Lothar Späth

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Lothar Späth (2011)

Lothar Späth (born November 16, 1937 in Sigmaringen ; † March 18, 2016 in Stuttgart ) was a German politician ( CDU ) and manager . From 1978 to 1991 he was Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg .

education

Lothar Späth was born on November 16, 1937 as the son of a partner in a seed business in Sigmaringen. Two years after Späth's birth, the strictly Pietist family left Sigmaringen and moved to Ilsfeld , where he attended elementary school. This was followed by high school in Beilstein and the Robert-Mayer-Gymnasium in Heilbronn, which he left after graduation . Between 1953 and 1958 Späth was trained in the administrative service of the city of Giengen an der Brenz and at the Bad Mergentheim district office . 1958–1959 he attended the Stuttgart State Administration School .

Public office and political activities

Lothar Späth (1983)

From 1960 Späth worked for the financial administration of the city of Bietigheim . In 1963 he took over the chairmanship of the local youth council, which he himself founded in 1961 . In 1965 he became an alderman and financial officer of the city, and in 1967 he was elected mayor there. From 1970 to 1974 he was managing director of the Neue Heimat in Stuttgart and Hamburg and until 1977 also on the board of directors and supervisory board of the construction company C. Baresel AG in Stuttgart.

In 1968 he was elected for the first time as a member of the state parliament. In 1972 he became chairman of the CDU parliamentary group in the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg . After he had initially turned down other ministerial offices offered by Prime Minister Filbinger several times, he was appointed Minister of the Interior in 1978 .

Späth with Erich Honecker (1987)

After Hans Filbinger resigned because of the " Filbinger Affair ", Lothar Späth was elected fifth Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg on August 30, 1978 . He was able to prevail against the mayor of Stuttgart, Manfred Rommel , who also had ambitions for the office, within the parliamentary group. From 1979 to 1991 he was state chairman of the CDU of Baden-Württemberg , then its honorary chairman, and from 1981 to 1989 deputy federal chairman of this party. In the summer of 1989 he belonged to the inner-party group that was preparing an opposition candidate for chairman Helmut Kohl at the CDU party congress in Bremen . In the end, he didn't run. As the Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, he was President of the Federal Council from November 1, 1984 to October 31, 1985 . From 1987 to 1990, Späth was the representative of the Federal Republic of Germany for cultural affairs under the Élysée Treaty . In this function he was significantly involved in the idea and founding of the television culture channel Arte .

Späth was able to defend the absolute majority of the CDU in the state elections in 1980 , 1984 and 1988 , while the other parties stagnated. As Prime Minister he drove the country's economic development and was nicknamed “Cleverle” for its economic success. Späth worked closely with companies based in Baden-Württemberg and their managers, in particular with the economic manager and CEO of Südmilch AG , Friedrich Wilhelm Schnitzler , the Mercedes-Benz group, Porsche AG and their board members. After Späth had been accused of taking advantage of vacation trips in connection with the “ dream ship affair ”, he resigned from his position as head of government on January 13, 1991, and on July 31, 1991 also resigned his mandate as a member of the state parliament. His successor as Prime Minister was the CDU parliamentary group leader Erwin Teufel in Baden-Württemberg . The Lord Mayor of Bietigheim-Bissingen, Manfred List, took over his state parliament mandate .

In the federal election campaign in 2002 , Späth was a member of the shadow cabinet of Chancellor candidate Edmund Stoiber as shadow minister for economics .

Other activities

In 1984 he set up the “Export Foundation Baden-Württemberg”, now Baden-Württemberg International , to support medium-sized companies from Baden-Württemberg in opening up foreign markets .

Private sector

Lothar Späth (2003)

Spaeth was Managing Director of in June 1991 Jenoptik GmbH in Jena ( legal successor of VEB Carl Zeiss Jena ) and led them on 16 June 1998 as CEO of that emerged from this joint stock company Jenoptik AG on the stock exchange . Jenoptik was thus one of the few examples that a former industrial combine from the former GDR was able to successfully assert itself in reunified Germany after the fall of the Wall. Späth's own work on the Jenoptik AG Executive Board ended in June 2003. In April 1996, Späth became President of the East Thuringia Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Gera . In 1997 he received honorary citizenship of the city of Jena.

From 1997 to 2001 he presented the weekly talk show Späth am Abend on n-tv . From 2005 he again presented a program of the same name that was broadcast monthly. He was an honorary professor for media and time diagnostics at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena . From 2002 to 2011, Späth was the testimonial of the innovation competitionTOP 100 - The Most Innovative Companies in German Medium-Sized Enterprises” and publisher of the accompanying book, which is published annually. In May 2005 he became chairman of the management board of the investment bank Merrill Lynch for Germany and Austria, and from 2006 to 2007 he was also chairman of the supervisory board of the Georg von Holtzbrinck publishing group . From July 2007 to April 2013 he was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of J&M Management Consulting AG , based in Mannheim . From 1998 to September 2012 he was also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Herrenknecht AG.

Several books of a political nature were published by Späth.

Volunteering

Lothar Späth was the founder of the Lothar Späth Prize . He has also been a member of the jury for the Entrepreneur of the Year award since 2004 . From 2008 to 2012 he was chairman of the board of trustees of the Baden-Württemberg Monument Foundation . He was also chairman of the board of trustees of the Marion Ermer Foundation he initiated for the promotion of art and culture, in particular young artists in the new federal states.

Private

Lothar Späth had been married since 1962 and had their daughter Daniela and their adopted son Peter with his wife Ursula, who had been separated from him since 2013 .

Späth died on March 18, 2016 at the age of 78. He suffered from dementia and last lived in a nursing home. Späth found his final resting place in the Möhringen cemetery in the south of Stuttgart.

Awards and honors

See also

literature

  • Franz Effenberger : Lothar Späth's research funding and technology policy using the example of the University of Stuttgart. regional culture publisher, Ubstadt-Weiher 2020, ISBN 978-3-95505-200-3 .
  • Christian Faludi, Hanno Müller: Späth, Lothar, in: Matias Mieth, Rüdiger Stutz (ed.): Jena. Lexicon on city history. Tümmel-Verlag, Berching 2018, p. 585 f.
  • Stefan Wogawa: Lothar Späth. Look behind a (self-) staging. (= Economy & Politics. Volume 1). OWUS e. V., Bad Salzungen 2010.
  • Marlis Prinzing, Lothar Späth: "We can do it" - Answers to the crisis - Perspectives for the future. Marlis Prinzing meets Lothar Späth. Kaufmann, Lahr 2009, ISBN 978-3-7806-3089-6 .
  • Marlis Prinzing: Lothar Späth - Changes of a Restless . Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich 2006, ISBN 3-280-05203-3 .
  • Rudolf Leibinger, Horst Sund (ed.): Interim balance. Festschrift for Lothar Späth on the occasion of the completion of the mixing cross at the University of Konstanz . Universitäts-Verlag Konstanz, Konstanz 1988, ISBN 3-87940-337-6 .

Web links

Commons : Lothar Späth  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Lothar Späth fell asleep gently in the home . In: picture online . March 18, 2016 ( online [accessed April 12, 2016]).
  2. Michael Hescheler (fxh): Kretschmann, the fortune teller. In: Schwäbische Zeitung. April 2, 2011.
  3. Stefan Benning: Bietigheim 789-1989. Contributions to the history of the settlement, village and city. Bietigheim-Bissingen 1989, ISBN 3-9801012-2-5 , p. 761.
  4. Disgraced Frondeurs. Der Spiegel, September 4, 1989.
  5. Andreas Schreitmüller : On a silk thread. In: media correspondence. 11/2016 of May 27, 2016, pp. 17-19.
  6. Interview with Jürgen Oswald, head of Baden-Württemberg International . In: Südwestpresse . September 14, 2014.
  7. ^ Website of the organizer ( memento of February 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on February 2, 2016.
  8. ^ Lothar-Späth sponsorship award for artists with intellectual disabilities
  9. Ex-Prime Minister Lothar Späth left by his wife after 51 years of marriage. In: Die Welt Online. March 31, 2014, accessed October 5, 2014.
  10. Lothar Späth is dead FAZ.net, March 18, 2016, accessed on March 18, 2016.
  11. Lothar Späth erkankt from dementia. FAZ.net, March 6, 2016.
  12. The grave of Lothar Späth. In: knerger.de. Klaus Nerger, accessed October 8, 2018 .