Willfried Penner

Willfried Penner (left) with Manfred Wörner in the Bundestag Defense Committee, 1980

Willfried Penner (born May 25, 1936 in Wuppertal ) is a German politician ( SPD ) and was the defense commissioner of the German Bundestag from 2000 to 2005 .

Life and work

After graduating from high school in 1956 at Wilhelm-Dörpfeld-Gymnasium in Wuppertal , Penner completed a law degree at the University of Cologne , which he completed in 1960 with the first state examination in law. As a member of the white class, he was not subject to conscription. In 1962 he was with the thesis 349 Para scope and limits of §. 2 Code of Criminal Procedure to Dr. jur. PhD . After his legal clerkship (1961–1965) and the second state examination in 1965, he worked as a public prosecutor in the central office of the state justice administrations for the investigation of Nazi crimes in Ludwigsburg . Most recently he was the first public prosecutor in Wuppertal.

Willfried Penner is widowed and has three children. In 1986 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit for his work . In 2000 he was awarded the ring of honor by the city of Wuppertal . He has been an honorary citizen of the city of Wuppertal since 2005 and has been a holder of the Golden Suspension Railway since 2007 .

Political party

Penner has been a member of the SPD since 1966, in which he also held various offices, including as SPD chairman in Wuppertal.

MP

From 1972 to 2000 Penner was a member of the German Bundestag . From 1985 to 1991 he was deputy chairman of the SPD parliamentary group and chairman of the internal affairs, education and sport group. From January 1995 to May 2000 he was chairman of the interior committee of the German Bundestag.

Penner was last (14th electoral term 1998) with 55.2% of the votes directly elected member of the constituency of Wuppertal II .

Public offices

After the federal election in 1980 he was appointed Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Defense in November 1980 in the federal government led by Chancellor Helmut Schmidt . After Helmut Kohl was elected Federal Chancellor, Penner left the government on October 1, 1982.

From May 11, 2000 to April 14, 2005 he was the German Bundestag's defense commissioner. He was the first (male) military commissioner who had not belonged to either the Wehrmacht or the Bundeswehr .

literature

Rudolf Vierhaus , Ludolf Herbst (eds.), Bruno Jahn (collaborators): Biographical manual of the members of the German Bundestag. 1949-2002. Vol. 2: N-Z. Attachment. KG Saur, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-598-23782-0 , p. 635.