Gerd Westdickenberg

Gerhard Friedrich Karl Westdickenberg (born December 29, 1944 ) is a former German diplomat .

Life

Gerd Westdickenberg studied law at the Universities of Freiburg, Geneva and Münster. In 1974 he was awarded a Dr. iur. PhD . After joining the Foreign Service in 1975, he was employed at the German embassies in Bulgaria , Ghana and the USA , at the Foreign Office in Bonn (Political Department and Economic Department) and at the Federal Chancellery in Bonn (in the Foreign Policy Department). From 1991 to 1993 he was NATO's press spokesman in Brussels . In 1993 Westdickenberg became an employee of the ministerial office in the Foreign Office and was head of the ministerial office of the Federal Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel from 1994 to 1998 . From 1998 to 2002 he was head of the legal department at the Federal Foreign Office. He was an advisor on international law to the Federal Government, head of the German delegation to the UN Conference on the International Criminal Court and was German legal representative in proceedings before the International Court of Justice in The Hague (including La Grand, Liechtenstein).

From 2002 to 2006 he was Ambassador to the Holy See based in Rome, from September 2006 to 2009 Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Republic of Austria .

In the media

Ambassador Westdickenberg became known to a television audience through his interrogation before the Visa Investigation Committee , which earned him ridicule in the press. The journalist Hans Leyendecker wrote about Westdickenberg, who did not want to testify because of a lack of memory about the matter: “ Who could tell these pale actors - mostly diplomats of the upper and higher service who looked like frustrated adulterers from a Chabrol comedy - apart? Even experts threatened to lose track of the number of players involved. Who was at the crucial meeting? Herr von Kummer, Herr Grabherr or Herr Manig? Or the head of department, the one with the newfangled hairstyle, what's his name? "

Awards

• 2009: Large silver medal on ribbon for services to the Republic of Austria

Web links

• Literature by and about Gerd Westdickenberg in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ I'm still great. In: sueddeutsche.de. May 21, 2010, accessed August 23, 2018 . 
2. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)

predecessor	Office	successor
Theodor Wallau	German ambassador to the Holy See 2002–2006	Hans-Henning Horstmann
Hans-Henning Horstmann	German ambassador in Vienna 2006–2009	Hans Henning Blomeyer-Bartenstein