Kurt Georg Kiesinger

Kurt Georg Kiesinger
Kiesinger in 1967
Chancellor of West Germany[a]
In office 1 December 1966 – 22 October 1969
President	Heinrich Lübke Gustav Heinemann
Vice Chancellor	Willy Brandt
Preceded by	Ludwig Erhard
Succeeded by	Willy Brandt
Leader of the Christian Democratic Union
In office 23 May 1967 – 5 October 1971
General Secretary	Bruno Heck
Preceded by	Ludwig Erhard
Succeeded by	Rainer Barzel
Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg
In office 17 December 1958 – 1 December 1966
Deputy	Hermann Veit Wolfgang Haußmann
Preceded by	Gebhard Müller
Succeeded by	Hans Filbinger
President of the Bundesrat
In office 1 November 1962 – 31 October 1963
First Vice President	Hans Ehard
Preceded by	Hans Ehard
Succeeded by	Georg Diederichs
Leader of the CDU/CSU group in the Bundestag
Acting
In office 9 May 1973 – 17 May 1973
First Deputy	Richard Stücklen
Whips	Leo Wagner Rudolf Seiters Wilhelm Rawe Olaf Baron von Wrangel Paul Mikat
Preceded by	Rainer Barzel
Succeeded by	Karl Carstens
Parliamentary constituencies Member of the Bundestag for Baden-Württemberg In office 14 December 1976 – 4 November 1980 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by multi-member district Constituency Christian Democratic Union List In office 20 October 1969 – 14 December 1976 Preceded by Anton Hilbert Succeeded by Norbert Nothhelfer Constituency Waldshut Member of the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg for Saulgau In office 12 March 1961 – 9 December 1966 Preceded by Christian Rack Succeeded by Anton Lutz Member of the Bundestag for Ravensburg – Bodensee In office 7 September 1949 – 19 February 1959 Preceded by Constituency established Succeeded by Eduard Adorno
Personal details
Born	Kurt Georg Kiesinger (1904-04-06)6 April 1904 Ebingen, Württemberg, German Empire
Died	9 March 1988(1988-03-09) (aged 83) Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany
Political party	CDU (1946–1988) Nazi Party (1933–1945)
Spouse	Marie-Luise Schneider ​ ​ (m. 1932)​
Children	2
Occupation	Lawyer
Signature

Kurt Georg Kiesinger (German: [ˈkʊʁt ˈɡeːɔʁk ˈkiːzɪŋɐ]; 6 April 1904 – 9 March 1988) was a German politician who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1 December 1966 to 21 October 1969. Before he became Chancellor he served as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg from 1958 to 1966 and as President of the Federal Council from 1962 to 1963. He was Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union from 1967 to 1971.

Kiesinger gained his certificate as a lawyer in March 1933 and worked as a lawyer in Berlin's Kammergericht court from 1935 to 1940.^[1] He had joined the Nazi Party in 1933, but remained a largely inactive member. To avoid conscription, in 1940 he was appointed to the broadcast policy department of the Foreign Office by Joachim von Ribbentrop, and became deputy head of the broadcasting and propaganda departments in 1942.^[2] In 1946 he became a member of the Christian Democratic Union. He was elected to the Bundestag in 1949, and was a member of the Bundestag until 1958 and again from 1969 to 1980. He left federal politics for eight years (from 1958 to 1966) to serve as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, and subsequently became Chancellor by forming a grand coalition with Willy Brandt's Social Democratic Party.

Kiesinger was considered an outstanding orator and mediator, and was dubbed "Chief Silver Tongue". He was an author of poetry and various books, and founded the universities of Konstanz and Ulm as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg. Kiesinger is also considered controversial, which is mainly due to his affiliation and work with the Nazis. The student movement in particular, but also other sections of the population, saw Kiesinger as a politician who stood for the inadequacy of Germans' coming to terms with the past.

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