Kurt Georg Kiesinger
Chancellor of Germany
In office 1 December 1966 – 21 October 1969
President	Heinrich Lübke (1966-1969) Gustav Heinemann (1969)
Deputy	Willy Brandt
Preceded by	Ludwig Erhard
Succeeded by	Willy Brandt
Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg
In office 17 December 1958 – 16 December 1966
Preceded by	Gebhard Müller
Succeeded by	Hans Filbinger
Personal details
Born	(1904-04-06)6 April 1904 Ebingen, Kingdom of Württemberg
Died	9 March 1988(1988-03-09) (aged 83) Tübingen, West Germany
Political party	NSDAP (1933-45), CDU
Occupation	Lawyer
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Kurt Georg Kiesinger,
Kanzlergalerie Berlin

President Nixon and Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger waving to the crowd in Berlin.

Kurt Georg Kiesinger (German pronunciation: [ˈkʊʁt ˈɡeːɔʁk ˈkiːzɪŋɐ]; 6 April 1904–9 March 1988) was a German politician affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was Chancellor of West Germany from 1 December 1966 until 21 October 1969.

Early career and wartime activities[link]

Born in Ebingen, Kingdom of Württemberg (now Baden-Württemberg), Kiesinger was educated in Berlin and became a lawyer. As a student, he joined the (non-couleur wearing) Roman Catholic corporations Alamannia Tübingen and Askania-Burgundia Berlin. He became a member of the Nazi Party in February 1933, a few weeks after Hitler became chancellor. In 1940, he was called to arms but avoided mobilization by finding a job in the foreign ministry's radio propaganda department, rising quickly to become the ministry's connection with Goebbels' propaganda ministry. After the war, he was interned and spent 18 months in the Ludwigsburg camp before being released as a case of mistaken identity.^[1] During the controversies of 1966, the magazine Der Spiegel unearthed a Memorandum dated November 7th 1944 (five months before the war's end) by which a colleague denounced to Himmler a conspiracy including Kiesinger that was propagating defaitism and hampering anti-Jewish actions within their department and several others.

Post war rise[link]

By the time the first national elections were held in the Federal Republic in 1949, Kiesinger had joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and won a seat in the Bundestag, the West German parliament. In 1951 he became a member of the CDU executive board. During that time, he became known for his rhetorical brilliance, as well as his in-depth knowledge of foreign affairs. However, despite the recognition he enjoyed within the Christian Democrat parliamentary faction, he was passed over during various cabinet reshuffles. Consequently, he decided to switch from federal to state politics: He was appointed Prime Minister (Ministerpräsident) of the state of Baden-Württemberg on 17 December 1958, an office in which he served until 1 December 1966.

Chancellorship and last years[link]

In 1966 following the collapse of the existing CDU/CSU-FDP coalition Kiesinger was elected to replace Ludwig Erhard as Chancellor, heading a new CDU/CSU-SPD alliance. The government formed by Kiesinger remained in power for nearly three years with the SPD leader Willy Brandt as Deputy Federal Chancellor and Foreign Minister. Kiesinger reduced tensions with the Soviet bloc nations establishing diplomatic relations with Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia but he opposed any major conciliatory moves.

One of his low points as Chancellor was in 1968 when Nazi-hunter Beate Klarsfeld, who campaigned with her husband Serge Klarsfeld against Nazi criminals, publicly slapped him in the face during the 1968 Christian Democrat convention, while calling him a Nazi. She did so in French and - whilst being dragged out of the room by two ushers - repeated her words in German saying "Kiesinger! Nazi! Abtreten!" ("Kiesinger! Nazi! Step down!") Kiesinger, holding his left cheek, did not respond. Up to his death he refused to comment on the incident and in other opportunities he denied explicitly that he had been opportunistic by joining the NSDAP in 1933 (albeit he conceded joining the Nazi Foreign Ministry to dodge his 1940 draft by the Wehrmacht). During his period as Chancellor, he made Carl Schmitt his regular intellectual companion (also a 1933 NSDAP late joiner, Francisco Franco apologist, and hyperactive anti-Jewish Nazi intellectual until falling out of Nazi grace in 1936). Other prominent critics included the writers Heinrich Böll and Günter Grass (in 1966, Grass had written an open letter urging Kiesinger not to accept the chancellorship). Philosopher Karl Jaspers, who had taken up residency in Switzerland, surrendered his German passport in protest.^{[clarification needed]}

After the election of 1969, the SPD preferred to form a coalition with the FDP, ending the uninterrupted post-war reign of the CDU chancellors. Kiesinger was succeeded as Chancellor by Willy Brandt. Kiesinger continued to head the CDU/CSU in opposition until July 1971 and remained a member of the Bundestag until 1980. Of his memoirs only part one (Dark and Bright Years) was completed, covering the years up to 1958. He died in Tübingen. After a requiem mass in Stuttgart's St. Eberhard church, his funeral procession was followed by protesters (mainly students) who wanted his entire legacy remembered - even after his death - especially his former membership in the Nazi Party.

Kiesinger's Ministry[link]

1 December 1966 - 21 October 1969

• Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU) - Chancellor
• Willy Brandt (SPD) - Vice Chancellor and Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Gerhard Schröder (CDU) - Minister of Defense
• Paul Lücke (CDU) - Minister of the Interior
• Franz Josef Strauß (CSU) - Minister of Finance
• Gustav Heinemann (SPD) - Minister of Justice
• Karl Schiller (SPD) - Minister of Economics
• Hans Katzer (CDU) - Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
• Hermann Höcherl (CSU) - Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry
• Georg Leber (SPD) - Minister of Transport
• Lauritz Lauritzen (SPD) - Minister of Construction
• Bruno Heck (CDU) - Minister of Family and Youth
• Käte Strobel (SPD) - Minister of Health
• Gerhard Stoltenberg (CDU) - Minister of Scientific Research
• Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski (SPD) - Minister of Economic Cooperation
• Werner Dollinger (CSU) - Minister of Posts and Communications
• Kai-Uwe von Hassel (CDU) - Minister of Displaced Persons, Refugees, and War Victims
• Herbert Wehner (SPD) - Minister of All-German Affairs
• Carlo Schmid (SPD) - Minister of Bundesrat and State Affairs
• Kurt Schmücker (CDU) - Minister of Federal Treasure

Changes

• 2 April 1968 - Ernst Benda (CDU) succeeds Lücke as Minister of the Interior.
• 16 October 1968 - Aenne Brauksiepe (CDU) succeeds Heck as Minister of Family and Youth. Erhard Eppler (SPD) succeeds Wischnewski as Minister of Economic Cooperation.
• 7 February 1969 - Heinrich Windelen (CDU) succeeds von Hassel as Minister of Displaced Persons, Refugees, and War Victims after the latter was elected to President of the Bundestag.
• 26 March 1969 - Horst Ehmke (SPD) succeeds Heinemann as Minister of Justice after the latter was elected to 5th President of Germany.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kurt Georg Kiesinger

• Gassert, Philipp. Kurt Georg Kiesinger 1904-1988. Kanzler zwischen den Zeiten DVA, München 2006.

v t e Chancellors of Germany North German Confederation (1867–1871) Otto von Bismarck German Empire (1871–1918) Otto von Bismarck Leo von Caprivi Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst Bernhard von Bülow Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg Georg Michaelis Georg von Hertling Prince Maximilian of Baden Friedrich Ebert Weimar Republic (1919–1933) Philipp Scheidemann Gustav Bauer Hermann Müller Konstantin Fehrenbach Joseph Wirth Wilhelm Cuno Gustav Stresemann Wilhelm Marx Hans Luther Wilhelm Marx Hermann Müller Heinrich Brüning Franz von Papen Kurt von Schleicher Third Reich (1933–1945) Adolf Hitler Joseph Goebbels Count Schwerin von Krosigk (as Leading Minister) Allied occupation Governors of British, French, American and Soviet occupation zones Federal Republic (1949–) Konrad Adenauer Ludwig Erhard Kurt Georg Kiesinger Willy Brandt Helmut Schmidt Helmut Kohl Gerhard Schröder Angela Merkel

v t e Ministers-President of Baden-Württemberg Reinhold Maier Gebhard Müller Kurt Georg Kiesinger Hans Filbinger Lothar Späth Erwin Teufel Günther Oettinger Stefan Mappus Winfried Kretschmann

Georg Kreisler
Georg Kreisler, October 2009
Born	(1922-07-18)18 July 1922 Vienna, Austria
Died	22 November 2011(2011-11-22) (aged 89) Salzburg, Austria
Occupation	pianist, composer, singer-songwriter, writer
Years active	1944–2011, retired as singer 2001
Spouse	Philine Hollaender (1941–1946) Mary Greenwood (1950–1957) Topsy Küppers (1960–1978) Barabara Peters (1985–2011, his death)

Georg Kreisler (18 July 1922 – 22 November 2011^[1]) was an Austrian-American Viennese-language cabarettist, satirist, composer, and author. He was particularly popular in the 1950s and 1960s. From 2007 he lived in Salzburg, Austria, with his fourth wife, Barbara Peters. He died there on 22 November 2011 "after a severe infection," according to his wife Barbara.^[2]

Life[link]

Kreisler went to high school in Vienna, where he studied music theory, and learned to play violin and piano. In 1938, he was forced to flee with his parents due to increasing Nazi restrictions on Jews. In 1941, he married Philine Hollaender, daughter of Friedrich Hollaender and Blandine Ebinger. In 1943, he became an American citizen. He enlisted in the Army, and was stationed in Europe. He wrote songs for soldiers in Britain and France with the help of Marcel Prawy. After the war, he went to Hollywood and worked on movies with Charlie Chaplin. He performed at nightclubs and bars to make ends meet. In 1947, he was rejected by the record companies because his songs were "Un-American", especially songs with titles such as "Please Shoot Your Husband". In 1955, he returned to Europe, first to Vienna, then Munich in 1958, Berlin in 1976, Salzburg in 1988, Basel in 1992, and back to Salzburg in 2007.

Style[link]

Kreisler was considered a master of language.^[3] His songs are characterized by black humour and uncompromising criticism of society and politics. This caused him many difficulties and also contributed to appearance prohibitions in radio and television.

Kreisler may occasionally have used ideas and material from other artists in his work. His song "Die Hand" shows strong similarities to Tom Lehrer's "I Hold Your Hand in Mine", first recorded by Kreisler in 1953 on the album Songs by Tom Lehrer. Lehrer's recording predates by several years any documented recording or performance of that song by Kreisler as well as Kreisler's return to performance in German-speaking countries in 1955. Kreisler's "Taubenvergiften im Park" (first released as "Frühlingslied")^[4] has strong similarities to Lehrer's "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park". Kreisler and Lehrer each deny copying from the other; so far no one has succeeded in establishing which song was written first. Kreisler's "Das Mädchen mit den drei blauen Augen" appears to be related to the Abe Burrows song "The Girl with the Three Blue Eyes" (first recording 1950).

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Georg Kreisler

• Georg Kreisler at the Internet Movie Database
• "Kreisler, Georg", Hamburg University
• "Georg Kreisler: Satirist and doyen of Viennese cabaret", obituary by Colin Beaven, The Independent (15 December 2011)

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