Rudolf Seiters

Rudolf Seiters (2013)

Rudolf Seiters (1989)

Rudolf Seiters (born October 13, 1937 in Osnabrück ) is a German politician ( CDU ). From 1989 to 1991 he was Federal Minister for Special Tasks , Head of the Federal Chancellery , from 1991 to 1993 Federal Minister of the Interior and from 1998 to 2002 Vice President of the German Bundestag . From 2003 to the end of 2017 he was President of the German Red Cross .

Life and work

After High School on school Carolinum in Osnabrück in 1959 graduated Seiters a degree in law and political science at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster , which he in 1963 with the first and 1967 with the second legal state examination ended. During his studies he became a member of the Young European Federalists and in 1959 a member of the WKSt.V. Unitas Winfridia zu Münster , today he is also a member of WKSt.V. Unitas Rhenania in Bonn . In 1968/69 he was a government assessor for the district president in Osnabrück (Economic and Housing Department).

From November 2003 to December 1, 2017, Seiters was President of the German Red Cross. He has been involved in the Lions Club since 1975.

Rudolf Seiters is married, has three daughters, including the journalist Sarah Seiters (born January 1981 in Papenburg), and lives in Papenburg .

Political party

In 1958 he founded the Junge Union in Bohmte . In the same year he also became a member of the CDU. From 1963 to 1965 he was district chairman of the Junge Union Osnabrück-Emsland, from 1965 to 1968 chairman of the regional association of Hanover and from 1968 to 1971 the first chairman of the newly founded regional association of Lower Saxony . From 1967 to 1971 he was also a member of the federal executive committee of the Junge Union and from 1971 to 1973 a member of the federal executive committee of the CDU. From 1972 to 1998 he was deputy CDU state chairman in Lower Saxony. From 1992 to 1998 he was also a member of the Presidium of the CDU in Germany.

MP

From 1969 to 2002 he was a member of the German Bundestag . From 1971 to 1976 and from October 1982 to November 1984 he was parliamentary manager of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group , from November 1984 to April 1989 he was its first parliamentary manager. After the federal election in 1994 he was deputy chairman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group until 1998. From 1998 to 2002 he was Vice President of the German Bundestag .

Rudolf Seiters entered the Bundestag as a directly elected member of the Emsland constituency in 1969, 1972 and 1976 and then always as a directly elected member of the Unterems constituency .

Public offices

Rudolf Seiters (left next to Helmut Kohl) at a soccer game in Dresden in 1990

On April 21, 1989 he was appointed Federal Minister for Special Tasks and Head of the Federal Chancellery in the Federal Government led by Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl . On November 26, 1991 he was appointed Federal Minister of the Interior . When the wanted RAF terrorist Wolfgang Grams and the GSG-9 official Michael Newrzella were killed on June 27, 1993 during a police operation at the train station in Bad Kleinen, Mecklenburg , Seiters took over political responsibility and resigned on July 4, 1993 back to his office.

Awards

In 1995 Rudolf Seiters received the Great Federal Cross of Merit with a Star. In 2000 the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich awarded him an honorary doctorate (Dr. rer. Pol. Hc). On October 4, 2014, Rudolf Seiters was the first West German to be awarded the Scheidegger Peace Prize, which is awarded to people who have made a special contribution to reunification. In 2008 he received the Dr. Rainer Hildebrandt Medal from Alexandra Hildebrandt , with which once a year extraordinary, non-violent and human rights commitment is honored. In 2018 he received the Great Cross of Merit with a star and shoulder ribbon . On June 15, 2019, he received an honorary doctorate from the medical faculty of the University of Bonn.

• 2015 “ Estrongo Nachama Prize for Tolerance and Civil Courage” from the Berlin Meridian Foundation

Cabinets

• Cabinet Kohl III - Cabinet Kohl IV

Fonts

• with the collaboration of Carsten Tergast : relationships of trust. Autobiography . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2016, ISBN 978-3-451-34968-3 .
• Stay on track. Political milestones on the rule of law and democracy, Europe and world peace, civic responsibility and solidarity. Olzog, Munich 2005, ISBN 3789281743 .
• Rudolf Seiters. In: Heribert Schwan , Rolf Steininger (eds.): My November 9, 1989. Artemis & Winkler at Patmos, Düsseldorf 2009, ISBN 978-3-538-07277-0 , pp. 351-360.
• with Hanns Jürgen Küsters and Hans-Peter Schwarz : The Kohl era. In: Historical-Political Messages. ISSN  0943-691X , Vol. 17, 2010, pp. 233-268.

literature

• Carl-Christian Kaiser: First kneebiter, now moderator. In: Die Zeit , No. 17/1990.
• Antonius John : Rudolf Seiters. Insights into office, person and events. Bouvier, Bonn 1991, ISBN 3-416-02305-6 ( review ).
• Ulrike Berg: Rudolf Seiters - the silent doer. Careers in Background and Spotlight (2002). Leda, Leer 2002, ISBN 3-934927-29-7 .
• Franz Walter : Charismatics and Efficiencies. Portraits from 60 years of the Federal Republic (= Edition Suhrkamp. Vol. 2577). Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-518-12577-9 , chapter experts for problem cases: Wolfgang Schäuble, Rudolf Seiters and Friedrich Bohl , pp. 176-180.
• Sarah Seiters: politician child . When the Chancellor rings twice. Ullstein, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-548-37508-3 .

Web links

Commons : Rudolf Seiters  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Rudolf Seiters in the catalog of the German National Library
• Biography at the German Bundestag
• Gudula Geuth: Interview of the week: Refugees without papers - Seiters: Don't put everyone under general suspicion. In: deutschlandfunk.de. January 3, 2016, accessed November 14, 2018 . 

Individual evidence

1. ^ Joachim Heinz: Politician and Red Cross President Seiters is 80th In: domradio.de. October 13, 2017, accessed November 14, 2018 . 
2. ^ Membership Directory , published by Lions International All District 111, as of June 1, 1976
3. ↑ biography (no longer available there)
4. ^ Scheidegger Peace Prize: Honor for former Minister of the Interior Seiters. ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: BR .de , October 5, 2014.
5. ↑ International Human Rights Award 2008 for Red Cross President Seiters ( Memento from June 28, 2016 in the web archive archive.today )
6. ^ Award: Great honor for a deserving statesman. In: nwzonline.de. Nordwest-Zeitung, November 14, 2018, accessed on November 14, 2018 (No. 265). 
7. ↑ Honorary doctorate for Rudolf Seiters. In: uni-bonn.de. University of Bonn, June 11, 2019, accessed on June 28, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Meridian Foundation awards “Estrongo Nachama Prize 2015” to Rudolf Seiters. In: meridian-stiftung.de. Meridian Foundation, February 9, 2015, accessed May 3, 2018 . 
9. ↑ Philipp Holstein: A Childhood in Politics (interview with Sarah Seiters). In: rp-online.de. Rheinische Post, August 28, 2014, accessed on November 14, 2018 .