Gotthilf Link

Gotthilf Link (born October 19, 1926 in Lauffen am Neckar ; † January 30, 2009 ibid) was a German farmer, wine grower and CDU politician . From 1972 to 1988 he was a member of the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg .

Life

Link grew up on his parents' farm in Lauffen am Neckar, where he did an apprenticeship as a wine grower. At the age of 17 he was drafted for military service in World War II. An injury in February 1945 possibly saved his life as most of his unit fell on the Oder .

After the war he returned to Lauffen and worked in his parents' mixed farm with arable farming , cattle breeding and viticulture . In 1955 he became a master winemaker and later concentrated fully on viticulture. From 1960 to 1966 he was a member of the supervisory board, from 1966 to 1993 chairman of the management board of Lauffener Weingärtnergenossenschaft , from 1967 to 1993 also a member of the supervisory board of the WZG in Möglingen . During his tenure as President of the Wuerttemberg Winegrowing Association from 1973 to 1991, the large vineyard consolidations in the Wuerttemberg wine-growing region , the beginning of the state subsidies he initiated for the complex steep- slope viticulture (steep-slope program) and the new buildings for the viticulture school in Weinsberg , for which he campaigned, all took place. From 1980 to 1992 Link was also Vice President of the German Viticulture Association .

Voluntary work in the German Red Cross and in the local parish council led to a successful candidacy for the Lauffen parish council, of which he was a member from 1959 to 1994, first for the local citizens' association, then for the CDU. He was also the deputy mayor of Lauffen for two decades, and from 1964 to 1979 he was also a member of the Heilbronn district council . After two unsuccessful candidacies in 1964 and 1968, he won the state constituency Heilbronn-Land II (since 1976 constituency Eppingen ) for the CDU and was re-elected in the elections up to and including 1984. In the state parliament he was head of the economic and environmental committees. In the early 1970s, he campaigned for the construction of the Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant in Lauffen's neighboring municipality of Neckarwestheim .

Gotthilf Link had been married since 1949 and had four children. His wife Gertrud died a few days before him.

honors and awards

Gotthilf Link was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit three times : in 1978 with the Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany, most recently in 1988 with the Great Cross of Merit, and in 1987 received the Medal of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg . He was honorary board member of the Lauffener Weingärtnergenossenschaft (since 1993), honorary member of the German Viticulture Association (since 1992) and honorary president of the Weinbauverband Württemberg (since 1991). The German Cooperative and Raiffeisen Association awarded him its Golden Badge of Honor in 1993. In 1994, his hometown Lauffen am Neckar was the first and until 2012 only citizen to grant him honorary citizenship .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gotthilf Link died at the age of 82 . In: Heilbronn voice . February 2, 2009 ( from Stimme.de [accessed on August 27, 2010]).
2. ↑ Joachim Kinzinger: Put pressure on until you leave . In: Heilbronn voice . April 8, 2011 ( from Stimme.de [accessed April 9, 2011]).
3. ↑ Announcement of awards of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Federal Gazette . Vol. 30, No. 172, September 13, 1978.

swell

• Thomas Dorn: Down-to-earth, credible, hands-on . In: Heilbronner Voice of October 19, 2006, p. 30
• Gerhard Schwinghammer: Honorary President Gotthilf Link turns 80: A stroke of luck for the Württemberg viticulture . In: Rebe & Wein , Ulmer-Verlag, Stuttgart, October 2006 . ( Memento from October 17, 2006 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

• Obituary from the Württemberg winegrowing association