Walter Arendt

Walter Arendt, 1976

Walter Arendt (born January 17, 1925 in Heessen ; † March 7, 2005 in Bornheim ) was a German trade unionist and politician ( SPD ). From 1969 to 1976 he was Federal Minister for Labor and Social Affairs .

biography

Family, education and work

Arendt was the son of a miner who died early of pneumonia - an important motive for his later struggle for an earlier retirement of miners. After attending elementary and vocational school , he completed an apprenticeship as a miner and then worked in the mining industry from 1939 to 1947, interrupted by labor and military service and subsequent captivity . From 1947 to 1949 he attended the Academy of Labor in Frankfurt am Main and the Academy for Community Economics in Hamburg for one year .

From 1948 to 1955 he worked in the press department of IG Bergbau und Energie (today: IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie ) in Bochum , most recently from 1954 as acting head of the press office. In 1955 he moved up to the executive board of IG Bergbau und Energie and was finally elected chairman in 1964. In 1967 he also became president of the International Miners' Union. When he was appointed Federal Minister for Labor and Social Affairs, Arendt left his union offices in 1969.

Political party

Arendt had been a member of the SPD since 1946. From 1968 to 1979 he was a member of the SPD federal executive committee and from 1973 to 1979 he was also a member of the presidium of the SPD. From 1961 to 1980 he was a member of the German Bundestag , from November 29, 1961 to January 21, 1970 he was also a member of the European Parliament . From 1976 to 1980 he was deputy chairman of the SPD - Bundestag faction .

Public offices

After the formation of the social-liberal coalition , Arendt was appointed Federal Minister for Labor and Social Affairs in Willy Brandt's cabinet on October 22, 1969 . In 1973 he ordered the guest worker recruitment ban. He initially retained this office under Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt . After a conflict between the government and the SPD to a pension increase Arendt stated immediately after the general election in 1976 and re-elected as chancellor Schmidt resigned and retired from the December 14, 1976 Federal Government from.

Honors

• In 1975 he was awarded the Great Federal Cross of Merit with a star and shoulder ribbon.
• He was awarded the Marie Juchacz plaque from the Arbeiterwohlfahrt in 1974.
• Arendt was awarded the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia on December 12, 1986 .
• The Walter-Arendt-Straße in Rösrath was named after him.

See also

• First Brandt Cabinet , Cabinet Brandt II , Cabinet Schmidt I

Web links

Commons : Walter Arendt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Walter Arendt in the catalog of the German National Library
• Walter Arendt's estate in the archive of social democracy of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (Bonn)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Federal Agency for Civic Education: Recruitment freeze 1973 | bpb. Retrieved January 7, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Merit holders since 1986. State Chancellery of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, accessed on March 11, 2017 .