Berthold Bahnsen

Berthold Bahnsen (born January 8, 1913 in Lindholm , Schleswig-Holstein , † October 14, 1971 ) was a Frisian minority politician in Schleswig-Holstein.

Life and work

After attending secondary school , Bahnsen, who came from the Frisian minority in Schleswig-Holstein, did a banking apprenticeship in Flensburg and Schleswig . From 1946 he was branch manager of the Sparkasse Nordfriesland in Leck . He was married and had two children.

politics

Bahnsen was a member of the SSW . He was a member of the local council of Leck. From 1947 to 1954 and from 1958 until his death he was a member of the state parliament in Schleswig-Holstein. The state parliament elected him in 1949 as a member of the first federal assembly , which elected Theodor Heuss as federal president on September 12, 1949 . His political focus was economic and financial policy. Since 1962 he formed the "one-man faction" of the SSW. In autumn 1969 Bahnsen played a central role in the decisive vote on the district reform in Schleswig-Holstein. 17 should become 12 districts in the northernmost federal state. Prime Minister Helmut Lemke and his CDU / FDP coalition did not have a government majority due to dissenters in their own ranks. It was now up to Bahnsen. It was important to him that his home region of North Frisia could form a common circle for the first time. So he agreed and gave the Lemke government a majority. Opponents commented critically at the time that Bahnsen should have abstained in order to counter the impression that the reform was ultimately a reorganization at the grace of Denmark. On April 24, 1971 Bahnsen was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class. When he died unexpectedly after a heart attack in 1971, he was the longest serving member of the state parliament of Schleswig-Holstein and was widely respected. He resolutely defended his political opinion, but was often able to use humorous remarks to take the edge off controversial discussions and to have a conciliatory effect. Through his political work, he made an important contribution to the fact that an initially existing German-Danish rivalry lost its edge over the years and eventually became meaningless.

literature

Claas Riecken: Berthold Bahnsen. Frisian-Schleswig parliamentarian. A biography on minority politics , Verlag Nordfriisk Instituut, Bredstedt 2015 (North Frisian CVs, Volume 11), ISBN 978-3-88007-402-6 .

source

• Prof. Dr. Thomas Steensen: A trailblazer for understanding , SHZ, Inselbote, page NF 1 from January 8, 2013.

Web links

• Ancestral Gallery of the SSW ( Memento from April 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
• Berthold Bahnsen in the State Parliament Information System Schleswig-Holstein