Philipp Jenninger
Philipp Jenninger | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Jenninger in 1987 | |
| President of the Bundestag West Germany | |
| In office 5 November 1984 – 11 November 1988 | |
| Preceded by | Rainer Barzel |
| Succeeded by | Rita Süssmuth |
| German Ambassador to Austria | |
| In office 1991–1995 | |
| German Ambassador to the Holy See | |
| In office 1995–1997 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 10 June 1932 CDU |
Philipp Jenninger (10 June 1932 – 4 January 2018) was a
Life and ministerial career
Phillipp Jenninger, whose full name is Philipp-Hariolf Jenninger, was born in 1932 in Rindelbach, now a part of
Between 1982 and 1984, Jenninger served as Minister of State at the German Chancellery, under Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
Bundestag membership and presidency
Jenninger was a member of the Bundestag from 1969 to 1990, always as directly elected representative of a constituency. At first, he represented Crailsheim; after 1976, he represented Schwäbisch Hall.
After Rainer Barzel's resignation, Jenninger was elected President of the Bundestag on 5 November 1984. As President, he made a controversial speech in a special session on 10 November 1988 commemorating the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht.[1] Jenninger tried to explain the reasons behind German enthusiasm for National Socialism in the 1930s. His speech was presented badly (by his own later admission), as his way of speaking allowed the interpretation that Jenninger didn't sufficiently dissociate himself from the Nazi ideas he referred to, making it hard to distinguish what were his own ideas and what were the "fascinating" (as Jenninger said) Nazi ideas he was just reporting.[2] More than 50 members of parliament walked out during their President's speech in protest.[3] This caused a political storm, and Jenninger resigned his Bundestag presidency on 11 November. He did not stand for reelection as a Bundestag member in the 1990 elections. One year after the incident, Jewish community leader Ignatz Bubis, who later became chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, used several passages of Jenninger's speech verbatim (although he didn't use the word "fascinating"), demonstrating that the content of Jenninger's speech had not been ambiguous, just his performance of it.[4]
Ambassador to Austria and the Holy See
Jenninger served as
from 1995 to 1997.Other offices
Philipp Jenninger was President of the
Death
Jenninger died on 4 January 2018 in Stuttgart, aged 85.[5][6]
Honours
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1986)
References
- ^ Bonn (North Rhine-Westphalia): newspaper clippings, transcript of speech by Philipp Jenninger, Speaker of the West German Parliament, 1988; November Pogrom, 1938 Commemoration Collection; AR 6342; Box 1; Folder 11; Leo Baeck Institute.
- ^ American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Yearbook Vol. 90 Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, 1990, p. 358.
- ^ The New York Times, November 13, 1988, Storm of Protest Archived 2007-12-28 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Peter Schmalz, "Keiner hat etwas gemerkt", Die Welt, 1 December 1995. (in German)
- ^ "Philipp Jenninger: Ex-Bundestagspräsident im Alter von 85 Jahren gestorben - SPIEGEL ONLINE". Der Spiegel. 5 January 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-04-14. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
- ^ "Früherer Bundestagspräsident Philipp Jenninger gestorben". Faz.net. Archived from the original on 2018-03-09. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
Literature
- ISBN 978-3-7892-8201-0
- Jürgen Mittag: "Vom Honoratiorenkreis zum Europanetzwerk: Sechs Jahrzehnte Europäische Bewegung Deutschland"; in: 60 Jahre Europäische Bewegung Deutschland; Berlin 2009; pp. 12–28
- Jeffrey Herf: "Philipp Jenninger and the Dangers of Speaking Clearly." Partisan Review 56 (1989): 225–236.
External links
- Philipp Jenninger in the German National Library catalogue
- Biography at the Bundestag website (in German)
- German text of Jenninger's 1988 speech, also as audio version (in German)
