Günther Beckstein

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Günther Beckstein (2012)

Günther Beckstein (born November 23, 1943 in Hersbruck ) is a German lawyer and politician ( CSU ). He was a member of the Bavarian state parliament from 1974 to 2013. From 1993 to 2007 he was Bavarian State Minister of the Interior and from 2007 to 2008 Bavarian Prime Minister . He was the first Evangelical Prime Minister of the Free State of Bavaria after the Second World War .

Life

education and profession

Beckstein was born in 1943 as the son of a teacher couple in Hersbruck. After high school at Willstätter-Gymnasium in Nuremberg in 1962 studied Beckstein at the Universities of Erlangen and Munich Jura . Beckstein has been running a law firm since 1971 . In 1975, he was in Erlangen with the thesis of Conscience offenders in criminal law and criminal procedure in trade law doctorate .

Political career

Beckstein in June 2007 in Würzburg

Beckstein began his political career as district chairman of the Junge Union Nürnberg-Fürth (1973–1978) and then became deputy chairman of the CSU district association Nürnberg-Fürth-Schwabach. In 1991 he took over its chairmanship. In order to be able to concentrate on the office of Prime Minister, he did not run again for the chairmanship in 2008; Markus Söder was elected as his successor . In 1974 Beckstein was elected to the Bavarian State Parliament, to which he was a member until 2013.

Beckstein stood as a candidate for the CSU in the Nuremberg mayor elections in 1987; In the runoff election on November 8th, the SPD candidate Peter Schönlein won .

From July to October 1988 Beckstein was deputy chairman of the CSU parliamentary group and on October 19, 1988, he moved to the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior as State Secretary . Until 1992 he also held the office of the state chairman of the CSU police working group, for which he was appointed in 1980. When Edmund Stoiber was elected Bavarian Prime Minister on June 17, 1993, he appointed Beckstein to his cabinet as Minister of the Interior . After Barbara Stamm resigned in 2001, Stoiber appointed him Deputy Prime Minister. After the Bundestag election in 2005 , he was a member of the 16th German Bundestag for a short time until November 23, 2005 and, along with Erwin Huber, was considered the most promising candidate to succeed Prime Minister Stoiber, who was striving for a ministerial office in Berlin. The personnel issue should be decided in November by a vote in the CSU parliamentary group . With Stoiber's return to state politics, this vote became obsolete. In December 2006 Beckstein said that his dream of becoming Prime Minister was "ticked off".

After Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber announced on January 18, 2007 that he would resign in autumn 2007, the CSU parliamentary group in June 2007 agreed on Beckstein as his successor. On September 29, 2007, the CSU elected him as a candidate for office and as the top candidate for the state elections in September 2008 . On October 9, 2007 he was elected the new Prime Minister by the Bavarian State Parliament with 122 of 178 votes cast. The Beckstein cabinet formed the state government of Bavaria from October 16, 2007.

His first official trip abroad as Prime Minister took the committed Protestant Beckstein to Rome to visit Pope Benedict XVI on October 26, 2007 .

In view of the performance of the CSU in the Bavarian state elections on September 28, 2008 with the worst election result since 1954, Beckstein declared on October 1, 2008 that he would no longer run for the state parliament's new election of the Prime Minister, due by October 27, 2008 at the latest. Beckstein's successor as Prime Minister was Horst Seehofer . Beckstein did not run for the 2013 state election . Beckstein represented the constituency of Nuremberg-North ( Middle Franconia ) in the state parliament.

Private

Beckstein has been married since 1973 and has three children; he lives with his wife Marga in Nuremberg - Langwasser . He is a Protestant-Lutheran denomination and a member of the non-compelling academic-musical connection Fridericiana Erlangen in the special houses association .

Beckstein is deaf on one side after an acute hearing loss and speaks publicly about his cochlear implant treatment.

Political positions

Beckstein was better known at the federal level than other Bavarian state ministers or interior ministers in other federal states. The reason for this is that after the change of the federal government in autumn 1998 ( Gerhard Schröder (SPD) succeeded Helmut Kohl ) he advocated a very tough policy and accused the SPD of negligence in the fight against terrorism and in maintaining internal security . Beckstein had similar goals and ideas as the then Federal Minister of the Interior Otto Schily (SPD) and was sometimes referred to as "Schily's black twin". Together with Otto Schily, he campaigned for a ban on the NPD . Beckstein, however, stood for even tougher measures to combat terrorism and in the policy of foreigners .

Immigration law and the fight against terrorism

Some critics accused Günther Beckstein of xenophobia because of the restrictive deportation practice and feared the dismantling of basic and civil rights . According to his supporters, Beckstein had successes as Minister of the Interior of Bavaria. In the Mehmet case , Beckstein initiated the deportation of a juvenile intensive offender in November 1998 . The measure later turned out to be illegal before the Bavarian Administrative Court and the Federal Administrative Court .

In order to counter terrorism , Beckstein called for a stricter immigration policy , which should enable the government to deport foreigners living or entering the country immediately if there is a suspicion of a terrorist threat . Five of the nine xenophobic NSU murders of migrants took place in Bavaria during Beckstein's tenure as Minister of the Interior. Some critics claimed that they had not been cleared up at first because the police under Beckstein wrongly assigned the victims to the criminal milieu themselves and had trivialized the right-wing terrorist dimension of the acts by using terms such as "kebab murders" and "Bosporus series of murders". Beckstein himself advocated a strong reduction in immigration. On September 6, 2007, Beckstein demanded in the debate about online searches , so-called top dangerous in small, well-monitored communities to intern .

Direct democracy

Beckstein commented positively on petitions for citizens , referendums and other forms of direct democracy at all political decision-making levels, but did not take appropriate initiatives as a member or head of the state government or as a parliamentarian.

Internal security

Beckstein advocated increased use of video surveillance , biometrics and genetic analysis for criminals in order to maintain or strengthen internal security . Beckstein encountered resistance at the FDP , for example when the Bundeswehr was deployed inside. Beckstein also advocated higher penalties for minor offenses and so-called minor offenses such as vandalism ( graffiti ) or shoplifting .

new media

Beckstein took a hard line against violent computer games , which he u. a. regarded as the trigger of acts of violence such as rampages . On April 27, 2007 Beckstein declared: "From the rampage from Erfurt to Emsdetten there is a bloody trail of violence triggered by the consumption of such computer games". The term " killer games " coined by Beckstein became particularly well known in this context . On November 21, 2006, immediately after the rampage in Emsdetten, he was quoted on the website of the ARD Tagesschau with the following words: "Killer games should be classified in the order of magnitude of child pornography so that there are noticeable punishments." The Hamburger Abendblatt quoted him on January 17, 2007 with the words: "You cannot stand idly by when adolescents and young adults repeatedly commit extremely violent acts after consuming killer games."

In 2009 Beckstein stated, contrary to the facts, that the game Counter-Strike was "developed by the US Army in order to lower the violence threshold among soldiers."

Legal and illegal drugs

While Beckstein always advocated a restrictive approach to illegal drugs, he was criticized for his ambiguous position on driving under the influence of alcohol . During the election campaign for the state elections in Bavaria in 2008 , he said in a festival speech that driving a car after drinking two liters of beer in six or seven hours was still acceptable. However, he said this in connection with the finding that the beer mugs in the marquee were way too empty. Quote: "With this beer you can drink two and still drive a car!" After massive criticism of his statement, he advocated complete abstinence from driving.

Economic policy

Beckstein was able to contribute his economic policy competence as a long-standing member of the board of directors of Bayerische Landesbank . He was a member of this supervisory body for the Free State of Bavaria as the main owner of the Landesbank. With Beckstein's consent, it approved various wrong entrepreneurial decisions by the Landesbank board, which in the case of Hypo Group Alpe Adria alone caused losses of around 3.7 billion euros.

Social offices

In addition to his political work, Beckstein is involved in the Protestant Church and in the field of Protestant youth work. Since 1996 he has been an appointed member of the regional synod of the Evangelical Church in Bavaria , in 2009 he ran for the office of President of the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany , but was defeated by Katrin Göring-Eckardt and was then elected Vice-President with a large majority. In November 2013 he withdrew his second application for the office of President after his failure in two ballots.

Beckstein is also a member of the board of trustees of ProChrist , Mehr Demokratie , the German Paraplegia Foundation, the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg , the Confucius Institute Nuremberg-Erlangen and the Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds Nuremberg. He represented the Bavarian State Government in the Broadcasting Council of the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation . Since March 13, 2020, he has been a member of the National Advisory Committee, which accompanies the state search for a location for a repository for high-level radioactive waste.

honors and awards

Günther Beckstein at the Leipzig Book Fair on March 19, 2011

Publications

Web links

 Wikinews: Günther Beckstein  - in the news
Commons : Günther Beckstein  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. see list of members of the Bavarian State Parliament (8th electoral period) etc. to list of members of the Bavarian State Parliament (16th electoral period)
  2. "Günther, don't be so sorry and don't complain". In: taz.de . December 23, 2006, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  3. Beckstein travels to the Pope - ecumenism probably in focus . Munich Mercury. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  4. ^ Günther Beckstein, CSU . WDR. Archived from the original on February 15, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  5. “I'm a laurel tree, so to speak.” - Interview with Günther Beckstein about good hearing with a cochlear implant and hearing aid. In: martin-schaarschmidt.de. Retrieved February 12, 2015 .
  6. Beckstein criticizes Schily's anti-terrorist plans. In: handelsblatt.com . September 28, 2004, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  7. Attackers instead of cleaners. In: taz.de . August 10, 2002, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  8. Rp Online: Greens expertise agreed: NPD ban: Schily relies on continuation. (No longer available online.) In: rp-online.de. July 11, 2002, formerly in the original ; accessed on February 12, 2015 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.rp-online.de  
  9. ^ Fight against law as a dispute - politics. In: merkur-online.de. April 6, 2009, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  10. Matthias Gebauer: Visa scandal: Greens accuse Beckstein of deception. In: Spiegel Online . February 25, 2005, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  11. Beckstein on the Mehmet case: "Making an example". In: sueddeutsche.de . April 24, 2013, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  12. Beckstein: "We went further than the rule of law allows" . Munich Mercury. November 15, 2011. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  13. Election campaign with immigration: Stoiber uses the emergency hammer. In: Spiegel Online . September 15, 2002, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  14. Stefan Krempl: SPD wants to have "last conversation" about covert online searches - heise online. In: heise.de. September 6, 2007, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  15. Beckstein pleads for more nationwide referendums. In: Abendblatt.de . March 6, 2012, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  16. ^ Günther Beckstein: Festschrift: 20 years of more democracy . More democracy. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  17. Stefan Krempl: Beckstein adheres to the ban on "killer games" - heise online. In: heise.de. April 27, 2007, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  18. ^ Michael Obermeier: Günther Beckstein - "US Army developed Counter-Strike" . Webedia Gaming. October 6, 2005. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  19. ^ Peter Mühlbauer : Anti-American conspiracy theory in the CSU. In: heise.de . September 26, 2009, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  20. Beckstein advises abstinence after Bierpatzer. Der Spiegel , September 17, 2008, accessed on January 29, 2010 .
  21. Dispute over the billion-dollar disaster: BayernLB spared Beckstein and Huber. In: Spiegel Online . December 20, 2010, accessed February 12, 2015 .
  22. Bundesrat.de: Election of members of the National Monitoring Committee according to § 8 Paragraph 3 of the Site Selection Act
  23. Miryam Gümbel: Israel's partner and friend . Jewish general. July 20, 2006. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  24. Honorary Senators ( Memento from July 21, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  25. a b Günther Beckstein . Bertelsmann agency speakers. Retrieved February 14, 2017.