André Bord
André Bord (born November 30, 1922 in Strasbourg ; † May 13, 2013 ) was a French politician and resistance fighter . After the Second World War he was one of the key figures who played a key role in the reconciliation between Germany and France .
Life
André Bord lived as the child of a working-class family in Neudorf , a district of the Alsatian capital Strasbourg. There he was a student of the Collège Episcopal Saint-Étienne , sang in the children's choir and enjoyed playing basketball and football.
In 1939 his world was turned upside down: while his parents were hiding refugee prisoners of war , Bord wrote anti- Hitler slogans on walls and destroyed the flags of the German occupiers. These actions quickly put the family in danger and fled Alsace . The young Bord was sent to the Dordogne , where he joined the Resistance and sometimes barely escaped the Gestapo . He was finally arrested by French militiamen in May 1944 and sentenced to death the next day. However, board managed to escape with a few companions.
After the Allied landings in Normandy , André Bord fought against the Germans under the command of Colonel André Malraux in the Alsace-Lorraine brigade and took part in the liberation of Alsace and Strasbourg. The board, meanwhile with the rank of sergeant major, intended to continue his military career, but one incident suddenly changed this. So after the war he hoped to see his family again, from whom he had been separated for four years, but against his will Bord was given the task of taking over the office of the command in Illkirch-Graffenstaden . He refused this order and immediately lost his military rank due to disobedience, which brought his military career to an abrupt end. After the war he turned to politics.
André Bord had been a Gaullist since 1947 , when he joined the then newly founded Rassemblement du peuple français (RPF) party. Later he was a member of the Gaullist successor party Union pour la nouvelle République - Union démocratique du travail (UNR-UDT) .
After the war, Bord made great contributions to the Franco-German reconciliation, then to the understanding and finally to the Franco-German friendship. In 1986, André Bord, who had long been Minister for the French front-line fighters, was appointed President of the Commission interministérielle de coopération franco-allemande (Interministerial Commission for Franco-German Cooperation) by President François Mitterrand .
Government offices
Between January 1966 and March / April 1978 André Bord worked continuously as minister and state secretary for eleven French governments. This makes André Bord the French member of the government of the 5th Republic with the longest period of service.
- January 1966 to July 1968
- State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior in the Georges Pompidou government ( 3 , 4 and 5 )
- July 1968 to June 1969
- State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior in the Maurice Couve de Murville government ( 1 )
- June 1969 to July 1972
- State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior in the Jacques Chaban-Delmas government ( 1 )
- July 1972 to February 1974
- Minister for War Veterans, Pensions, Prisoners, Displaced Persons, War Victims and Displaced Persons in the Pierre Messmer Government ( 1 and 2 )
- March to May 1974
- State Secretary of the Ministry of Defense , responsible for war veterans and war victims in the Pierre Messmer government ( 3 )
- May 1974 to August 1976
- State Secretary of the Ministry for War Veterans, Pensions, Prisoners, Displaced Persons, War Victims and Displaced Persons in the Jacques Chirac government ( 1 )
- August 1976 to September 1977
- State Secretary for War Veterans, Pensions, Prisoners, Displaced Persons, War Victims and Displaced Persons in the Raymond Barre Government ( 1 and 2 )
- September 1977 to April 1978
- State Secretary to the Prime Minister responsible for parliamentary relations in the Raymond Barre government ( 2 )
- September 26, 1977 to March 31, 1978
Membership in the European Parliament
Bord was a representative of France in the European Parliament from December 14, 1961 to April 14, 1966 . He was there, except for the time as a non- attached person from February 5, 1963 to January 20, 1965, the Liberal and Democratic Group . André Bord was later a member of the European Parliament and from April 19, 1982 to July 23, 1984 in the Group of European Progressive Democrats .
From January 21 to April 12, 1965 he was deputy chairman of the parliamentary group of the European Democratic Union and was then chairman until January 17, 1966.
André Bord was an EU parliamentarian in the following committees and delegations:
- May 12, 1982 to July 23, 1984: Committee on External Economic Relations
- January 14, 1983 to July 23, 1984: Institutional Committee
- 11 April 1983 to 23 July 1984: delegation to the European Parliament Joint Committee
Other offices and functions
André Bord was also active in political and social functions in his home region, Alsace. From 1967 to 1979 he was President of the General Council of the Bas-Rhin department and during this period from 1974 to 1976 he was also President of the Alsatian Regional Council .
Bord was president of the Racing Club de Strasbourg football club from 1979 to 1985 .
Honors
- Large Federal Cross of Merit with a Star (April 21, 1975)
- Large Federal Cross of Merit with Star and Shoulder Ribbon (February 10, 2003)
- February 9, 2007: Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor (Grand Officier de la Légion d'Honneur)
- 2012: Grand Cross of the Ordre national du Mérite
literature
- Dominique Wirtz-Habermeyer: André Bord: un état d'esprit ; Strasbourg-Illkirch: Le Verger, 1993
Web links
- Pierre Campguilhem: France: “Network of Good Will” Interview with André Bord, President of the Interministerial Commission for Franco-German Cooperation ; The Ostpreußenblatt , April 14, 2001
- André Bord et le Racing: l'échec de sa vie? racingstub.com, September 3, 2005 (André Bord and Racing Strasbourg; French)
- Entry for André Bord in the Members' database of the European Parliament
Individual evidence
- ^ Figure politique alsacienne, ancien ministre, André Bord est décédé. In: L'Alsace , May 13, 2013 (French).
- ↑ Christine Felbeck: High French honor for the Romanist Karl-Heinz Bender. (PDF; 1.3 MB) In: Unijournal. Journal of the University of Trier. Volume 29. Issue No. 3. University of Trier , 2003, pp. 19–20 , accessed on January 17, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Information from the Office of the Federal President
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Bord, André |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French politician, MEP and resistance fighter |
DATE OF BIRTH | November 30, 1922 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Strasbourg , France |
DATE OF DEATH | 13th of May 2013 |