Gerhard Schröder (CDU)

For the former Chancellor of Germany, see Gerhard Schröder.
Gerhard Schröder

Interior Minister Schröder in 1960
Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs
 Germany
In office
14 November 1961 – 30 November 1966
Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (1961–1963)
Ludwig Erhard (1963–1966)
Preceded by Heinrich von Brentano
Succeeded by Willy Brandt
Federal Minister of Defence
 Germany
In office
1 December 1966 – 21 October 1969
Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger
Preceded by Kai-Uwe von Hassel
Succeeded by Helmut Schmidt
Federal Minister of the Interior
 Germany
In office
20 October 1953 – 13 November 1961
Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
Preceded by Robert Lehr
Succeeded by Hermann Höcherl
Deputy Chairman of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group in the Bundestag
In office
24 June 1952 – 20 October 1953
Member of the Bundestag
In office
7 September 1949 – 4 November 1980
Personal details
Born (1910-09-11)11 September 1910
Saarbrücken, Rhine Province
German Empire
Died 31 December 1989(1989-12-31) (aged 79)
Kampen (Sylt), West Germany
Nationality German
Political party Nazi Party (1933–1941)
Christian Democratic Union (1945-1989)
Alma mater University of Bonn
Religion Protestantism

Gerhard Schröder (11 September 1910 – 31 December 1989) was a West German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. He served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 1953 to 1961, as Foreign Minister from 1961 to 1966, and as Minister of Defence from 1966 until 1969. In the 1969 election he ran for President of Germany but was outpolled by Gustav Heinemann.

Life

The son of a railway official, Schröder was born in Saarbrücken, then part of the Prussian Rhine Province. Having passed his Abitur exams, he went on to study law at the University of Königsberg and two semesters abroad at the University of Edinburgh, where he, according his own accounts, became familiar with a British way of life. In 1932 he finished his studies in Bonn in 1932, where he had committed himself to the university group of the national liberal German People's Party.

Schröder passed the first and second Staatsexamen in 1932 and 1936. Having obtained his doctorate in 1934 and worked as a consultant at the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in Berlin. Still as a referendary in Bonn, he had joined the Nazi Party on 1 April 1933 and also the SA. He continued his career as a law firm employee and in 1939 obtained an attorney's certificate and worked as a tax lawyer. He left the NSDAP in May 1941 (a rather rare occurrence). In the same month and perhaps in connection, he married his wife, Brigitte Schröder née Landsberg, needing - she was half-Jewish - with an extraordinary permission by his Armed Forces superiors.

He held federal office as Minister of the Interior (1953–1961) and as Minister of Foreign Affairs (1961–1966) in the cabinets of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and of Ludwig Erhard. From 1966 to 1969 he served as Minister of Defence under Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger.

In 1969 Gerhard Schröder ran for the Office of the Federal President (supported by CDU and NPD), but he was beaten by Gustav Heinemann, the nominee of the SPD (supported by FDP), at the third ballot with 49.4% to 48.8% of the votes of the Federal Assembly.

Decorations and awards

References

  1. ↑ "Reply to a parliamentary question" (pdf) (in German). p. 133. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gerhard Schröder (CDU).
Political offices
Preceded by
Robert Lehr		 Federal Minister of the Interior
1953–1961 		Succeeded by
Hermann Höcherl
Preceded by
Heinrich von Brentano di Tremezzo		 Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs
1961–1966 		Succeeded by
Willy Brandt
Preceded by
Kai-Uwe von Hassel		 Federal Minister of Defence
1966–1969 		Succeeded by
Helmut Schmidt
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