Heinrich von Brentano

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Heinrich von Brentano (1960)
Family coat of arms

Heinrich Joseph Maximilian Johann Maria von Brentano di Tremezzo (born June 20, 1904 in Offenbach am Main , † November 14, 1964 in Darmstadt ) was a German politician ( CDU ). From 1955 to 1961 he was Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany and from 1949 to 1955 and from 1961 until his death chairman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group .

Life and work

Within the Brentano dynasty  - which belongs to the Lombard nobility - Heinrich comes from the Binger lineage and within this lineage from the Friedberger lineage, founded by Jacob Gustav Adolph Brentano and Auguste Eleonore Charlotte Hofmann (1821–1902). Heinrich von Brentano was the youngest child of Otto von Brentano di Tremezzo , who was a member of the Center Party of the Weimar National Assembly , and Lilla nee. Schwerdt (1863-1948). Clemens and Bernard von Brentano were his older brothers.

After graduating from the Leibnizschule in Offenbach in 1922 , Brentano studied law in Munich and became an active member of the Catholic student association Rheno-Bavaria in the Cartel Association of Catholic German Student Associations. In 1925 he passed his first and in 1929 his second state examination in law. In 1930 at the University of Giessen his promotion to Dr. jur. with the work The legal status of the President of Parliament according to German constitutional and procedural law . In Giessen Heinrich von Brentano became a member of the catholic student union Nassovia in KV. For his life's work he was named one of the three honorary philists of the KStV Nassovia. From 1932 he was a lawyer at the Darmstadt Higher Regional Court until 1943 when he was appointed public prosecutor to Hanau . After 1945 he worked as a lawyer and notary in Darmstadt. As Foreign Minister he signed the Treaty of Luxembourg in October 1956 for the reintegration of the Saarland into the Federal Republic of Germany.

Brentano remained unmarried throughout his life. When asked that his minister was homosexual, Konrad Adenauer is said to have replied: “Dat is ejal for me as long as he doesn't tackle me.” (Another variant of the saying is: “He has not tried it with me at any rate.”) Up to When she died in 1948, Brentano lived with his mother, whom he also looked after in the end.

Brentano was a chain smoker . In the summer of 1962 there were signs of esophageal cancer , which made his work increasingly difficult. In December 1963 he had to undergo a major operation; he died eleven months later. The cause of death cancer was not explicitly mentioned at the time, but rather described as a "serious, incurable disease".

He was honored with a state ceremony three days after his death in the plenary hall of the German Bundestag . Brentano is buried in the Waldfriedhof Darmstadt ( grave site: R 12b 57 ).

politics

Political party

Brentano was one of the founders of the CDU in 1945 and was district chairman of the Darmstadt district from 1946 to 1949 and a member of the state board of the CDU Hessen . He was also vice-president of the parliamentary section of the European Movement .

MP

Heinrich von Brentano (without hat) (1956)
Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (left) shakes hands with von Brentano, 1957

From the end of 1946 to 1949 he was a member of the Hessian state parliament . From 1947 he was chairman of the CDU parliamentary group. From 1948 to 1949 he was a member of the Parliamentary Council , where he was deputy chairman of the Main Committee and the Committee on the Occupation Statute. From September 1949 until his death he was a member of the German Bundestag . Here he was chairman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group from September 15, 1949 to June 15, 1955 and again from November 24, 1961 until his death .

In 1952 Brentano belonged to a group of 34 members of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group who introduced a bill to introduce relative majority voting in the Bundestag. From 1950 to 1955 he was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and was its Vice-President. He was a member of the European Parliament from July 16, 1952 until his appointment as Federal Foreign Minister .

Heinrich von Brentano has always entered the Bundestag as a directly elected member of the Bergstrasse constituency .

Foreign minister

After regaining sovereignty and the accession of the Federal Republic of Germany to NATO , he was appointed Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs on June 8, 1955 in the Federal Government headed by Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer . After the FDP called for a State Secretary in the Foreign Office in the coalition negotiations after the 1961 federal election , who would then act as a kind of supervisory body there, Brentano declared his resignation on October 30, 1961, retroactively to October 28, 1961.

On October 30, 1961, he signed the German-Turkish recruitment agreement in Bad Godesberg . It was one of his last official acts.

Awards (excerpt)

literature

  • Arnulf Baring : Dear Federal Chancellor! Heinrich von Brentano in correspondence with Konrad Adenauer 1949–1964. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1974.
  • Bernd-Ulrich Hergemöller : Man for man. MännerschwarmSkript publishing house, 1998, ISBN 3-928983-65-2 .
  • Roland Koch , Frank-Lothar Kroll : Heinrich von Brentano. A trailblazer for European integration. Oldenbourg, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-486-56820-5 .
  • Daniel Kosthorst: Brentano and German unity. The Foreign Minister's Germany and Ostpolitik in the Adenauer cabinet 1955–1961 . Droste, Düsseldorf 1993.
  • Jochen Lengemann : The Hessen Parliament 1946–1986 . Biographical handbook of the advisory state committee, the state assembly advising the constitution and the Hessian state parliament (1st – 11th electoral period). Ed .: President of the Hessian State Parliament. Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1986, ISBN 3-458-14330-0 , p. 220 ( hessen.de [PDF; 12.4 MB ]).
  • Jochen Lengemann: MdL Hessen. 1808-1996. Biographical index (= political and parliamentary history of the state of Hesse. Vol. 14 = publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse. Vol. 48, 7). Elwert, Marburg 1996, ISBN 3-7708-1071-6 , p. 89.

Web links

Commons : Heinrich von Brentano  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rudolf Vierhaus : Supplements / register of persons . Walter de Gruyter, 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-097777-6 ( google.de ).
  2. ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Adelslexikon . Volume II. Limburg (Lahn) 1974.
  3. ^ Lothar R. Braun: 1904: Heinrich von Brentano is born. In: offenbach.de. Retrieved May 14, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Adriano Sack: How gay is Germany? In: welt.de . July 11, 2004, accessed May 14, 2016 .
  5. ↑ Hergemöller, p. 152 f.
  6. ↑ a b darmstadt.de (with photo of the grave)
  7. ^ Helma Brunck: Heinrich von Brentano . In Bernd Heidenreich, Walter Mühlhausen: Unity and Freedom: Hessian Personalities and the Way to the Federal Republic of Germany , p. 93 ( online ).
  8. ^ FAZ.net: Lawyer for Freedom
  9. ^ Der Spiegel February 10, 1965: The Last Plague
  10. ↑ Necla Kelek : The Art of Misunderstanding. In: faz.net. October 29, 2011, accessed April 17, 2018 .
  11. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.6 MB)
personal data
SURNAME Brentano, Heinrich von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brentano di Tremezzo, Heinrich von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (CDU), MdL, MdB, Federal Minister, MEP
DATE OF BIRTH June 20, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Offenbach am Main
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 1964
Place of death Darmstadt