Johannes Baptist Rösler

Johannes Baptist Rösler (born July 1, 1922 in Großschönau , Czechoslovakia ; † April 1, 2009 in Bingen am Rhein ) was a German politician ( CDU ), president of the state parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate and first ombudsman from 1974 to 1986.

Life

Raised in a Catholic family home, he studied political and social sciences in Prague from 1941 . These studies were suddenly interrupted when Rösler was drafted into the labor service and from then on had to do military service at the Mannesmann company . This was followed by a war mission in France and finally French captivity .

After his imprisonment, he was told that a return to Bohemia was hopeless, so that he found accommodation with a friend in Bavaria . He continued his studies in Regensburg when he heard of a pastor who had also been expelled and who had opened a seminary for Sudeten Germans . Rösler was initially involved there for some time, then continued his studies in Würzburg in 1947/48.

Friends then referred him to the student union AV Fryburgia in Schw. StV in Friborg (Switzerland), where he completed his studies in 1950 with a doctorate. In the same year Rösler married his wife Vittoria. In 1952 he took up a position as a religion teacher at a vocational school in Bingen am Rhein. He joined the CDU and was immediately elected to the city council, to which he initially belonged continuously until 1969 and again from 1989 to 1994. In May 1955 he was already elected to the state parliament. In 1971 he became president of the state parliament. From 1974 to 1986 Rösler held the office of Ombudsman for the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, at that time an almost revolutionary form of closeness to the citizen.

Rösler was a member of the German Bundestag from September 24, 1969, when he replaced the retired MP Hans Richarts , until the end of the 5th electoral term on October 19, 1969. Throughout his life he was very committed to social issues, among other things as founder and chairman of the support group of the Heilig-Geist-Hospital.

Honors and awards (selection)

• Large Federal Cross of Merit with Star of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany , 1984
• Order of Merit of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate
• Order of Orange-Nassau , 1973
• Leibniz Medal of the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz , 1974
• Freiherr vom Stein plaque
• Honorary citizenship of the city of Bingen am Rhein

Web links

• Literature by and about Johannes Baptist Rösler in the catalog of the German National Library