Heinz Schleusser

Heinz Schleusser (born April 20, 1936 in Oberhausen ; † July 12, 2000 in Essen ) was a German trade unionist and politician ( SPD ).

Schleusser worked from 1954 to 1963 as a fitter in the Oberhausen ironworks. From 1969 to 1987 he was the first authorized representative and managing director of IG Metall .

Schleusser joined the SPD in 1957. From 1969 to 1988 he was councilor of the city of Oberhausen, from 1979 to 1988 as chairman of the SPD parliamentary group. In 1975 he was elected to the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia , where he was financial policy spokesman for the Social Democrats from 1981 to 1988. In May 1988 Johannes Rau appointed him to his cabinet as finance minister. He held this office for twelve years. The socially responsible organization of structural change was the great task of his term of office. As a result of the mining crisis in the Ruhr area, the country's debts grew to almost 150 billion DM.

Schleusser was a supervisory board member of Thyssen AG and a member of the board of directors of WestLB .

Press reports on Schleusser's two vacation flights with prostitutes , which he had paid for by WestLB , mark the beginning of the " Düsseldorf flight affair " which led to his resignation on January 26, 2000. The prostitutes were disguised as stewardesses. WestLB got the money back through inflated bills, so that in the end the taxpayer paid for the pleasure trips.

Schleusser died on July 12, 2000 after a serious illness in Essen. He was buried on July 19, 2000 in his hometown of Oberhausen. The marina on the Rhine-Herne Canal in Oberhausen was named after him.

See also: Cabinet Rau III - Cabinet Rau IV - Cabinet Rau V - Cabinet Clement I.

Footnotes

1. ^ Spiegel Online : A chronology: The flight affair from the beginning . January 26, 2000
2. ^ In Ibbenbürener Volkszeitung from July 20, 2000: "Heinz Schleußer buried in Oberhausen"

Web links

• Heinz Schleusser at the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia