Willi Birkelbach
Willi Birkelbach | |
---|---|
Member of the Bundestag | |
In office 7 September 1949 – 30 September 1964 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Frankfurt/Main | 12 January 1913
Died | 17 July 2008 | (aged 95)
Nationality | German |
Political party | SPD |
Willi Birkelbach
In 1971 he became the first ever
Biography
Early years
Willi Birkelbach was born in
Willi Birkelbach completed his schooling at a secondary school in 1932 and joined a company called "Marx und Hart" where between 1932 and 1935 he undertook an apprenticeship in business, with a particular focus on foreign trade and industrial accounting. Thus qualified he represented various German firms in
Middle years
In 1946 he came home to
Between 1953 and 1958, he represented the IG Metall union as a member of the supervisory board at Mannesmann AG. Then, till 1978, he took a similar position at the Bochum Steel Works, serving between 1968 and 1978 as deputy board chairman.[7]
Politics
Under National Socialism
Still aged only 17, Willi Birkelbach joined the
After 1945
National Parliament
In August 1949, the newly launched West German Republic held the first democratic general election in which Germans had participated since 1932. Birkelbach was elected an SPD member of it, representing the Frankfurt south-east electoral district, gaining slightly less than 40% of the constituency vote and comfortably out-polling his CDU and FPD rival candidates.[5][13] He remained a Bundestag member till retiring from the chamber on 30 September 1964.[14] Due to the national election results during those fifteen years he was always in opposition, however.
European parliament
Between 1952 and 1964, he was also a member - and from 1959 to 1964 chairman - of the Socialist group in the European Parliament.[14]
In December 1961, Birkelbach headed up a European Parliamentary Commission mandated to recommend the criteria for new member states. The resulting "Birkelbach Report" covered geographic and economic criteria, but it also extended to political considerations such as democracy and the rule of law. In January 1962 the report was accepted in a cross-party basis, and a few months later it served as the basis for the rejection of Francoist Spain as a membership candidate.[15]
Party
Between 1954 and 1963, he was regional
He nevertheless remained actively engaged with the party. In 2005, now more than ninety years old, he was still appearing as a speaker in Frankfurt during the General Election campaign.
Other public offices
From 1964 to 1969, Birkelbach was employed as a secretary of state and, in effect, the head of the State Chancelry of the State of Hessen. During this time he employed Christel Guillaume as a senior typist-secretary, with a desk directly outside his own office.[18] It later emerged that Christel Guillaume was working for East German intelligence, and in 1974 she was sentenced to an eight-year prison term for espionage. She was sent back to East Germany where she was feted as a peace-scout ("Kundschafterin des Friedens") in 1981 as part of a wider "spy-swap".[18] Outside Germany she is better known to historians and commentators as the wife of Günter Guillaume, whose own espionage activities led to the political downfall of Chancellor Brandt.[18]
Between 1966 and 1976, Birkelbach was a member of the broadcasting council of the Frankfurt-based public broadcaster, Hessischer Rundfunk, as a representative of the state government.[8]
In 1971, Willi Birkelbach became the first ever
Awards and honours (selection)
- 1973 William Leuschner Medal from the State of Hessen
- 1991 Johnna Kirchner Medal
- 2001 Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- 2005 Willy Brandt Medal of the SPD
- Honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
References
- ^ a b c d "Willi Birkelbach: deutscher Politiker; SPD". Geburtstag Heute wäre Willi Birkelbach 100 Jahre alt geworden. Munzinger Archiv GmbH, Ravensburg. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
- ^ "Die Mitglieder des Deutschen Bundestages - 1.-13. Wahlperiode: Alphabetisches Gesamtverzeichnis; Stand: 28. Februar 1998" [The members of the German Bundestag - 1st - 13th term of office: Alphabetical complete index] (PDF). webarchiv.bundestag.de (in German). Deutscher Bundestag, Wissenschaftliche Dienste des Bundestages (WD 3/ZI 5). 1998-02-28. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
- ^ a b "Der erste Datenschützer kam aus Hessen". Geburtstag Heute wäre Willi Birkelbach 100 Jahre alt geworden. Mannheimer Morgen. 12 January 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
- ^ a b Ludger Fittkau (31 January 2018). ""Eine originär hessische Erfindung"". Pionier beim Datenschutzgesetz. Deutschland Radio (Deutschlandfunk Kultur), Köln. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
- ^ ISBN 978-92-846-4698-2. Retrieved 1 May 2019.)
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ignored (help - ^ a b c d "Birkelbach, Johann: * 15.3.1880 Winden (Lahn), † 8.6.1964 Schwalbach am Taunus, katholisch, Arbeiter, Abgeordneter". Hessische Biografie. Hessisches Landesamt für geschichtliche Landeskunde. 19 December 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
- ^ a b c d e "Willi Birkelbach". Klaus Dreßler. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f "Willi Birkelbach". Lebenslauf. Luise Maria u. Klaus Dreßler. 2 March 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
- ^ Axel Ulrich. "Arbeitereinheitsfront gegen den Faschismus?" (PDF). Zum Widerstand von Trotzkisten gegen das NS-Regime mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des Rhein-Main-Gebietes. Verein für Sozialgeschichte Mainz e. V. (Mainz, Wiesbaden und Rheinhessen in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus). pp. 101–132. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
- ^ "Bökel: Problem des Rechtsextremismus nimmt an Brisanz zu". SPD-Fraktion im Hessischen Landtag, Wiesbaden. 3 May 2001. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
- ^ )
- ^ a b Bruna De Paula (October 2016). "L'Umanità non è morta a Cefalonia: testimonianza di un sergente tedesco" (PDF). Cerimonia commemorativa del 73° anniversario dell’Eccidio della Divisione Acqui a Cefalonia e Corfù, nel settembre del 1943 (Verona - Monumento Nazionale – 23 settembre 2016). pp. 5–7. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
- ISBN 978-3-11-096905-4.
- ^ a b c "Birkelbach gestorben". SPD-Politiker wurde 95. Frankfurter Rundschau GmbH. 13 August 2008. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
- )
- ^ ?Philipp Kufferath (2013). "Netzwerke als strategische Allianzen und latente Ressource". Etablierungsversuche der linken Opposition im SPD-Milieu nach 1945. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e. V., Bonn. pp. 245–268. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
- ISBN 978-3-86872-349-6. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
- ^ )
- ^ Dr. Anne Hardy (20 July 2015). "Spiros Simitis: "Es geht um Eure Daten!"". Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. Retrieved 2 May 2019.