Manfred Woerner

Manfred Woerner (1982)

Signature of Manfred Wörner

Manfred Hermann Wörner (born September 24, 1934 in Stuttgart ; † August 13, 1994 in Brussels ) was a German lawyer , reserve officer in the Air Force ( lieutenant colonel ) and politician ( CDU ). He was a member of the German Bundestag from 1965 to 1988 , where he was chairman of the Defense Committee from 1976 to 1980 . From 1982 to 1988 he was Federal Minister of Defense under Chancellor Helmut Kohl . From 1988 to 1994 he was the first and so far only German NATO Secretary General and Chairman of the North Atlantic Council .

Life

Origin, studies and profession

Wörner was born in 1934 as the son of the Swabian textile merchant Carl Wörner and his wife Kläre Wörner, née Aldinger, in the Stuttgart district of Bad Cannstatt . He was baptized as a Protestant (after the war he headed the youth group of the local Evangelical Young Men Association). His father ran several shops in Coburg , Karlsruhe and Reutlingen .

After graduating from the Johannes-Kepler-Gymnasium Bad Cannstatt in 1953 , he studied law at the universities of Heidelberg , Paris (Sorbonne) and Munich . He finished his studies in Munich in 1957 with the first state examination in law . This was followed by preparatory service in Stuttgart and in 1961 the second state examination in law. In 1959, he was the international law Fritz Berber at the Law Faculty of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich with a thesis on criminal jurisdiction over troops on befreundetem territory for Dr. jur. PhD .

In 1961 he joined the interior administration of the state of Baden-Württemberg as a government assessor and worked for the district office of Öhringen until 1962 . From 1962 to 1964 he worked as a parliamentary advisor in the administration of the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart. In 1965 he was Councilor at the district office Göppingen in the Stuttgart region .

Reserve officer

Wörner belonged to the so-called white classes and therefore did not do any basic military service in the Bundeswehr . From the summer of 1966 he acquired his license for jet aircraft during military exercises with Jagdbombergeschwader 34 in Memmingen as a student pilot on the " Starfighter " (he was the holder of the first class military pilot's license and the instrument flight license for jet aircraft). He performed further military exercises a. a. in Neuburg an der Donau , Fürstenfeldbruck , Nordholz , Decimomannu ( Italy ) and Altenstadt . In 1968 he was promoted to reserve officer with the lieutenant promotion . Appointments as first lieutenant (1968), captain (1970) and major (1974) followed. Most recently (1977) had the rank of lieutenant colonel in the reserve of the air force .

family

Woerner was married twice. On December 12, 1972, he married the journalist Anna-Maria Caesar, daughter of an Air Force officer. In his second marriage, he was married to Elfie Reinsch (1941-2006) from 1982 until his death .

politics

Party and political education

From 1953 Wörner was a member of the Junge Union and in 1956 he joined the CDU . In 1973 he was a member of the CDU federal executive committee .

He first dealt with issues relating to civic education through seminars the Eichholz Political Academy at Schloss Eichholz in Wesseling.

Wörner was executive chairman from 1968 to 1972, deputy chairman from 1972 to 1988 and from 1988 to 1994 member of the board of the Sankt Augustin-based Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung .

MP

Poster for the 1965 federal election

From 1965 to 1988 Wörner was a member of the German Bundestag for the constituency of North Württemberg in 172 (Göppingen) . From 1969 to 1972 he was deputy chairman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group . Rainer Barzel occasionally gave him the task of spokesman for the parliamentary group in the budget committee .

Wörner was also a defense expert for the CDU. In 1974 he advocated that the Federal Republic should not sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty . Initially a member, he was chairman of the Defense Committee of the German Bundestag from 1976 to 1980 .

From 1969 to 1972 he was a deputy member of the sports committee of the German Bundestag , which prepared the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. He was a member of the FC Bundestag and holder of the German sports badge in gold (1978).

Wörner was last ( 11th electoral term 1987) with 49.0% of the votes directly elected member of the constituency of Göppingen .

Defense Minister

As early as the 1972 federal election , he was designated as Minister of Defense in Barzel's shadow cabinet . After the turnaround in Bonn , Wörner was appointed Federal Minister of Defense in the first cabinet of Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl on October 4, 1982 . He stood for rapprochement with France on security issues and was seen as a representative of close transatlantic cooperation . So he was u. a. a proponent of the NATO double resolution (1979); shortly after his tenure, the Franco-German Brigade was set up (1989). He campaigned for the development of the "Jäger 90" (later Eurofighter ).

He caused a stir in 1984 with the so-called Kießling affair . Based on the Military Counter-Intelligence Service (MAD), he classified the four-star general and then Deputy NATO Commander-in-Chief Günter Kießling as a security risk because of his alleged homosexuality and alleged blackmail. He decided on December 8, 1983, to take him early into retirement at the end of 1983. The allegations were later refuted, however, so that Wörner apologized for his “hastiness” and offered the Chancellor his resignation. However, this was rejected by Kohl. Kießling was put back into service on February 1, 1984 and retired on March 26, 1984 with the Great Zapfenstreich .

1987 took on his instigation, the first time army officers at a military exercise of the Warsaw Pact in part.

NATO Secretary General

On December 11, 1987 Wörner was elected NATO Secretary General . He resigned as Secretary of Defense on May 18, 1988, and was appointed Secretary-General of NATO on July 1, 1988 to succeed Peter Carington . During his tenure, the end of the Cold War fell (see NATO Summit London 1990) and the subsequent restructuring of NATO's alliance structure. At the NATO Summit in Brussels in 1994, at the suggestion of Wörner, the conversion of NATO into a conflict prevention alliance was confirmed. He also campaigned for the integration of the reunified Germany into the alliance.

Awards

• Awarded an honorary doctorate from Troy State University in Troy, Alabama in 1985.
• In 1991 he received the Grand Cross (Cavaliere di Gran Croce) of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic .
• In the spring of 1994, Manfred Wörner was made an honorary citizen by his community of Wäschenbeuren in the Göppingen district .
• In 1994 he was honored with the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker .
• Also in 1994 he was honored with the Eric M. Warburg Prize of the Atlantik-Brücke for his services to German-American relations .
• On April 30, 1994 he was awarded the Baden-Württemberg Medal of Merit .

Death and memory

State act

Tomb of Manfred and Elfie Wörner in the cemetery in Hohenstaufen

Manfred Wörner died in 1994 at the age of 59 in his official residence in Brussels as a result of colon cancer . He was buried in the village cemetery in Hohenstaufen near Göppingen. Chancellor Helmut Kohl gave the official funeral speech at the state ceremony in the plenary hall of the Bundestag. He described it with the words:

“He wanted to make a difference, he expressed it self-confidently, and everyone felt his own dynamic. He was an excellent speaker, he convinced with his expertise and hard work. "

Appreciations

Postage stamp from Moldova

• In order to maintain relations between Germany and the United States , a security policy "Manfred Wörner Seminar" has been held regularly since 1982 by the German Marshall Fund and the Bundeswehr.
• The sculptor Kurt Arentz presented a portrait to Manfred Wörner in 1985.
• Issue of a stamp in the Republic of Moldova , on which the Moldovan President Mircea Snegur and the NATO Secretary General Manfred Wörner are portrayed at the signing of the Partnership for Peace on March 16, 1994.
• 1994–1998 Establishment of the Manfred Wörner Foundations in Bulgaria , Romania and Hungary .
• In 1995 the Defense Ministers of NATO set up the "Manfred Wörner Essay Award".
• In memory of Manfred Wörner, the Federal Minister of Defense has been awarding the Manfred Wörner Medal every year since 1996 to personalities who “have made a special contribution to peace and freedom in Europe”.
• In 1995 a street in Sofia , Bulgaria was named after Manfred Wörner.
• In 1996 a Wörner memorial stone was erected in the South Park of Sofia, Bulgaria.
• The Friends of the Federal Academy for Security Policy have been organizing the “Manfred Wörner Speech” series of lectures since 1997.
• In 1997 the “Dr. Manfred Wörner Circle ”, of which Amedeo de Franchis is honorary president .
• In the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies 1997, "Wörner Hall" was inaugurated.
• The Konrad Adenauer Foundation regularly organizes the “Manfred Wörner Memorial Lecture”.
• There is a Manfred Wörner market place on the grounds of the Air Force Officer's School in Fürstenfeldbruck
• To honor Wörner, the Manfred Wörner Scholarship was established in 1999 at the Universities of the Federal Armed Forces in Hamburg and Munich for young scientists, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Defense.
• In Göppingen , his former constituency, "Manfred-Wörner-Straße" bears his name.
• The "Wörner Gap" on Livingston Island was named after Wörner .
• In Wäschenbeuren in the district of Göppingen , where he lives, the "Manfred-Wörner-Platz" in front of the town hall is named after him.
• 1998 Establishment of the "Manfred Wörner Building" for partner delegations in Brussels by NATO Secretary General Javier Solana .
• In 2000/03, the Manfred Wörner Center of the command academy of the Bundeswehr was inaugurated in the Clausewitz barracks in Hamburg . A bust showing Manfred Wörner was set up in the foyer. In addition, a “Dr. Manfred Wörner Prize "awarded to the best international participants in the General Staff Service / Admiralty Staff Service (LGAN) course
• In 2001 a Manfred Wörner Room was inaugurated in the Hungarian Foreign Ministry in Budapest .
• In 2005 the "Manfred Wörner Hall", a lecture hall, was named after Wörner at the NATO School in Oberammergau.
• On the 20th anniversary of Wörner's death in 2014, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation praised the “Manfred Wörner Scholarship for Security Policy Studies”, which doctoral students, especially contemporary history and political science, “whose research focuses on questions of Euro-Atlantic stability and international Security aligns “, promotes financially and ideally.

Cabinets

• Cabinet Kohl I - Cabinet Kohl II - Cabinet Kohl III

Fonts (selection)

• Criminal jurisdiction over troops if there is consent to stay on foreign territory . Dissertation, University of Munich, 1959.
• Paths to Peace in Freedom . CDU federal office, Bonn 1984.
• Peace in freedom. Contribution to security and defense policy, strategy, the armed forces and the service of soldiers . Bernard & Graefe, Koblenz 1987, ISBN 3-7637-5843-7 .
• 30 years of military chaplaincy contract in the Federal Republic of Germany. Texts from a service and a ceremony on February 24, 1987 in Bonn . Idea Verlag, Wetzlar 1987.
• The Atlantic Alliance in the 1990s. On February 8, 1990 in the house of the Patriotic Society . Übersee-Club, Hamburg 1990.
• European security in the 90s . Swabian Society, Stuttgart 1990.
• What is European security after the Cold War? Philip Morris Institute For Public Policy Research, Brussels 1993.
• For peace in freedom. Speeches and essays (= publication by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation ). ed. by Günter Rinsche and Gerd Langguth . Edition q, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-86124-312-1 .

literature

• Manfred Wörner , in Internationales Biographisches Archiv 46/1994 of November 7, 1994 (lö), in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)
• Christoph Bertram : On the death of NATO Secretary General Manfred Wörner. A statesman only in Brussels . In: Die Zeit , No. 34/1994.
• David Childs : Obituary: Manfred Worner . In: The Independent , August 15, 1994.
• Rolf Clement : Farewell to General Secretary Manfred Wörner, the designer of the new NATO . In: The Parliament , August 26, 1994.
• Karl Feldmeyer : NATO crowned his career and was a political fulfillment for him. On the death of Manfred Wörner . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , August 15, 1994, p. 3.
• Horst Ferdinand : Manfred Hermann Wörner . In: Bernd Ottnad (Hrsg.): Baden-Württembergische Biographien . Volume 2. On behalf of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg , Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 978-3-17-014117-9 , pp. 494–502.
• Horst Ferdinand: Manfred Wörner . In: Udo Kempf , Hans-Georg Merz (Ed.): Chancellor and Minister 1949–1998. Biographical Lexicon of the German Federal Governments . Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2001, ISBN 3-531-13407-8 , pp. 762-766.
• Niels Hansen : Manfred Wörner and NATO, a German with charm and intelligence . In: Rheinischer Merkur , August 19, 1994.
• Walter Henkels : Manfred Wörner . In: Ders .: New Bonn heads . 9th updated edition, Econ Verlag, Düsseldorf u. a. 1978, ISBN 3-430-14305-5 , pp. 358-360.
• Peter Hort: The alliance bids farewell to a great one . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , August 20, 1994.
• Franz Josef Jung : an impeccable patriot . In: Die Welt , August 13, 2009, 187/09, p. 7.
• Funeral speech by Dr. Helmut Kohl , Appreciation at the State Act, Archive for Christian Democratic Politics, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (Bulletin of the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, No. 75 of August 25, 1994, pp. 705-706)
• Jean de La Gueriviere : La mort du secrétaire général de l'OTAN Manfred Worner, un atlantiste champion de l'ouverture à l'Est . In: Le Monde , August 16, 1994.
• Manfred Rist: Death of NATO Secretary General Wörner. Six-year term of office under the sign of east-west change . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , August 15, 1994, p. 1.
• Michael Rühle: NATO on the way to the turn of the millennium. Manfred Wörner's legacy . In: KAS-Auslandsinformationen 10/11 (1994), pp. 3–13.
• Walther Stützle : A stroke of luck for the alliance and the Federal Republic. On the death of the NATO Secretary General and former Federal Defense Minister Manfred Wörner . In: Der Tagesspiegel , August 15, 1994.

Web links

Commons : Manfred Wörner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Manfred Wörner in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Manfred Wörner  in the German Digital Library
• Manfred Wörner in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Manfred Wörner at NATO
• Manfred Wörner at the Federal Ministry of Defense
• Angela Keller-Kühne, Peter Crämer: Manfred Wörner at the Archive for Christian-Democratic Politics of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
• The homepage of the Dr. Manfred Woerner Circle

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u} Dr. Manfred Wörner (1934–1994), curriculum vitae in tabular form. Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , August 6, 2009, accessed on September 15, 2015 . 
2. ↑ marriage . In: Der Spiegel . No. 52 , 1972 ( online ).
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Manfred Wörner . Federal Ministry of Defense , December 3, 2013, accessed on September 15, 2015.
4. ↑ DER SPIEGEL: Affair Wörner
5. ^ Sven Felix Kellerhoff: Gay affair 1983: When a minister mobilized the "prostitute scene" , Die Welt , February 2, 2018
6. ↑ NATO: New man against Wörner? In: Der Spiegel . No. 49 , 1987 ( online ).
7. ↑ Ryan C. Hendrickson: Manfred Wörner: Visions for NATO. In: NATO Review. 2004, accessed December 3, 2009 . 
8. ^ Manfred Wörner Seminar for German-American Understanding . Federal Ministry of Defense , December 16, 2014, accessed on September 15, 2015.
9. ↑ biography . Kurt Arentz's website, accessed September 15, 2015.
10. ^ Manfred Wörner Essay Award . NATO , accessed September 15, 2015.
11. ↑ The Manfred Wörner Medal . Federal Ministry of Defense , December 3, 2013, accessed on September 15, 2015.
12. ^ The BAKS: Circle of Friends . Federal Academy for Security Policy , accessed on September 15, 2015.
13. ↑ About . Dr. Manfred Wörner Circle, accessed on September 15, 2015.
14. ↑ Tour . George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies , accessed September 15, 2015.
15. ^ The Manfred Wörner Center: Highly flexible exercise landscape . Bundeswehr Leadership Academy , July 11, 2013, accessed on September 15, 2015.
16. ^ Organization . NATO School , accessed September 15, 2015.
17. ↑ Manfred Wörner Scholarship . Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , accessed on September 15, 2015.