Rudi Arndt
Arndt in 1972
President of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
In office
1984–1989
Preceded byErnest Glinne
Succeeded byJean-Pierre Cox
Member of the European Parliament
In office
1979–1989
Mayor of Frankfurt
In office
1972–1977
Preceded byWalter Möller
Succeeded byWalter Wallmann
Finance Minister for Hesse
In office
December 1970 – April 1972
Economy and Transport Minister for Hesse
In office
1964–1970
Member of the Hesse Landtag
In office
1956–1972
Member of the Frankfurt City Council
In office
1952–1956
Personal details
Born(1927-05-01)1 May 1927
Died14 May 2004(2004-05-14) (aged 77)
Political partySocial Democratic Party (SPD)
Alma materGoethe University Frankfurt am Main

Rudi Arndt (1 March 1927 – 14 May 2004) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He served in several positions in the Hesse state government, and as the Mayor of Frankfurt between 1972 and 1977. At different points in his political career he was a member of the Landtag of Hesse and the European Parliament as well as the Frankfurt City Council.

Family

Arndt came from a family with a tradition of SPD membership. His father, Konrad Arndt, was a trade union secretary, and was imprisoned by the Nazis for a short while. In 1938 the senior Arndt was released from prison, after which he conscripted in the army to avoid persecution from the Gestapo. Konrad Arndt died in November 1940 under mysterious circumstances. Although he officially died in a car crash, there is some evidence suggesting he was murdered by the Gestapo.[1]

Rudi Arndt's mother, Anna Babette, was also a social democrat and local politician in Frankfurt. Her sister was murdered by the National Socialists in 1940.

Arndt had an elder brother named Günther. He was expelled from college for making comments critical of the Nazi regime, conscripted into the army and ordered to the Eastern Front. He did not return from soviet captivity until 1949.[1]

Arndt married 3 times, and had a son from his first marriage.

Activities in Nazi Germany

On 3 March 1944 Arndt applied for membership of the Nazi Party. His application was accepted in April 1944. In the last days of the Nazi regime he was a Hitler Youth leader and Flakhelfer.[2]

Career

After completing his Abitur, Arndt studied law at the Goethe University Frankfurt.[3] In 1952, he passed his first state examination, followed in 1960 by his second state examination. From 1953 he worked as an advisor for youth law and the federal youth plan in the Hesse Ministry of the Interior.

Arndt joined the SDP in 1945. Between 1948 and 1954, he was chairman of the Socialist Youth. In 1952 Arndt became a city councillor in Frankfurt, a position he held until 1956, when he was elected to the Landtag of Hesse. Arndt remained in the Landtag until 1972.

Arndt became the Economy and Transport Minister for Hesse in 1964, after the resignation of his predecessor Wilhelm Conrad.After the resignation of Georg August Zinn as Minister President in 1969, Arndt was considered as his successor, but the role ultimately went to Albert Osswald. In Osswald's new cabinet of 1970, Arndt became the Minister of Finance for Hesse.[4]

A banner reading "Save the Opera House". Arndt's plans to demolish the ruined Alte Oper were deeply controversial.

On 16 December 1971 Arndt was elected mayor of Frankfurt, following the death of incumbent Walter Möller. He started his term as mayor in 1972. Arndt earned the popular nickname Dynamit-Rudi ("Dynamite Rudi") for his enthusiasm for demolishing the remaining World War II ruins – in particular, his failed campaign to demolish the Alte Oper opera house.[5]

In the local elections of March 1977, the CDU won a landslide victory. As a result, CDU politician Walter Wallmann became the new Mayor of Frankfurt and Arndt became the opposition leader in the Hessen Landtag.

In his later years, Arndt worked as a lawyer. After German reunification in 1990, he volunteered for the SPD in Thuringia. He died unexpectedly during a river trip near Kiev in 2004.[6] Arndt is buried in the Frankfurt Main Cemetery.

References

  1. 1 2 Ulrich, Alex (2001). Konrad Arndt – Ein Wiesbadener Gewerkschafter und Sozialdemokrat im Kampf gegen den Faschismus (PDF) (in German). Wiesbaden. p. 60. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 January 2004.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ↑ Neander, Joachim (1 March 1997). ""Dynamit-Rudi" – eine Legende wird 70". Die Welt. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  3. ↑ von Roselinde Arndt [and nine others] ; Textredaktion: Hans Sarkowicz (2011). Rudi Arndt : Politik mit Dynamit : eine politische Biografie (1. Auflage ed.). Hanau. pp. 38, 53. ISBN 978-3-940168-45-0. OCLC 793216980.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ "Die Finanzminister seit 1945". Hessisches Ministerium der Finanzen. 2 January 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-01-02. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  5. ↑ Gantevoort, Joy (22 January 2018). "Wie die Frankfurter Oper fast gesprengt wurde: "Nur ein bisschen Dynamit"". fnp.de (in German). Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  6. ↑ "Gestorben: Rudi Arndt". Der Spiegel. 2004. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
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