Heinrich Windelen
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Heinrich Windelen (25 June 1921 – 16 February 2015) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union. He served as a Member of the Bundestag from 1957 to 1990, and as Federal Minister for Displaced Persons, Refugees and War Victims in the Cabinet Kiesinger in 1969 and as Federal Minister of Intra-German Relations in the Cabinet Kohl II from 1983 to 1987.
Life and career[edit]
Windelen was born in Bolkenhain, Silesia (now Bolków, Poland), the third of eight children of Engelbert and Anna Windelen. His father was an active member of the Zentrumspartei and the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold. Former Chancellor Joseph Wirth visited Windelen's family several times. Windelen passed his Abitur in 1939 in Striegau and was drafted to the mandatory Reichsarbeitsdienst. In 1940, he began studying physics and chemistry at the University of Breslau.[citation needed]
In 1941, he was conscripted into the Wehrmacht and became a POW in 1945 with the rank of a Feldwebel. Notably, he did not become an officer because of his distance to the Nazi regime.[1]
He came as a refugee to West Germany following The Expulsion in 1945, and became a member of the CDU in 1946. Windelen was a member of the Bundestags from 1957 to 1990. In 1969, he became Federal Minister for the Expellees. Windelen was Vice-president of the Bundestages (1981–1983) and Bundesminister for intra-German relations (1983–1987). He was honorary chairman of CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia.[2] He died at the age of 93 on 16 February 2015.[where?][3]
Honours[edit]
- 1969: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Publications[edit]
- SOS für Europa, Stuttgart, Seewald-Verlag, 1972, ISBN 3512002315
- Der Haushaltsausschuß im politischen Prozeß, in: Verwaltung und Fortbildung, Jg. 1978, Heft 3, Seiten 93 bis 100.
- Strukturveränderungen in der öffentlichen Finanzwirtschaft. Geldpolitik und Haushaltspolitik, in: Geld und Währung, Bonn 1979, Seiten 55 bis 61.
- Das Parlament zwischen Ausgabenfreude und Haushaltskontrolle, in: Günter Triesch, Staatsfinanzen und Wirtschaft, Köln 1981, Seiten 111 bis 130.
Literature[edit]
- Rudolf Vierhaus und Ludolf Herbst (Hrsg.): Biographisches Handbuch der Mitglieder des Deutschen Bundestages 1949–2002. Band 2, N–Z, Saur, München 2002, ISBN 3-598-23782-0, S. 960
- ^ Artikel zu Windelens 90. Geburtstag, kas.de. Accessed 15 September 2022 (in German).
- ^ Stationen im Lenem von Windelen
- ^ Beate Kopmann: Trauer um Heinrich Windelen: Der frühere Bundesminister ist tot, Westfälische Nachrichten, 16 February 2015.
External links[edit]
- Literature by and about Heinrich Windelen in the German National Library catalogue
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
- 1921 births
- 2015 deaths
- People from Jawor County
- Politicians from the Province of Silesia
- University of Breslau alumni
- Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia
- Members of the Bundestag 1987–1990
- Members of the Bundestag 1983–1987
- Members of the Bundestag 1980–1983
- Members of the Bundestag 1976–1980
- Members of the Bundestag 1972–1976
- Members of the Bundestag 1969–1972
- Members of the Bundestag 1965–1969
- Members of the Bundestag 1961–1965
- Members of the Bundestag 1957–1961
- Members of the Bundestag 1953–1957
- Federal government ministers of Germany
- Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- German prisoners of war in World War II
- Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany
- Reich Labour Service members
- German Army soldiers of World War II