Otto Graf Lambsdorff

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Otto Graf Lambsdorff
Otto Graf Lambsdorff (2001)
Otto Graf Lambsdorff (1989) to the right of Walter Momper

Otto Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von der Wenge Graf Lambsdorff (born December 20, 1926 in Aachen , †  December 5, 2009 in Bonn ) was a German politician ( FDP ). From 1977 to 1982 and from 1982 to 1984 he served as Federal Minister of Economics and from 1988 to 1993 as Federal Chairman of the FDP. In 1987 Lambsdorff was sentenced to a fine in connection with the Flick affair for tax evasion .

education and profession

Otto Graf Lambsdorff came from the German Baltic aristocratic family von Lambsdorff . From 1932 he first attended schools in Berlin and from 1941 to 1944 as a boarding pupil of the former knight academy the Saldern-Gymnasium in Brandenburg an der Havel . During the Second World War he served as an officer candidate in the Wehrmacht from spring 1944 and was seriously wounded in a low-flying attack in Thuringia near Herpf at Easter 1945 . As a result of the wound, his left lower leg had to be amputated , which is why he used a walking stick in later years .

After being a prisoner of war , Lambsdorff passed the Abitur at the Pestalozzi-Gymnasium Unna in 1946 and then studied law and political science at the University of Bonn and Cologne University , which he finished in 1950 with the first state examination in law. In 1952 he received his doctorate with the thesis Farewell to the Reichsleistungsgesetz with special consideration of the current jurisprudence on the RLG . In 1955 he passed the second state examination.

From 1955 to 1971 he was in the banking industry , most recently as chief representative of the Düsseldorf private bank Trinkaus . He was admitted to the bar in 1960 . From 1971 to 1977 he was a member of the board of Victoria-Rückversicherung AG . In 1978 he joined the Düsseldorf law firm Wessing / von der Goltz. From 1988 to July 2008 he was chairman of the supervisory board of Iveco Magirus AG. Lambsdorff held a position on the Advisory Board of GML (Group Menatep ), whose majority shareholder was Mikhail Khodorkovsky .

family

tomb

Otto Graf Lambsdorff was the oldest of three children of Herbert Graf Lambsdorff (1899–1976) and Eva von Schmid (1904–1978). His brother Hagen Graf Lambsdorff (* 1935) was the German ambassador to Czechoslovakia and Latvia . Lambsdorff married Renate Lepper in 1953. From this marriage, which was later divorced, he had three children, including the ambassador Nikolaus Graf Lambsdorff . In 1975 Lambsdorff married Alexandra von Quistorp (* 1945) for the second time . He lived in Bad Münstereifel-Eschweiler and temporarily also in Bonn . His grave is located in a family grave in the south-west cemetery in Stahnsdorf .

His nephew Alexander Graf Lambsdorff represented the FDP in the European Parliament from 2004 to 2017 and has been in the Bundestag since 2017.

Political party

Lambsdorff had been a member of the FDP since 1951. From 1968 to 1978 he was treasurer and member of the executive FDP state board of North Rhine-Westphalia . Lambsdorff has been a member of the FDP federal executive committee since 1972, and of the FDP executive committee since 1982. From October 8, 1988 to June 11, 1993 he was federal chairman and since 1993 honorary chairman of the FDP. From 1991 to 1994 Lambsdorff was President of the Liberal International . From 1995 to 2006 he was chairman of the board of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation . Documents about his activities for the FDP and the Liberal International are in the Archives of Liberalism in Gummersbach .

houses of Parliament

Lambsdorff was a member of the German Bundestag from 1972 to 1998 . Here he was from 1972 to 1977 and from 1984 to 1997 economic policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group .

Public office and political goals

Role as minister

Otto Graf Lambsdorff (1975)

On October 7, 1977 he was appointed Federal Minister for Economic Affairs in the federal government led by Chancellor Helmut Schmidt . From Ordoliberalismus and the market economy convinced Lambsdorff argued firstly for a new system of co-determination legislation . In doing so, he tried to prevent what he saw as excessive participation rights that had been introduced into the 1976 Codetermination Act as a result of the Biedenkopf Commission . On the other hand, he turned against “ deficit spending ” within the framework of global control , which leads to an ever-increasing debt burden on the state.

After the federal election in 1980 , Lambsdorff was instrumental in drafting the so-called Lambsdorff paper published on September 9, 1982 (officially: Concept for a policy to overcome weak growth and fight unemployment , also known as the divorce paper or manifesto of secession ) Involved in breaking the social-liberal coalition . On September 17, 1982, he resigned together with the other FDP federal ministers. After Helmut Kohl was elected Federal Chancellor, Lambsdorff was reappointed Federal Minister of Economics on October 4, 1982.

Flick affair and tax evasion

In the course of the so-called Flick affair , on December 2, 1983, at the request of the investigating public prosecutor's office in Bonn, the Bundestag lifted the immunity of the incumbent Federal Minister of Economics, Lambsdorff, who then resigned on June 27, 1984 when the indictment was admitted. The trial before the Bonn district court dragged on for around a year and a half. On February 16, 1987 Otto Graf Lambsdorff was convicted of tax evasion together with the Flick manager Eberhard von Brauchitsch and the former Federal Minister of Economics, Hans Friderichs . Lambsdorff received a fine of 180,000 DM. The court acquitted the defendants of the allegation of bribery or corruption in the absence of evidence. The Federal Ministry of Economics, however, awarded him DM 515,000 legal aid to cover his legal fees.

Other offices

As a well-known advocate of the market economy (the abusive term "Marktgraf" invented by Herbert Wehner for Lambsdorff was used as a positive trademark for him for life) Lambsdorff remained popular in his party and was able to succeed Martin Bangemann in 1988 in the election of the FDP party chairman against Irmgard Adam-Schwaetzer prevail. During his tenure in August 1990, the FDP merged with the LDPD and other liberal groups in the GDR . After German reunification , the FDP achieved one of its best election results since it was founded. At this point in time, Lambsdorff was one of the first to call for a departure from the previous “redistribution policy” and a “return to more market-based principles and principles”, which would later determine the Wiesbaden principles of the FDP.

Role as special adviser

After leaving the Bundestag in 1999, he began negotiating the type and amount of compensation for former Nazi slave laborers as the representative of the then Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder . This reparation began in summer 2001 with the establishment of the “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” foundation . Lambsdorff received the Tolerance Prize of the Jewish Museum Berlin for his role.

Non-public offices

Otto Graf Lambsdorff was honorary president of the DSW ( German Association for the Protection of Securities ). Since 2006 he has been an international advisor to the Japan Art Association for the award of the Praemium Imperiale .

Memberships

In 1962 Otto Graf Lambsdorff was a founding member of the Rotary Club Düsseldorf-Süd. In 1995 he was co-founder and until 2003 chairman of the board of trustees of the Friends' Association of Brandenburg Cathedral . He was a member of the cathedral chapter of the Brandenburg / Havel cathedral. From 1992 to 2001 he was European Chairman of the Trilateral Commission and from 2001 Honorary Chairman . Lambsdorff was a member of the jury for the Franz Werfel Human Rights Prize and a legal knight of the Protestant Order of St. John .

Right Knight's Cross of the Order of St. John

Prizes and awards (selection)

Publications (selection)

  • (Ed.): “The formation of individuality is the ultimate end.” Wilhelm von Humboldt - today? Contributions to a colloquium on liberal cultural and educational policy on the occasion of the 75th birthday of Dr. Barthold C. Witte on May 23, 2003 in Berlin. Liberal-Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-920590-05-8 .
  • Fresh air for Bonn. A liberal policy with more market than state. 2nd edition, DVA, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-421-06373-7 .
  • Rational use of energy. National measures and results as well as international aspects. Glückauf, Essen 1981, ISBN 3-7739-0362-6 .
  • Probation. Economic policy in times of crisis. Econ, Düsseldorf [a. a.] 1980, ISBN 3-430-15888-5 .
  • Goal setting. Tasks and opportunities of the market economy. Econ, Düsseldorf [a. a.] 1977, ISBN 3-430-15887-7 .
  • Farewell to the Reichsleistungsgesetz with special consideration of the current case law on the RLG. University of Cologne 1952. ( Dissertation )

literature

Web links

Commons : Otto Graf Lambsdorff  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hermann Rudolph, Stephan-Andreas Casdorff: To the death of Lambsdorff: Knight of the liberal thing. In: Zeit Online . December 6, 2009, accessed July 21, 2012 .
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Schultheiß: Manners: Protocol and etiquette. Private and at work , 2019, p. 52.
  3. ^ Otto Graf Lambsdorff died. In: Welt Online . June 12, 2009. Retrieved July 21, 2012 .
  4. ↑ 500 people came to the service for Otto Graf Lambsdorff in Brandenburg / Havel. In: Märkische Allgemeine. December 14, 2009, archived from the original on 20120909021316 ; Retrieved June 12, 2012 .
  5. ↑ Reinhold Michels: Lambsdorff - the Rhenish Prussian. In: Rheinische Post. December 6, 2009, archived from the original on December 12, 2009 ; Retrieved July 21, 2012 .
  6. ↑ a b Count Otto Lambsdorff . WirtschaftsWoche. Archived from the original on September 5, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  7. ^ Otto Friedrich Wilhelm von der Wenge Graf Lambsdorff. In: knerger.de. Retrieved June 12, 2012 .
  8. ^ A b Majid Sattar : Order out of love of freedom. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. December 6, 2009, accessed July 21, 2012 .
  9. ^ Otto Graf Lambsdorff: A life for the market economy. In: Spiegel Online . December 6, 2009, accessed July 21, 2012 .
  10. ↑ The "fifth power". Deutschlandradio Kultur, December 9, 2009, accessed on July 21, 2012 .
  11. ↑ Alone in the rain . In: Der Spiegel . No. 51 , 1987 ( online ).
  12. ↑ Thomas Frankenfeld: The arguable market count . In: Handelsblatt , December 15, 2009.
  13. ↑ Award of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany to Dr. Otto Graf Lambsdorff . The federal president. December 4, 2000. Retrieved June 16, 2012.
  14. ↑ Against discouragement and mediocrity . manager magazine. May 25, 2001. Retrieved June 16, 2012.
  15. ^ Otto Graf Lambsdorff honored with the Hayek Medal. (No longer available online.) Friedrich Naumann Foundation, archived from the original on September 8, 2014 ; Retrieved June 16, 2012 .
  16. ↑ Prize for understanding and tolerance. (No longer available online.) Jewish Museum Berlin, archived from the original on July 29, 2012 ; Retrieved July 21, 2012 .
personal data
SURNAME Lambsdorff, Otto Graf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wenge Graf Lambsdorff, Otto Freiherr von der
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (FDP), Member of the Bundestag
DATE OF BIRTH December 20, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Aachen
DATE OF DEATH December 5, 2009
Place of death Bonn