Heinz Eckhoff

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Heinz Eckhoff (* 1925 in Apensen ) is a German politician ( CDU ), farmer and entrepreneur. 1972 to 1976 he was mayor of Apensen. In 2000 he received the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon.

Life

Heinz Eckhoff was born in Apensen in 1925. During the Second World War , Eckhoff was a member of the Waffen SS from 1943 . After the war he worked as a farmer and potato wholesaler. In 1968 he ran successfully on the list of the NPD for the district council of Stade . In 1970 he joined the CDU. According to the CDU, Eckhoff was never a member of the NPD, but only ran on the party's list in order to be able to move into the district council of Stade as the second Apenser next to the CDU candidate who was considered to have been set. From 1972 to 1976 he was mayor of Apensen. Eckhoff was also the chairman of the district path committee. It is his merit that Apensen was equipped with bike paths. He was also involved in the town twinning between his municipality of Apensen and the Breton town of Ploemel .

Eckhoff was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2000 at the age of 77 for his services as mayor of the municipality and the joint municipality of Apensen , his work on the board (also as chairman) of Volksbank Geest and for various other commitments in clubs and associations Germany excellent.

Controversy about the award of the Federal Cross of Merit

The award of the Federal Cross of Merit to Eckhoff caused a sensation due to his earlier membership in the Waffen SS. During the award ceremony, Eckhoff's non-party district administrator Günther Armonat said that “everyone who knows Heinz Eckhoff knows that he dissociates himself most decisively from hatred, violence and racism”. You have to allow a person the opportunity to change his mind.

The Office of the Federal President announced that Eckhoff had been proposed through the municipal offices in Lower Saxony. His curriculum vitae had not been fully communicated to the Office of the Federal President. A spokeswoman for the Federal President said that Johannes Rau had taken the case as an opportunity to appeal again to the federal states to “show the greatest possible care in proposing the order”. In the specific case, the state of Lower Saxony made the proposal for the award. According to its own statements, the Federal President's Office could no longer reverse the award.

The director of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) Elan Steinberg described the award of the medal to Eckhoff as a "blot on Germany". He pointed out that in 1945 the Waffen SS had been classified as a criminal organization.

Irmela Mensah-Schramm , who had received a Federal Merit Medal in 1996 for her work against racism, returned her award when she learned that Heinz Eckhoff had also been honored with the Federal Cross of Merit.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Hamburger Abendblatt - Hamburg: The controversial Federal Cross of Merit. In: www.abendblatt.de. Retrieved October 6, 2016 .
  2. ↑ a b c d A farmer with feeling. taz, November 15, 2000, accessed November 24, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b c Rau honors veterans of the Waffen SS. Der Spiegel, November 13, 2000, accessed on November 24, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/16691788
  5. ↑ Rau honors veterans of the Waffen SS. Der Spiegel, November 13, 2000, accessed on November 24, 2019 .
  6. ↑ “Commitment and courage against right-wing extremism” ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Women's Center Wolfen, accessed on October 6, 2016 at 11:45 p.m. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.frauenzentrum-welten.de
personal data
SURNAME Eckhoff, Heinz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (CDU), farmer and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Apenses