Hans Filbinger
Encyclopedia
Hans Karl Filbinger was a conservative German politician and a leading member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union
in the 1960s and 1970s, serving as the first chairman of the CDU Baden-Württemberg
and vice chairman of the federal CDU. He was Minister President of Baden-Württemberg
from 1966 to 1978 and as such also chaired the Bundesrat
in 1973/74. He had to resign as minister president and party chairman after allegations about his role as a navy lawyer and judge in the Second World War. While the CDU Baden-Württemberg elected him honorary chairman—a position he held until his death—, he remained a controversial figure. He also founded the conservative think tank Studienzentrum Weikersheim
, which he chaired until 1997.
, Grand Duchy of Baden
. He studied law and economics at the University of Freiburg
, the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and in Paris
. Having earned his doctorate in 1939 with the dissertation "Limits to majority rule in stock and corporation law", he worked as a lecturer at the University of Freiburg. In 1940 he passed his final examination.
Filbinger, a Catholic
, was married to Ingeborg Breuer and had four daughters and a son.
He was a member of the Jugendbund Neudeutschland (Youth Federation New-Germany), which he had joined in grammar school. As this Catholic students' federation with political leanings to the Centre Party
opposed their being integrated into the Hitler Youth
, it was banned. Filbinger, who was a leading member in the district of Northern Baden
, in April 1933 called his fellow members to continue their work with their previous intentions and issue a programme for the upcoming future. As a result, the NSDAP deemed him "politically unreliable".
On 1 June 1933, Filbinger joined the Sturmabteilung
(SA), and later also the National Socialist students federation, but largely remained an inactive member. Attorney General Brettle advised Filbinger, as he was applying for his first examination in January 1937, that he could not expect to be admitted to the Referendariat, the preparatory service required for future state employees without having cleared himself from these political complaints. Seeing himself barred from the second examination and hence blocked from any further professional career, Filbinger asked to be admitted to NS party membership in spring.
. In 1943 he was ordered to enter the military legal department - according to his own account, against his will. Two attempts at avoiding this by volunteering for submarine
squads didn't succeed. Filbinger served in the legal department until the end of the war in 1945. This period of his life was later raised to prominence in the Filbinger affair.
During that time he was a member of the Freiburg circle, a group of Catholic intellectuals centred around the publisher Karl Färber. Filbinger used his periods of leave to return to Freiburg and attend lectures by Reinhold Schneider
, a writer critical of the Nazi regime.
Without his knowledge, two of the conspirators
of the July 20 Plot
—Karl Sack
and Berthold Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg
—recommended Filbinger for employment after a successful coup, adding that one could always rely on Filbinger's "principled anti-Nazi stance and loyalty".
's ordoliberalism
, and settled down as lawyer. In 1947, he was coopted into the International anti-trust commission, chaired by Eucken and Karl Gailer.
In 1951 Filbinger joined the Christian Democratic Union
and rose to be chairman of the CDU of Southern Baden.
In 1953, Filbinger was elected to the city council of Freiburg.
In 1958, minister-president Gebhard Müller
appointed him an honorary state council. As such he was a member of the state government, mainly concerned with the interests of Southern Baden in the young state of Baden-Württemberg
.
In 1960, Filbinger was appointed Minister of the Interior. In the same year, he was elected into the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg, in which he represented the city of Freiburg. He remained a member of parliament until 1980.
was elected Chancellor of Germany and Filbinger succeeded him as minister-president of Baden-Württemberg.
At that time, the CDU's coalition partner FDP
broke with the CDU in order to form a government with the SPD
. Dramatic negotiations resulted in Filbinger forming a CDU-SPD government, mirroring the Federal Great Coalition.
The Great Coalition continued after the state elections of 1968 and went on to reform the administrative system. This reform merged many towns and districts to create more viable units. According to Filbinger, towns are "true sources of power for the state and provide the citizen with the feeling ... of having a home". The results transcended the historical borders of the historic regions of Baden
and Württemberg
.
The two regions had only been united in 1952 after a referendum. Their relationship had never been easy and the opposition against the new "South-West State" remained strong in Baden. Proponents of Baden's independence raised concerns about the legitimacy of the 1951 referendum because of the controversial voting modalities. In 1956, the Federal Constitutional Court declared the modalities and the merger of the states legal but added that the will of the people of Baden had indeed been glossed over by political machinations. The decision had no immediate consequences until Filbinger became Minister-President. He himself hailed from Baden and after the court had reiterated its earlier verdict in 1969, the Filbinger administration in 1970 held a second referendum in Baden, which resulted in an overwhelming approval of the merger. Filbinger has been dubbed "architect of Baden-Württemberg's unity" for this.
Filbinger also pushed his party, that still was organized as four distinct regional parties to unite into a single CDU of Baden-Württemberg and was duly elected the first chairman.
In the 1972 state elections, the Filbinger's CDU achieve 52,9% of the vote, gaining an absolute majority for the first time. In 1976, campaigning under the slogan "Freedom instead of socialism", he increased his party's vote to a hitherto unsurpassed 56,7%.
Filbinger was a staunch opponent of leftist tendencies in politics and the universities, and figured prominently in the struggle against terrorism
. Against nationwide trends, he opposed comprehensive schools and expanded the state's tripartial school system (Hauptschule, Realschule, Gymnasium) and also vocational schools.
As minister-president of Baden-Würrtemberg, he was President
of the Bundesrat
, the representation of the states on the federal level, from 1973 to 1974.
During the 1970s, Filbinger enjoyed a tremendous popularity as a patriarchal figure. He was elected a member of federal CDU executive board and also deputy chairman. Analysts even deemed him a possible candidate for the presidential elections
in 1979, when his career suddenly ended in 1978 due to the Filbinger affaire (see below), an event from which his reputation has never recovered.
magazine published one of Filbinger's verdicts. On 29 May 1945, Filbinger presided at the trial against artillery man Petzold and sentenced him to six months imprisonment for incitement of discontent, refusal of obedience and resistance. In an editorial, the Spiegel also claimed that, based on Petzold's memories, Filbinger had referred to Hitler as "our beloved Führer ... who has brought the fatherland back up". Filbinger immediately reacted by filing a law suit against the Spiegel, demanding that the Spiegel desist from making such a claim. The court decided in favour of Filbinger, since it found Petzold an unreliable witness and the alleged quote in conflict with Filbinger's other utterances and actions.
Nonetheless, allegations against Filbinger continued at various occasions, e.g. in 1974 when Filbinger as President of the Bundesrat
spoke at the tricennial
of the July 20 Plot
, or in 1975 during the debate about a nuclear facility at Wyhl
. Debaters often twisted or neglected the existing evidence or confused the circumstance, Petzold's anti-Nazi stance in particular, with the actual verdict.
Filbinger's verdict against Petzold was especially criticized for having occurred after the surrender of the German military on 8 May 1945. However, the British military command had charged German officers in Norway with maintaining order among the German prisoners-of-war. Later the Petzold trial was confused with other cases involving Filbinger, creating the legend that Filbinger had sentenced a soldier to death for having spoken out against Nazism after German surrender.
The controversy was brought to the boiling point by the controversial German author Rolf Hochhuth
. On 17 February 1978 the German weekly Die Zeit
published a preview from Hochhuth's novel A Love in Germany (published October 1978), the backbone of which was the case of seaman Walter Gröger. Hochhuth accused Filbinger of having "participated" in four death sentences as a navy lawyer. The Petzold trial, though not involving a death sentence, Hochhuth deemed "outrageous" for having been held after the end of war.
In his allegations, Hochhuth called Filbinger "such a dreadful lawyer, so that one has to presume that ... he is only living in freedom because of the silence of those who knew him." As in the previous case, Filbinger filed a law suit against Hochhuth and Die Zeit, seeking to have the claim quoted above banned as libel. In contrast to the previous case, the court did not take the incriminated sentence as a unit but analysed and judged it bit by bit. On June 13, 1978 the court decided that Hochhuth's claims about illegal behaviour were indeed a libellous charges and banned the author from repeating them. However, The term "a dreadful lawyer" was deemed a judgement of opinion protected by freedom of speech
. The court has been criticized for mistaken the causal connection between the two statements for a simple addition. Filbinger abstained from appealing the court's decision, and though Hochhuth did not repeat his "illegality" charges (and later even claimed that no one ever made such charges) the other allegation were echoed and variegated by the media.
In May 1943 several seaman employed in clearing up the scene after an air raid on Kiel
were accused of having stolen some petty goods from a drug store. Filbinger, as prosecutor, demanded the death penalty for the ringleader Krämer and the judge did sentence Krämer to death. After the verdict, Filbinger again interrogated the seaman about the incident and afterwards wrote a report putting the condemned man in a positive light. Filbinger appended this report to the verdict that had to be sent to the superior commander for confirmation and as the commander asked Filbinger to comment on the question whether the man should be pardoned, the prosecutor made the case for commuting the death penalty into a prison sentence. The commander agreed and sent Krämer into a punitive camp. Filbinger himself called his actions "an act of artifice, of manipulation, a lie, without a doubt".
The second case was the case on which Hochhuth's novel was based. The seaman Walter Gröger, deployed to Norway, had planned to desert and flee to Sweden with his Norwegian lover. The couple was found out and arrested and Gröger sentenced to eight years of prison. However, the commander of the fleet denied confirmation, returned the case to the Oslo court martial and ordered the prosecution to demand the death penalty. On the day of the trial, the original prosecutor, who already had pleaded for the death penalty, was prevented participating and Filbinger, who hadn't been involved in the case, was appointed prosecutor. According to the Admiral's orders, Filbinger demanded the death penalty and the court sentenced the seaman to death. Admiral Dönitz
rejected a plea for pardon. On 16 March 1945 Gröger was executed and, according to military custom, Filbinger supervised the execution.
In two cases Filbinger saved opponents of the regime from execution: He interfered in the confirmation process of the case of military chaplain Möbius, who had been sentenced to death for a political statement. The case was reopened in spring 1945 and Möbius subsequently acquitted. As prosecutor in the case against Lieutenant Forstmeier, who had made some remarks about the July 20 Plot
, he influenced the witnesses to testimonies, that could be interpreted in the defendant's favour, prolonged the proceedings and obtained a verdict of demotion
and imprisonment
on parole. Forstmeier was supposed to be sent to frontline combat, but the end of the war prevented this.
Finally, Filbinger issued two death sentences as a Navy judge: On 9 April, the Oslo court martial chaired by Filbinger dealt with the case of four seaman, who had killed their commanding officer and fled to Sweden. In absentia, the court sentenced them to death for murder and desertion. (In 1952, one of the seaman was again brought to trial and sentenced to ten years in prison). On 17 April 1945, Filbinger chaired the absentia trial against an Oberststeuermann who had taken his boat and fourteen seamen to Sweden and sentenced the officer to death for desertion and undermining morale
. Both verdicts were issued in absentia and could not reach the defendants. These two death sentences have been explained as an attempt of avoiding a breaking down of military discipline even at the end of the war, especially since the Navy was involved in evacuating two million Germans from East Prussia
that was encircled by the Red Army
.
According to Veteran FAZ
editor Günter Gillessen, who reviewed the case in 2003, the facts paint a picture different from that of a bloodthirsty and unrepentant Nazi judge, a view confirmed by Adolf Harms, who worked as a judge alongside Filbinger, including the Gröger case, and described Filbinger as "no fierce dog", "definitely not a Nazi" and as someone with a decidedly negative attitude towards the then current political leadership". It should be noted that Harms has been described by some as a "Scharfmacher", a baiter.
Another issue revolves around the sentence "Was damals rechtens war, kann heute nicht Unrecht sein" ("What was lawful then, cannot be unlawful today."). This comment was part of an interview the Spiegel had conducted with Filbinger on 15 May 1978. The Spiegel interpreted the quote as a justification of Nazi laws, whereas Filbinger had referred to the military penal code of 1872, that was in force throughout the Second World War. Filbinger complained that his quote had been edited and taken out of context and his then spokesman Gerhard Goll, who had been present during the interview, called the magazine's interpretation "not only untrue but also an infamy". Goll stated that Filbinger was referring in particular the fact that all nations in 1945 considered the death penalty as an adequate and necessary deterrent against desertion, whereas he had always considered and labelled the Nazi state as a "tyranny of injustice". Still, the quote as originally published stuck with Filbinger and has been the basis of much of the recurring criticism. Since then Spiegel, Zeit and other media have repeated the controversial interpretations, leading to letters of protest by Filbinger. In 1991, the Zeit was forced by court injunction
to publish corrections.
Filbinger's critics have been criticized for violating the presumption of innocence
and for putting their adversary in a vicious circle
, in which a rejection of allegations is taken as a confirmation of guilt.
Filbinger has been criticized for not enquiring about other cases after the first allegations, for not being forthcoming enough or for placing too much emphasis on the legal dimension of the allegations.
He also has been criticized for not uttering regret for his involvement or sympathy for Gröger, though he explicitly agreed with a comment by the judge presiding over his 1978 libel case: "The verdict against Gröger is regrettable and can only be explained by the one word: war. Every war is gruesome!"
. Despite this, the CDU Baden-Württemberg appointed him honorary chairman in 1979, which he remained until his death. Filbinger also had to relinquish his offices in the federal party, resigning as deputy chairman in 1978 and giving up his seat on the executive board in 1981.
As he resigned from office, Filbinger stated that the attacks would be revealed as untrue, if they hadn't been so yet. Some historians and lawyers have agreed with this, while others dispute this conclusion. The CDU Baden-Württemberg considers Filbinger as rehabilitated
In 1987, Filbinger published his memoirs titled Die geschmähte Generation (The slandered generation), in which he again defended himself against his critics. In a review of this book, historian Golo Mann
called the events of 1978 a "masterly orchestrated hunt against Filbinger".
After the collapse of the GDR
in 1989/90, two Stasi
lieutenants revealed that they had been involved in the campaign against Filbinger:
Stasi document P3333 reveals that Filbinger had been spied on since the end of the 1960s. Note that the use of the word Fascist adheres to usage prevalent in Communist states.
Filbinger's case sparks controversy even to this day.
On 16 September 2003, a day after his 90th birthday, Filbinger was honoured by a reception at Ludwigsburg
palace. The 130 guests included most government ministers of Baden-Württemberg and his successors Lothar Späth
and Erwin Teufel
. Protests accompanied the Ludwigsburg reception and had previously resulted in the cancelling in of a similar reception in Filbinger's home town Freiburg.
Filbinger has been elected to the Federal Convention
as a representative of Baden-Würrtemberg's parliament in 1959, 1969, 1974, 1994, 1999, and 2004. The last occasion in 2004 caused controversy, as SPD
, Greens
, PDS
, the German PEN
and the Jewish Council
protested this choice. However, on 31 March 2004, all candidates, including Filbinger, were unanimously confirmed by all parties in the state parliament, including the SPD and Green groupings.
Filbinger died on 1 April 2007 in Freiburg im Breisgau.
On 11 April 2007, Günther Oettinger
, the current Minister President of Baden-Württemberg, held a controversial eulogy during the memorial service for his predecessor. In his speech Oettinger described Filbinger as "not a National-Socialist" but an "an opponent of the Nazi regime", who could flee the constraints of the regime as little as million others". About Filbinger's role as navy judge, Oettiner pointed out that no one lost his life because of a verdict by Filbinger and had not the power and freedom supposed by his critics. Oettinger was subsequently accused by politicians and the media of diminishing the significance of the Nazi dictatorship. German Chancellor
Angela Merkel
reacted with public admonishment, stating that she would have preferred if "the critical questions" would have been raised. Oettinger was also criticized by opposition politicians and the Jewish Council
; some of his critics even called for his demission.
Oettinger at first defended his speech but added that he regretted any "misunderstanding" about his eulogy, but did not withdraw his comments on Filbinger's past. However, on April 16 he distanced himself from his comments.
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
in the 1960s and 1970s, serving as the first chairman of the CDU Baden-Württemberg
CDU Baden-Württemberg
The CDU Baden-Württemberg is the biggest political party in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and the second largest state party of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany with 77,800 members...
and vice chairman of the federal CDU. He was Minister President of Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
from 1966 to 1978 and as such also chaired the Bundesrat
Bundesrat of Germany
The German Bundesrat is a legislative body that represents the sixteen Länder of Germany at the federal level...
in 1973/74. He had to resign as minister president and party chairman after allegations about his role as a navy lawyer and judge in the Second World War. While the CDU Baden-Württemberg elected him honorary chairman—a position he held until his death—, he remained a controversial figure. He also founded the conservative think tank Studienzentrum Weikersheim
Studienzentrum Weikersheim
Studienzentrum Weikersheim is a conservative and christian democratic German political think tank, that was founded in 1979 by Hans Filbinger, Helmut Metzner and others on Schloss Weikersheim in Germany.-Presidents:...
, which he chaired until 1997.
Professional and family life
Filbinger was born on 15 September 1913 in MannheimMannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
, Grand Duchy of Baden
Grand Duchy of Baden
The Grand Duchy of Baden was a historical state in the southwest of Germany, on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918.-History:...
. He studied law and economics at the University of Freiburg
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg , sometimes referred to in English as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.The university was founded in 1457 by the Habsburg dynasty as the...
, the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Having earned his doctorate in 1939 with the dissertation "Limits to majority rule in stock and corporation law", he worked as a lecturer at the University of Freiburg. In 1940 he passed his final examination.
Filbinger, a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
, was married to Ingeborg Breuer and had four daughters and a son.
Filbinger and the Nazi Party
Filbinger first came into contact with Nazi organisations as a student.He was a member of the Jugendbund Neudeutschland (Youth Federation New-Germany), which he had joined in grammar school. As this Catholic students' federation with political leanings to the Centre Party
Centre Party (Germany)
The German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it battled the Kulturkampf which the Prussian government launched to reduce the power of the Catholic Church...
opposed their being integrated into the Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
, it was banned. Filbinger, who was a leading member in the district of Northern Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
, in April 1933 called his fellow members to continue their work with their previous intentions and issue a programme for the upcoming future. As a result, the NSDAP deemed him "politically unreliable".
On 1 June 1933, Filbinger joined the Sturmabteilung
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
(SA), and later also the National Socialist students federation, but largely remained an inactive member. Attorney General Brettle advised Filbinger, as he was applying for his first examination in January 1937, that he could not expect to be admitted to the Referendariat, the preparatory service required for future state employees without having cleared himself from these political complaints. Seeing himself barred from the second examination and hence blocked from any further professional career, Filbinger asked to be admitted to NS party membership in spring.
Filbinger during the war
In 1940, Filbinger was conscripted into the German Navy. He was promoted to the rank of Oberfähnrich and later to that of lieutenantLieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
. In 1943 he was ordered to enter the military legal department - according to his own account, against his will. Two attempts at avoiding this by volunteering for submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
squads didn't succeed. Filbinger served in the legal department until the end of the war in 1945. This period of his life was later raised to prominence in the Filbinger affair.
During that time he was a member of the Freiburg circle, a group of Catholic intellectuals centred around the publisher Karl Färber. Filbinger used his periods of leave to return to Freiburg and attend lectures by Reinhold Schneider
Reinhold Schneider
Reinhold Schneider was a German poet who also wrote novels. Initially his works were less religious, but later his poetry had a Christian and specifically Catholic influence. His first works included Luís de Camões and Portugal He had written anti-war poems, which were banned in Nazi Germany...
, a writer critical of the Nazi regime.
Without his knowledge, two of the conspirators
Conspiracy (political)
In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'état or through assassination....
of the July 20 Plot
July 20 Plot
On 20 July 1944, an attempt was made to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of the Third Reich, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia. The plot was the culmination of the efforts of several groups in the German Resistance to overthrow the Nazi-led German government...
—Karl Sack
Karl Sack
Karl Sack was a German jurist and member of the resistance movement during World War II....
and Berthold Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg
Berthold Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg
Berthold Alfred Maria Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg was a German aristocrat, lawyer and conspirator in the 20 July plot of 1944, along with his brother, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, an army colonel...
—recommended Filbinger for employment after a successful coup, adding that one could always rely on Filbinger's "principled anti-Nazi stance and loyalty".
Early post-war career
In 1946, Filbinger resumed his academic work at the university of Freiburg, subscribing to Walter EuckenWalter Eucken
Walter Eucken was a German economist and father of ordoliberalism. His name is closely linked with the development of the "social market economy".-Life:...
's ordoliberalism
Ordoliberalism
Ordoliberalism is a school of liberalism that emphasised the need for the state to ensure that the free market produces results close to its theoretical potential . The theory was developed by German economists and legal scholars such as Walter Eucken, Franz Böhm, Hans Grossmann-Doerth and Leonhard...
, and settled down as lawyer. In 1947, he was coopted into the International anti-trust commission, chaired by Eucken and Karl Gailer.
In 1951 Filbinger joined the Christian Democratic Union
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
and rose to be chairman of the CDU of Southern Baden.
In 1953, Filbinger was elected to the city council of Freiburg.
In 1958, minister-president Gebhard Müller
Gebhard Müller
Gebhard Müller was a German lawyer and politician . He was Minister-President of Württemberg-Hohenzollern and Baden-Württemberg . He was born in Füramoos and died in Stuttgart....
appointed him an honorary state council. As such he was a member of the state government, mainly concerned with the interests of Southern Baden in the young state of Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
.
In 1960, Filbinger was appointed Minister of the Interior. In the same year, he was elected into the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg, in which he represented the city of Freiburg. He remained a member of parliament until 1980.
Minister-president of Baden-Württemberg
In 1966, minister-president Kurt Georg KiesingerKurt Georg Kiesinger
Kurt Georg Kiesinger was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany from 1 December 1966 until 21 October 1969.-Early career and wartime activities:...
was elected Chancellor of Germany and Filbinger succeeded him as minister-president of Baden-Württemberg.
At that time, the CDU's coalition partner FDP
Free Democratic Party (Germany)
The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...
broke with the CDU in order to form a government with the SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
. Dramatic negotiations resulted in Filbinger forming a CDU-SPD government, mirroring the Federal Great Coalition.
The Great Coalition continued after the state elections of 1968 and went on to reform the administrative system. This reform merged many towns and districts to create more viable units. According to Filbinger, towns are "true sources of power for the state and provide the citizen with the feeling ... of having a home". The results transcended the historical borders of the historic regions of Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
and Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
.
The two regions had only been united in 1952 after a referendum. Their relationship had never been easy and the opposition against the new "South-West State" remained strong in Baden. Proponents of Baden's independence raised concerns about the legitimacy of the 1951 referendum because of the controversial voting modalities. In 1956, the Federal Constitutional Court declared the modalities and the merger of the states legal but added that the will of the people of Baden had indeed been glossed over by political machinations. The decision had no immediate consequences until Filbinger became Minister-President. He himself hailed from Baden and after the court had reiterated its earlier verdict in 1969, the Filbinger administration in 1970 held a second referendum in Baden, which resulted in an overwhelming approval of the merger. Filbinger has been dubbed "architect of Baden-Württemberg's unity" for this.
Filbinger also pushed his party, that still was organized as four distinct regional parties to unite into a single CDU of Baden-Württemberg and was duly elected the first chairman.
In the 1972 state elections, the Filbinger's CDU achieve 52,9% of the vote, gaining an absolute majority for the first time. In 1976, campaigning under the slogan "Freedom instead of socialism", he increased his party's vote to a hitherto unsurpassed 56,7%.
Filbinger was a staunch opponent of leftist tendencies in politics and the universities, and figured prominently in the struggle against terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
. Against nationwide trends, he opposed comprehensive schools and expanded the state's tripartial school system (Hauptschule, Realschule, Gymnasium) and also vocational schools.
As minister-president of Baden-Würrtemberg, he was President
President of the German Bundesrat
In Germany, the President of the Bundesrat or President of the Federal Council is the chairperson or speaker of the Bundesrat . The presidency of the Bundesrat rotates among the heads of government of each of the states on an annual basis...
of the Bundesrat
Bundesrat of Germany
The German Bundesrat is a legislative body that represents the sixteen Länder of Germany at the federal level...
, the representation of the states on the federal level, from 1973 to 1974.
During the 1970s, Filbinger enjoyed a tremendous popularity as a patriarchal figure. He was elected a member of federal CDU executive board and also deputy chairman. Analysts even deemed him a possible candidate for the presidential elections
President of Germany
The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...
in 1979, when his career suddenly ended in 1978 due to the Filbinger affaire (see below), an event from which his reputation has never recovered.
Filbinger affair
The first criticism of Filbinger's war time record dates back to 10 April 1972. Two weeks before the Baden-Württemberg state elections, the Der SpiegelDer Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
magazine published one of Filbinger's verdicts. On 29 May 1945, Filbinger presided at the trial against artillery man Petzold and sentenced him to six months imprisonment for incitement of discontent, refusal of obedience and resistance. In an editorial, the Spiegel also claimed that, based on Petzold's memories, Filbinger had referred to Hitler as "our beloved Führer ... who has brought the fatherland back up". Filbinger immediately reacted by filing a law suit against the Spiegel, demanding that the Spiegel desist from making such a claim. The court decided in favour of Filbinger, since it found Petzold an unreliable witness and the alleged quote in conflict with Filbinger's other utterances and actions.
Nonetheless, allegations against Filbinger continued at various occasions, e.g. in 1974 when Filbinger as President of the Bundesrat
Bundesrat of Germany
The German Bundesrat is a legislative body that represents the sixteen Länder of Germany at the federal level...
spoke at the tricennial
Anniversary
An anniversary is a day that commemorates or celebrates a past event that occurred on the same day of the year as the initial event. For example, the first event is the initial occurrence or, if planned, the inaugural of the event. One year later would be the first anniversary of that event...
of the July 20 Plot
July 20 Plot
On 20 July 1944, an attempt was made to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of the Third Reich, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia. The plot was the culmination of the efforts of several groups in the German Resistance to overthrow the Nazi-led German government...
, or in 1975 during the debate about a nuclear facility at Wyhl
Wyhl
Wyhl is a municipality in the district of Emmendingen in Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany.It was known in the 1970s for its role in the anti-nuclear movement....
. Debaters often twisted or neglected the existing evidence or confused the circumstance, Petzold's anti-Nazi stance in particular, with the actual verdict.
Filbinger's verdict against Petzold was especially criticized for having occurred after the surrender of the German military on 8 May 1945. However, the British military command had charged German officers in Norway with maintaining order among the German prisoners-of-war. Later the Petzold trial was confused with other cases involving Filbinger, creating the legend that Filbinger had sentenced a soldier to death for having spoken out against Nazism after German surrender.
The controversy was brought to the boiling point by the controversial German author Rolf Hochhuth
Rolf Hochhuth
Rolf Hochhuth is a German author and playwright. He is best known for his 1963 drama The Deputy and remains a controversial figure for his plays and other public comments, such as his insinuation of Pope Pius XII's sympathies for Hitler's extermination of the Jews in the 1963 play The Deputy and...
. On 17 February 1978 the German weekly Die Zeit
Die Zeit
Die Zeit is a German nationwide weekly newspaper that is highly respected for its quality journalism.With a circulation of 488,036 and an estimated readership of slightly above 2 million, it is the most widely read German weekly newspaper...
published a preview from Hochhuth's novel A Love in Germany (published October 1978), the backbone of which was the case of seaman Walter Gröger. Hochhuth accused Filbinger of having "participated" in four death sentences as a navy lawyer. The Petzold trial, though not involving a death sentence, Hochhuth deemed "outrageous" for having been held after the end of war.
In his allegations, Hochhuth called Filbinger "such a dreadful lawyer, so that one has to presume that ... he is only living in freedom because of the silence of those who knew him." As in the previous case, Filbinger filed a law suit against Hochhuth and Die Zeit, seeking to have the claim quoted above banned as libel. In contrast to the previous case, the court did not take the incriminated sentence as a unit but analysed and judged it bit by bit. On June 13, 1978 the court decided that Hochhuth's claims about illegal behaviour were indeed a libellous charges and banned the author from repeating them. However, The term "a dreadful lawyer" was deemed a judgement of opinion protected by freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
. The court has been criticized for mistaken the causal connection between the two statements for a simple addition. Filbinger abstained from appealing the court's decision, and though Hochhuth did not repeat his "illegality" charges (and later even claimed that no one ever made such charges) the other allegation were echoed and variegated by the media.
Capital cases involving Filbinger
During his stint as a Navy lawyer, Filbinger had been involved in 230 cases, of which six were of a capital nature. In three of these cases, Filbinger was the attorney for the prosecution, in two cases he had been the presiding judge and in one case he had interfered from outside.In May 1943 several seaman employed in clearing up the scene after an air raid on Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
were accused of having stolen some petty goods from a drug store. Filbinger, as prosecutor, demanded the death penalty for the ringleader Krämer and the judge did sentence Krämer to death. After the verdict, Filbinger again interrogated the seaman about the incident and afterwards wrote a report putting the condemned man in a positive light. Filbinger appended this report to the verdict that had to be sent to the superior commander for confirmation and as the commander asked Filbinger to comment on the question whether the man should be pardoned, the prosecutor made the case for commuting the death penalty into a prison sentence. The commander agreed and sent Krämer into a punitive camp. Filbinger himself called his actions "an act of artifice, of manipulation, a lie, without a doubt".
The second case was the case on which Hochhuth's novel was based. The seaman Walter Gröger, deployed to Norway, had planned to desert and flee to Sweden with his Norwegian lover. The couple was found out and arrested and Gröger sentenced to eight years of prison. However, the commander of the fleet denied confirmation, returned the case to the Oslo court martial and ordered the prosecution to demand the death penalty. On the day of the trial, the original prosecutor, who already had pleaded for the death penalty, was prevented participating and Filbinger, who hadn't been involved in the case, was appointed prosecutor. According to the Admiral's orders, Filbinger demanded the death penalty and the court sentenced the seaman to death. Admiral Dönitz
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy during World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of , the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner...
rejected a plea for pardon. On 16 March 1945 Gröger was executed and, according to military custom, Filbinger supervised the execution.
In two cases Filbinger saved opponents of the regime from execution: He interfered in the confirmation process of the case of military chaplain Möbius, who had been sentenced to death for a political statement. The case was reopened in spring 1945 and Möbius subsequently acquitted. As prosecutor in the case against Lieutenant Forstmeier, who had made some remarks about the July 20 Plot
July 20 Plot
On 20 July 1944, an attempt was made to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of the Third Reich, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia. The plot was the culmination of the efforts of several groups in the German Resistance to overthrow the Nazi-led German government...
, he influenced the witnesses to testimonies, that could be interpreted in the defendant's favour, prolonged the proceedings and obtained a verdict of demotion
Demotion
A demotion is a reduction in an employee's rank or job title within the organizational hierarchy of a company, public service department, or other body. A demotion may also lead to the loss of other privileges associated with a more senior rank and/or a reduction in salary or benefits...
and imprisonment
Imprisonment
Imprisonment is a legal term.The book Termes de la Ley contains the following definition:This passage was approved by Atkin and Duke LJJ in Meering v Grahame White Aviation Co....
on parole. Forstmeier was supposed to be sent to frontline combat, but the end of the war prevented this.
Finally, Filbinger issued two death sentences as a Navy judge: On 9 April, the Oslo court martial chaired by Filbinger dealt with the case of four seaman, who had killed their commanding officer and fled to Sweden. In absentia, the court sentenced them to death for murder and desertion. (In 1952, one of the seaman was again brought to trial and sentenced to ten years in prison). On 17 April 1945, Filbinger chaired the absentia trial against an Oberststeuermann who had taken his boat and fourteen seamen to Sweden and sentenced the officer to death for desertion and undermining morale
Wehrkraftzersetzung
Wehrkraftzersetzung is a term from German military law during the Third Reich. In 1938, with Adolf Hitler moving Germany closer to war, the Nazi government issued a decree for the purpose of suppressing any expression or activity opposed to the Nazi regime or the Wehrmacht...
. Both verdicts were issued in absentia and could not reach the defendants. These two death sentences have been explained as an attempt of avoiding a breaking down of military discipline even at the end of the war, especially since the Navy was involved in evacuating two million Germans from East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
that was encircled by the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
.
According to Veteran FAZ
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , short F.A.Z., also known as the FAZ, is a national German newspaper, founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt am Main. The Sunday edition is the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung .F.A.Z...
editor Günter Gillessen, who reviewed the case in 2003, the facts paint a picture different from that of a bloodthirsty and unrepentant Nazi judge, a view confirmed by Adolf Harms, who worked as a judge alongside Filbinger, including the Gröger case, and described Filbinger as "no fierce dog", "definitely not a Nazi" and as someone with a decidedly negative attitude towards the then current political leadership". It should be noted that Harms has been described by some as a "Scharfmacher", a baiter.
Filbinger's reaction
Filbinger was not only criticized for his actions during the war, but also for his reactions to the allegations in 1978: In his first reactions to the allegations, Filbinger had claimed that he had "never issued a single death sentence", which was later contradicted by the revelation of the two in absentia cases from April 1945. That Filbinger recalled the two death sentences of 1945 only during the controversy in 1978 seemed incredible and outrageous to many. Filbinger explained this by characterizing the verdicts as "phantom verdicts" with no further consequences for the absent defendants.Another issue revolves around the sentence "Was damals rechtens war, kann heute nicht Unrecht sein" ("What was lawful then, cannot be unlawful today."). This comment was part of an interview the Spiegel had conducted with Filbinger on 15 May 1978. The Spiegel interpreted the quote as a justification of Nazi laws, whereas Filbinger had referred to the military penal code of 1872, that was in force throughout the Second World War. Filbinger complained that his quote had been edited and taken out of context and his then spokesman Gerhard Goll, who had been present during the interview, called the magazine's interpretation "not only untrue but also an infamy". Goll stated that Filbinger was referring in particular the fact that all nations in 1945 considered the death penalty as an adequate and necessary deterrent against desertion, whereas he had always considered and labelled the Nazi state as a "tyranny of injustice". Still, the quote as originally published stuck with Filbinger and has been the basis of much of the recurring criticism. Since then Spiegel, Zeit and other media have repeated the controversial interpretations, leading to letters of protest by Filbinger. In 1991, the Zeit was forced by court injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
to publish corrections.
Filbinger's critics have been criticized for violating the presumption of innocence
Presumption of innocence
The presumption of innocence, sometimes referred to by the Latin expression Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat, is the principle that one is considered innocent until proven guilty. Application of this principle is a legal right of the accused in a criminal trial, recognised in many...
and for putting their adversary in a vicious circle
Vicious Circle
Vicious Circle is an album released in 1994 by L.A. Guns. Most of the songs have Phil Lewis on lead vocals, but the track "Nothing Better to Do" features Kelly Nickels on lead vocals, and "Tarantula" is instrumental. MC Bones drums on several songs. Lewis and Bones also played together in the band...
, in which a rejection of allegations is taken as a confirmation of guilt.
Filbinger has been criticized for not enquiring about other cases after the first allegations, for not being forthcoming enough or for placing too much emphasis on the legal dimension of the allegations.
He also has been criticized for not uttering regret for his involvement or sympathy for Gröger, though he explicitly agreed with a comment by the judge presiding over his 1978 libel case: "The verdict against Gröger is regrettable and can only be explained by the one word: war. Every war is gruesome!"
Filbinger's resignation
After CDU politicians had joined in the criticism, Filbinger resigned as minister-president on 7 August 1978, and also as chairman of the CDU Baden-Württemberg. In both positions, he was succeed by Lothar SpäthLothar Späth
Lothar Späth is a German politician of the CDU.From 30 August 1978 to 13 January 1991 he was minister-president of Baden-Württemberg and chairman of the CDU Baden-Württemberg, serving as President of the Bundesrat in 1984/85.Later on he worked for Jenoptik AG until 2003...
. Despite this, the CDU Baden-Württemberg appointed him honorary chairman in 1979, which he remained until his death. Filbinger also had to relinquish his offices in the federal party, resigning as deputy chairman in 1978 and giving up his seat on the executive board in 1981.
As he resigned from office, Filbinger stated that the attacks would be revealed as untrue, if they hadn't been so yet. Some historians and lawyers have agreed with this, while others dispute this conclusion. The CDU Baden-Württemberg considers Filbinger as rehabilitated
Subsequent events
After his withdrawal from politics, Filbinger in 1979 founded the conservative think tank Studienzentrum Weikersheim (Weikersheim Centre of Studies), which he chaired until 1997.In 1987, Filbinger published his memoirs titled Die geschmähte Generation (The slandered generation), in which he again defended himself against his critics. In a review of this book, historian Golo Mann
Golo Mann
Golo Mann , born Angelus Gottfried Thomas Mann, was a popular German historian, essayist and writer. He was the third child of the novelist Thomas Mann and his wife Katia Mann.-Life:...
called the events of 1978 a "masterly orchestrated hunt against Filbinger".
After the collapse of the GDR
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
in 1989/90, two Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
lieutenants revealed that they had been involved in the campaign against Filbinger:
- "We have fought against Filbinger actively, that means we have collected material and have leaked forged or manipulated material into the west. The fight against Filbinger was a substantial part of "Action Black", a long lasting campaign against conservatives, CDU/CSU, Fascists."
Stasi document P3333 reveals that Filbinger had been spied on since the end of the 1960s. Note that the use of the word Fascist adheres to usage prevalent in Communist states.
Filbinger's case sparks controversy even to this day.
On 16 September 2003, a day after his 90th birthday, Filbinger was honoured by a reception at Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg urban district with about 87,000 inhabitants...
palace. The 130 guests included most government ministers of Baden-Württemberg and his successors Lothar Späth
Lothar Späth
Lothar Späth is a German politician of the CDU.From 30 August 1978 to 13 January 1991 he was minister-president of Baden-Württemberg and chairman of the CDU Baden-Württemberg, serving as President of the Bundesrat in 1984/85.Later on he worked for Jenoptik AG until 2003...
and Erwin Teufel
Erwin Teufel
Erwin Teufel is a German politician of the CDU. Teufel was the leader of the CDU parliamentary faction in the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg from 1978 to 1991. He was minister-president of Baden-Württemberg and chairman of the CDU state party group from 1991 to 2005, serving as President...
. Protests accompanied the Ludwigsburg reception and had previously resulted in the cancelling in of a similar reception in Filbinger's home town Freiburg.
Filbinger has been elected to the Federal Convention
Bundesversammlung (Germany)
The Federal Convention is a special body in the institutional system of Germany, convened solely for the purpose of electing the German Federal President , either every five years or within 30 days of a president's resignation, death or removal from office.The Bundesversammlung includes the entire...
as a representative of Baden-Würrtemberg's parliament in 1959, 1969, 1974, 1994, 1999, and 2004. The last occasion in 2004 caused controversy, as SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
, Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...
, PDS
Left Party (Germany)
The Party of Democratic Socialism was a democratic socialist political party active in Germany from 1989 to 2007. It was the legal successor to the Socialist Unity Party , which ruled the German Democratic Republic until 1990. From 1990 through to 2005, the PDS had been seen as the left-wing...
, the German PEN
International PEN
PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....
and the Jewish Council
Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland
The Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland is a federation of German Jews organizing many Jewish organisations in Germany. It was founded on July 19, 1950, as a response to the increasing isolation of German Jews by the international Jewish community and increasing interest in Jewish affairs by the ...
protested this choice. However, on 31 March 2004, all candidates, including Filbinger, were unanimously confirmed by all parties in the state parliament, including the SPD and Green groupings.
Filbinger died on 1 April 2007 in Freiburg im Breisgau.
On 11 April 2007, Günther Oettinger
Günther Oettinger
Günther Hermann Oettinger is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union . He became European Commissioner for Energy in the European Commission on 10 February 2010 and is affiliated with the European People's Party...
, the current Minister President of Baden-Württemberg, held a controversial eulogy during the memorial service for his predecessor. In his speech Oettinger described Filbinger as "not a National-Socialist" but an "an opponent of the Nazi regime", who could flee the constraints of the regime as little as million others". About Filbinger's role as navy judge, Oettiner pointed out that no one lost his life because of a verdict by Filbinger and had not the power and freedom supposed by his critics. Oettinger was subsequently accused by politicians and the media of diminishing the significance of the Nazi dictatorship. German Chancellor
Chancellor
Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany . Merkel, elected to the Bundestag from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000, and chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.From 2005 to 2009 she led a...
reacted with public admonishment, stating that she would have preferred if "the critical questions" would have been raised. Oettinger was also criticized by opposition politicians and the Jewish Council
Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland
The Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland is a federation of German Jews organizing many Jewish organisations in Germany. It was founded on July 19, 1950, as a response to the increasing isolation of German Jews by the international Jewish community and increasing interest in Jewish affairs by the ...
; some of his critics even called for his demission.
Oettinger at first defended his speech but added that he regretted any "misunderstanding" about his eulogy, but did not withdraw his comments on Filbinger's past. However, on April 16 he distanced himself from his comments.
External links
- Personal homepage of Hans Filbinger.
- Gillessen, Günter (2003): Der Fall Filbinger. Die Politische Meinung 408: 67-74.
- Noth, Harald (2004): Hans Filbinger und seine selbstgerechten Richter.
- Wette, Wolfram (2003): Zusammenfassung des "Falls Filbinger".