Johannes Gerster

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Johannes Gerster, 2009

Johannes Gerster (born January 2, 1941 in Mainz ; † August 21, 2021 ) was a German politician ( CDU ). He was a member of the German Bundestag and the Rhineland-Palatinate Landtag . From 2006 to 2010 he was President of the German-Israeli Society .

Education, work and family

Gerster grew up as the youngest of six children in a Catholic family home, which during the Nazi era had hid Jews in a group called together by the Archbishop of Mainz and helped them escape. After graduating from the Rabanus-Maurus-Gymnasium in Mainz, Gerster studied law and political sciences from 1962 to 1967 at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz , the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg and the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn . After completing his legal clerkship , he passed his second state examination in 1970. He then worked as an administrative lawyer in the Mainz-Bingen district and in the Ministry of the Interior of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, most recently as a government director.

In 1968 he married Regina Linden, the couple had three children. He was uncle 2nd degree of the former chairman of the Federal Labor Office , Florian Gerster , and the ZDF -today presenter Petra Gerster . His son Thomas Gerster (* 1970) is CDU chairman of the Mainz-Altstadt district and a member of the city council of Mainz.

Political career

Gerster, a CDU member from 1960, was a member of the German Bundestag from 1972 to 1976 and from 1977 to 1994. In the federal elections in 1983 , 1987 and 1990 he won the direct mandate in constituency 208 (Mainz) . In the CDU / CSU parliamentary group he was, among other things, domestic policy spokesman and deputy group chairman. He was seen as a politician with a “preference for clear words” and as a “hardliner” ( Jürgen Serke ) who knew how to settle and stir up disputes. As chairman of the committee of inquiry into the Neue Heimat scandal , he gained notoriety through his persistent educational work.

Election poster of the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate with the top candidate Johannes Gerster, 1996

From 1993 to 1997 Gerster was state chairman of the CDU in Rhineland-Palatinate , after having been chairman of the Mainz CDU from 1976 to 1987. In the state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1996 , the “popular” barley competed as a top candidate for the office of Prime Minister with the support of Helmut Kohl . Gerster's CDU remained behind the SPD, but would have had a majority in the state parliament together with the FDP. Since the FDP continued the coalition with the SPD, Kurt Beck remained Prime Minister. Gerster became chairman of the CDU parliamentary group and opposition leader, but resigned all offices in parliament and party the following year. Jochen Zenthöfer judges Gerster's political career that he never made it into the front row, but was always an important figure.

Focus of work

In the 1980s and 1990s, Johannes Gerster, as domestic policy spokesman and deputy chairman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, advocated an improvement in internal security laws, a new law on foreigners and an effective asylum procedure law. He also worked for the upgrading of the technical relief organization and for the rapid legal adjustment in the course of German reunification. Against resistance, he succeeded in having the Stasi files opened for victims, the press and academia in a legal process. Federal Chancellor Kohl attested to him that the domestic politics of the Federal Republic had been significantly influenced by Gerster during this time. Numerous basic decisions clearly bore his signature.

The FDP domestic politician, Burkhard Hirsch , who is critical of the Union, judged his collaboration with Gerster: “He can use his cheerfulness in all massiveness like other people use a steam hammer…. So we did very good domestic politics together for many years and learned to appreciate each other ... "

The Interior Minister at the time, Wolfgang Schäuble, described Gerster's domestic political activities as follows: “It was not without amusement… how he, as the domestic policy spokesman, took embarrassing care that the deputy chairmen responsible for this area did not spit into his soup while he, hardly if he himself had become deputy, in no way allowed any restrictions on his general responsibility for the area of ​​domestic and legal policy. "

Since the Guillaume Committee of Inquiry, in which Gerster appeared as the chief investigator of the scandal surrounding the Chancellor's spy, he has been in the sights of the GDR State Security . This described him as “aggressive and provocative” and criticized his “active opposing contact policy and contact activity” in the GDR . In his Stasi files it is noted: Gerster is an "enemy of the state". This led to his entry ban, which was lifted 17 months before the fall of the Berlin Wall "for political reasons" by the Stasi chief Erich Mielke personally.

In addition to his domestic political activities, Gerster worked as chairman of the German-Israeli parliamentary group in the Bundestag, focusing on the development and expansion of German-Israeli relations. His credo: For historical, political and moral reasons we are obliged that the Jews in Israel can live in peace and freedom. This has been recognized time and again by German and Israeli personalities. "Gerster's incomparable contribution to German-Israeli relations," said Gideon Esra , Likud Minister, or at the end of his nine years in Israel: "The loss of Jerusalem is the gain of Mainz," said Ari Rath, former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post. "Johannes Gerster - a stroke of luck for German-Israeli relations," said Bernhard Vogel , former Prime Minister.

Gerster was “convinced that Israel's future depended on its ability to create peace with the Palestinians”. That is why he founded working groups with Israelis and Palestinians. There the otherwise speechless neighbors talked about improvements in the living conditions of the people on both sides. Joint ventures, fairer water distribution, individual humanitarian cases, security issues and others. were tackled again and again and partly solved despite setbacks. This was to prove that Israelis and Palestinians can tackle and shape problems together. Ultimately, trust should be built from the bottom up.

Commitment to Israel

After retiring from politics, Johannes Gerster, who had been Vice President of the German-Israeli Society from 1982 , worked for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation as a branch manager in Jerusalem . At the interface between Israelis and Palestinians, he tried to find a balance between the two peoples. In 2004 he was awarded the President's Award by Tel Aviv University in recognition of his longstanding friendship with Israel and his commitment to strengthening Israeli-Arab relations . In 1995 the Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba awarded him an honorary doctorate in philosophy for his political commitment in the region. After several other Israeli honors, he received the 2005 Plaque of Honor from the European-Palestinian Chamber of Commerce for his commitment. On January 24, 2006, Gerster was awarded the title of Friend of the City of Jerusalem by the Mayor of Jerusalem Uri Lupolianski , the highest honor in the city of Jerusalem given to non-Jews. Johannes Gerster will always be inscribed in the city's book as a trusted friend.

In January 2006 Johannes Gerster finished his work at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Jerusalem and returned to Germany after nine years. On November 12, 2006, Gerster was elected President by the Federal Assembly of the German-Israeli Society in Baden-Baden, succeeding Manfred Lahnstein , who was no longer running. Reinhold Robbe succeeded him in this position in October 2010 .

honors and awards

factories

Book chapters

  • The rapporteur in the parliamentary budget procedure. In: Karl-Heinz Mattern: Administration - interdisciplinary 2nd publishing house law, administration, economy, Regensburg, 1984, ISBN 3-88938-662-8 .
  • Integration of foreigners - an important task for the future. In: Institute for social sciences (ed.): The new order. IFG Verlagsgesellschaft, Walberberg, 1988, ISSN  0932-7665 .
  • Internal security. In Germany, where are you? MM Verlag, Aachen, 1994, ISBN 3-928272-41-1 .
  • Traces in the ether, the extension of the G 10 law. In: Martina Fietz, Michael Jach: explosive crime. Verlag Bonn Aktuell, 1994, ISBN 3-87959-517-8 .
  • For a fair balance in the Middle East. In: Hans-Georg Meyer (Ed.): Israel Views. LzPolB Rhl.-Pf., Mainz, 2002, ISBN 3-89289-005-6 .
  • Every day under bomb threat. In: Günter Beaugrand: The Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Dung Marketing GmbH & Co, Sankt Augustin, 2003, ISBN 3-927535-15-X .
  • Confronting European - Israeli, Missunderstandings. In: Manfred Gerstenfeld: Israel and Europa, set in Baskerville in Israel. Jerusalem 2005, ISBN 965-218-047-5 .
  • 60 years of Israel - between the right to exist and the threat to existence (= series of publications of the Landtag Rhineland-Palatinate, issue 40). Mainz 2008.
  • Bridge building between Israelis and Palestinians. In: Milena Uhlmann (ed.): The German-Israeli security relations. Berliner Wissenschaftsverlag, Berlin, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8305-1569-2 .
  • Experience from 60 years of German-Israeli relations (= Historisch-Politische Mitteilungen 20/2013). Böhlau Verlag Cologne, Weimar, Vienna, ISBN 978-3-412-22197-3 .
  • Land promise - founding of the state - current threat? On the future of Israel. In: Berthold Schwarz (Ed.): Who Owns the Holy Land? Peter Lang, Frankfurt, 2014, ISBN 978-3-631-64164-4 .
  • Six cathedral musicians in 150 years and cathedral choir through the ages. In: Festschrift Mainzer Domchor. Mainz 2016.
  • Germany and Israel before and after reunification (= Historisch Politische Mitteilungen 23/2016). Böhlau Verlag Cologne, Weimar, Vienna, ISBN 978-3-412-50799-2 .
  • Mainz - rabbis - scientists - bridge builders - people. In: Gunda Trapp: The Last Rabbi. The unorthodox life of Leo Trepp . 2018, wbg Theiss, Darmstadt, ISBN 978-3-8062-3818-1 .
  • The awakening of a sleeping giant. In: Federal Agency for Technical Relief (Hrsg.): Roller coaster in blue - THW in transition. DBB Verlag, Berlin, 2019.

literature

  • Wolfgang Wiedemeyer: Johannes Gerster: a portrait. Bouvier, Bonn 1995, ISBN 3-416-02594-6 .
  • Lars Hansel: Johannes Gerster in Jerusalem. A tribute. o. O., o. J. (Jerusalem 2006; German / English).

Web links

Commons : Johannes Gerster  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. Julia Klöckner: "Johannes Gerster was a person of character". August 21, 2021, accessed August 21, 2021 .
  2. Dr. hc Johannes Gerster. Homepage.
  3. a b c Jochen Zenthöfer: He does not name the sources. The autobiography of the Enlightenment in the "New Home" scandal. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , March 7, 2011.
  4. Dietmar Brück: A Mainz citizen of the world presents his memories. In: Rhein-Zeitung Koblenz , September 1, 2010, p. 3 (PDF from the Gersters website).
  5. a b c Detlef David Kauschke: Mainz remains Mainz: Johannes Gerster leaves Jerusalem and returns to his hometown. In: Jüdische Allgemeine , January 26, 2006.
  6. Johannes Gerster - About the person
  7. CDU Mainz-Altstadt - Board of Directors ( Memento from January 20, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
  8. Curriculum vitae on Thomas Gerster's homepage
  9. a b c Jürgen Serke : What does Johannes Gerster actually do? In: Cicero , December 22, 2005.
  10. ^ Helmut Kohl : Johannes Gerster, a portrait of Wolfgang Wiedemeyer, Bouvier, Bonn, 1995
  11. ^ Burkhard Hirsch : Johannes Gerster, a portrait of Wolfgang Wiedemeyer, Bouvier, Bonn, 1995
  12. ^ Wolfgang Schäuble : Johannes Gerster, a portrait of Wolfgang Wiedemeyer, Bouvier, Bonn, 1995
  13. Reinhard Küchler: As a "public enemy" in the sights of the Stasi. In: Allgemeine-Zeitung Mainz , February 18, 2011, p. 3 (PDF from the Gersters website).
  14. ^ German-Israeli Society : DIG Magazine No. 3/2010
  15. Johannes Gerster: In: Not adapted. My life between Mainz, Bonn and Jerusalem. Leinpfad, Ingelheim 2010, ISBN 978-3-937782-95-9
  16. DIG elects Johannes Gerster as new President ( Memento from November 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: DIG-Frankfurt.de .