Willi Birkelbach

Willi Birkelbach
Willi Birkelbach, 2004
Member of the Bundestag
In office
7 September 1949 – 30 September 1964
Personal details
Born(1913-01-12)12 January 1913
Frankfurt/Main
Died17 July 2008(2008-07-17) (aged 95)
NationalityGerman
Political partySPD

Willi Birkelbach CBE (12 January 1913 – 17 July 2008) was a West German politician (SPD). He was a member of the West German Bundestag (national parliament) between 1949 and 1964. Between 1952 and 1964 he also served as an increasingly prominent Member of the European Parliament (and its precursor body).[1][2]

In 1971 he became the first ever Ombudsman for Data protection in the State of Hessen. The title of the post has changed, most recently in Germany, to Datenschutzbeauftragter (loosely, "Data Protection officer"). Hessen was the first state in West Germany to appoint a "Datenschutzbeauftragter", which means that Willi Birkelbach was the first Data Protection Officer/Commissioner/Registrar in the German Federal Republic.[3][4]

  1. ^ "Willi Birkelbach: deutscher Politiker; SPD". Geburtstag Heute wäre Willi Birkelbach 100 Jahre alt geworden. Munzinger Archiv GmbH, Ravensburg. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  2. ^ "Die Mitglieder des Deutschen Bundestages - 1.-13. Wahlperiode: Alphabetisches Gesamtverzeichnis; Stand: 28. Februar 1998" [The members of the German Bundestag - 1st - 13th term of office: Alphabetical complete index] (PDF). webarchiv.bundestag.de (in German). Deutscher Bundestag, Wissenschaftliche Dienste des Bundestages (WD 3/ZI 5). 1998-02-28. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  3. ^ "Der erste Datenschützer kam aus Hessen". Geburtstag Heute wäre Willi Birkelbach 100 Jahre alt geworden. Mannheimer Morgen. 12 January 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  4. ^ Ludger Fittkau (31 January 2018). ""Eine originär hessische Erfindung"". Pionier beim Datenschutzgesetz. Deutschland Radio (Deutschlandfunk Kultur), Köln. Retrieved 1 May 2019.