Genscher was born at Reideburg (Province of SaxonyProvince of Saxony
The Province of Saxony was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1945. Its capital was Magdeburg.-History:The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories:...
), now a part of Halle
Halle, Saxony-Anhalt
Halle is the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from the town of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia...
, in what later became East Germany. He was drafted to serve as a member of the Air Force Support Personnel (Luftwaffenhelfer
Luftwaffenhelfer
Luftwaffenhelfer are terms commonly used for German students deployed as child soldiers during World War II....
) at the age of 16. In 1945 he became a member of the Nazi Party. According to Genscher's statements, this happened through a collective application in his Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
unit and against his own intentions.
Genscher fought as a young man in the Wehrmacht at the end of the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In 1945, Genscher was a young soldier in General Walther Wenck
Walther Wenck
-Captive, prisoner, and death:Wenck was captured and put in a prisoner of war camp. He was released in 1947. In 1982, Wenck died in a car accident in Bad Rothenfelde.-See also:* Battle of Berlin - 1945* Battle of Halbe - 1945* Hans Krebs, Chief of Staff...
's 12th Army. Genscher briefly became an American and British prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he studied law and economics at the universities of Halle and Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
(1946–1949) and joined the East German Liberal Democratic Party
Liberal Democratic Party of Germany
The Liberal Democratic Party of Germany ) was a political party in East Germany. Like the other allied parties of the SED in the National Front it had 52 representatives in the Volkskammer.-Foundation:...
(LDPD) in 1946.
Political career
In 1952, Genscher fled to West GermanyWest Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, where he joined the Free Democratic Party (FDP). He passed his second state examination in law in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
in 1954 and became a solicitor in Bremen.
In 1965 Genscher was elected on the North Rhine-Westphalian FDP list to the West German parliament
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
and remained a member of parliament until his retirement in 1998. After serving in several party offices, he was appointed Minister of the Interior by Chancellor Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Mayor of West Berlin 1957–1966, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....
, whose Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
was in coalition with the FDP, in 1969; in 1974, he became foreign minister and Vice Chancellor.
In 1972, while Minister for the Interior, he rejected Israel’s offer to send an Israeli special forces unit to Germany to deal with the Black September
Black September (group)
The Black September Organization was a Palestinian paramilitary group, founded in 1970. It was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of eleven Israeli athletes and officials, and fatal shooting of a West German policeman, during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, their most publicized event...
hijacking of the 1972 Summer Olympics
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....
. The crisis ended in a bloody shootout at Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base
Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base
Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base is a German Air Force airfield located near the town of Fürstenfeldbruck in Bavaria, near Munich, Germany....
which left 11 hostages, 5 terrorists, and 1 German policeman dead. Genscher's popularity with Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
declined further when he endorsed the handing over of the three captured hijackers to the Palestinians following the hijacking of a Lufthansa plane on 29 October 1972.
In the SPD-FDP coalition, he helped shape Brandt's policy of deescalation with the communist East, commonly known as Ostpolitik
Ostpolitik
Neue Ostpolitik , or Ostpolitik for short, refers to the normalization of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Eastern Europe, particularly the German Democratic Republic beginning in 1969...
, which was continued under Helmut Schmidt
Helmut Schmidt
Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt is a German Social Democratic politician who served as Chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Prior to becoming chancellor, he had served as Minister of Defence and Minister of Finance. He had also served briefly as Minister of Economics and as acting...
after Brandt's resignation in 1974.
Still, Genscher was one of the FDP's driving forces when, in 1982, the party switched sides from its coalition with the SPD to support the CDU/CSU
Christian Social Union of Bavaria
The Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany...
in their Constructive Vote of No Confidence
Constructive vote of no confidence
The constructive vote of no confidence is a variation on the motion of no confidence which allows a parliament to withdraw confidence from a head of government only if there is a positive majority for a prospective successor...
to have Helmut Schmidt
Helmut Schmidt
Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt is a German Social Democratic politician who served as Chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Prior to becoming chancellor, he had served as Minister of Defence and Minister of Finance. He had also served briefly as Minister of Economics and as acting...
replaced with Helmut Kohl
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl is a German conservative politician and statesman. He was Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union from 1973 to 1998...
as Chancellor. Despite the great controversy that accompanied this switch, he remained one of the most popular politicians in West Germany. He retained his posts as foreign minister and vice chancellor through German reunification and until 1992, when he stepped down for health reasons.
Reunification efforts
He is mostly respected for his efforts that helped spell the end the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, and which led to German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
, when Communist eastern European governments toppled in the late 1980s; for example, he visited Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
to meet Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
as early as 1988. In 1988, he was awarded the Prize For Freedom
Prize For Freedom
The Prize For Freedom is an annual prize presented by the Liberal International since 1985. With the prize the organization honors an individual which has made an outstanding contribution to human rights and political freedoms.-Awards:* 1985 - Raúl Alfonsín...
of the Liberal International
Liberal International
Liberal International is a political international federation for liberal parties. Its headquarters is located at 1 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2HD within the National Liberal Club. It was founded in Oxford in 1947, and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties and for the...
. One event remembered by many is his 30 September 1989 speech from the balcony of the German embassy in Prague
Embassy of Germany in Prague
The Embassy of Germany in Prague is located on Vlašská street , in the Malá Strana district of Prague, Czech Republic....
, in whose courtyard thousands of East German citizens had assembled to flee to the West, when he announced that he had reached an agreement with the Communist Czechoslovakian government that the refugees could leave: "We have come to you to tell you that today, your departure ..." (German: "Wir sind zu Ihnen gekommen, um Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass heute Ihre Ausreise ..."). After these words, the speech drowned in cheers.
In 1991, Genscher raced to recognize the Republic of Croatia in the Croatian War of Independence
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
shortly after the Serbian attack on Vukovar
Vukovar
Vukovar is a city in eastern Croatia, and the biggest river port in Croatia located at the confluence of the Vuka river and the Danube. Vukovar is the center of the Vukovar-Syrmia County...
. The rest of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
was pressured to follow suit soon afterward.
Genscher was also an active participant in the further development of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, taking active part in the Single European Act
Single European Act
The Single European Act was the first major revision of the 1957 Treaty of Rome. The Act set the European Community an objective of establishing a Single Market by 31 December 1992, and codified European Political Cooperation, the forerunner of the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy...
Treaty negotiations in the mid 1980s, as well as the joint publication of the Genscher-Colombo plan with Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs
As in most countries, in Italy the Minister of Foreign Affairs, which is the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is one of the most important ministerial positions...
Emilio Colombo
Emilio Colombo
Emilio Colombo is an Italian politician who was Prime Minister of Italy from 1970 to 1972. In addition to having held top positions in Italian governments, he was also active in European politics.-Biography:...
which advocated further integration and deepening of relations in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
towards a more federalist
Federalist
The term federalist describes several political beliefs around the world. Also, it may refer to the concept of federalism or the type of government called a federation...
European State.
Career after politics
Having finished his political career, Genscher has been active as a lawyer and in international relations organizations. He founded his own Hans-Dietrich Genscher Consult GmbH in 2000. In 2009 he expressed public concern at Pope Benedict XVIPope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
's lifting of excommunication
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
of the bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X. Genscher wrote in the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung
Mitteldeutsche Zeitung
The Mitteldeutsche Zeitung is a regional daily newspaper for southern Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Published in Halle with several local versions, the paper is owned by M. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne....
: Poles can be proud of Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
. At the last papal election, we said We are the pope! But please—not like this.
He argued that Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
is making a habit of offending non-Catholics
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
. This is a deep moral and political question. It is about respect for the victims of crimes against humanity, Genscher said.