Rudolf Seiters
Bundesminister a. D.
Seiters in 1989
Vice President of the Bundestag
(on proposal of the CDU/CSU-group)
In office
26 October 1998 – 17 October 2002
PresidentWolfgang Thierse
Preceded byMichaela Geiger
Succeeded byNorbert Lammert
Minister of the Interior
In office
26 November 1991 – 7 July 1993
Preceded byWolfgang Schäuble
Succeeded byManfred Kanther
Head of the Chancellery
Minister for Special Affairs
In office
21 April 1989 – 25 November 1991
ChancellorHelmut Kohl
Preceded byWolfgang Schäuble
Succeeded byFriedrich Bohl
Chief Whip of the CDU/CSU group
in the Bundestag
In office
15 November 1984 – 21 May 1989
LeaderWolfgang Schäuble
Preceded byWolfgang Schäuble
Succeeded byFriedrich Bohl
Whip of the CDU/CSU group
in the Bundestag
In office
14 October 1982 – 15 November 1984
Serving with Wolfgang Bötsch, Agnes Hürland-Büning
LeaderAlfred Dregger
Chief WhipWolfgang Schäuble
Preceded byWolfgang Schäuble
Wilhelm Rawe
Dorothee Wilms
Succeeded byFriedrich Bohl
In office
9 November 1971 – 14 December 1976
Serving with Josef Rösing, Leo Wagner, Olaf Baron von Wrangel, Paul Röhner, Gerhard Reddemann, Paul Mikat, Philipp Jenninger
LeaderKarl Carstens
Helmut Kohl
Preceded byWill Rasner
Succeeded byWalter Wallmann
Member of the Bundestag
for Unterems
(Emsland; 1969–1980)
In office
20 October 1969 – 17 October 2002
Preceded byJosef Stecker
Succeeded byGitta Connemann
Personal details
Born (1937-10-13) 13 October 1937
Osnabrück, Province of Hanover, Prussia, Nazi Germany (now Germany)
Political partyChristian Democratic Union (1958–)
Children3
ResidencePapenburg
Alma materUniversity of Münster
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Lawyer
  • Civil Servant

Rudolf Seiters (born 13 October 1937 in Osnabrück) is a German politician of the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) party.

From 1989–1991, he was Federal Minister for Special Affairs and the head of the Office of the German Chancellery. From 1991–1993, he was the Minister of the Interior. From 1998–2002, he was the Vice President of the German Bundestag, or Parliament. Since 2003, he has been the president of the German Red Cross.

Life and jobs

After graduating from the Gymnasium Carolinium in Osnabrück in 1959, Seiters graduated from the University of Münster with a degree in Jurisprudence, finishing his first examinations (roughly equivalent to bachelor's degree) in 1963, and his second examination (professional degree) in 1967. From 1968 to 1969, he was a legal assistant in the office of the Osnabrück Department of the Economy and Social Housing. Since November 2003, he has been the president of the German Red Cross.

He is married with three daughters and lives in Papenburg. In 2000, he was given an honorary doctorate from the Bundeswehr University Munich.

Party

Since 1958, he has been a member of the CDU. From 1963 until 1965, he was the Borough-president of the Osnabrück-Emsland chapter of the CDU youth organization Junge Union. Then, from 1965 to 1968, he was the president of the state chapter in Hannover and 1968–1971 of the newly founded Lower Saxony chapter. From 1967–1971, he was furthermore a member of the Federal Executive Board of the Junge Union and then from 1971–1973 a member of the Federal Managing Board of the CDU itself. From 1972 to 1998, he was deputy secretary of the CDU in Lower Saxony and from 1992–1998 also a member of the CDU National Executive Committee.

As a representative

From 1969–2002, Seiters was a member of the German Parliament, the Bundestag. Ih the years 1971–1976 and 1982–1984, he served as an executive officer (Geschäftsführer) of the CDU/CSU parliamentary fraction. From 1984 to 1989, he was the party fraction's Head Executive Officer. After the 1994 elections, he became the deputy chair of the fraction, a position he retained until 1998 when he became Vice President of the Bundestag.

Prague embassy negotiations

In 1989, thousands of East Germans took refuge the Prague embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany. Rudolf Seiters successfully negotiated with the East German government (DDR) the passage of the embassy refugees to the Federal Republic of Germany.[1]

Cabinet posts

Seiters was named on 21 April 1989 as the Federal Minister for Special Affairs and the head of the Office of the German Chancellery. On 26 November 1991, he was appointed the Minister of the Interior. On 27 June 1993, in a German Police raid in the train station of the Mecklenburgian town of Bad Kleinen, both the wanted terrorist of the Red Army Faction (RAF), Wolfgang Grams, and a GSG 9 agent, Michael Newrzella, lost their lives. Seiters took responsibility for the raid and stepped down on 4 July 1993.

Cabinets

Seiters was a member of the Cabinet Kohl III and the Cabinet Kohl IV.

Awards

  • In 2008 Dr. Seiters received the Dr. Rainer Hildebrandt Human Rights Award endowed by Alexandra Hildebrandt. The award is given annually in recognition of extraordinary, non-violent commitment to human rights.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Der zweite Mann". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  2. ↑ "Deutsches Rotes Kreuz - Internationaler Menschenrechtspreis 2008 für Rotkreuz-Präsident Seiters". Archived from the original on 2016-06-28. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
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