Gerhard Schröder (11 September 1910 – 31 December 1989) was a West German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. He served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 1953 to 1961, as Foreign Minister from 1961 to 1966, and as Minister of Defence from 1966 until 1969. In the 1969 election he ran for President of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) but was outpolled by Gustav Heinemann.
The son of a railway official, Schröder was born in Saarbrücken, then part of the Prussian Rhine Province. Having passed his Abitur exams, he went on to study law at the University of Königsberg and two semesters abroad at the University of Edinburgh, where he, according to his own accounts, became familiar with a British way of life. In 1932 he finished his studies in Bonn he had committed himself to the university group of the national liberal German People's Party.
Schröder passed the first and second Staatsexamen in 1932 and 1936. Having obtained his doctorate in 1934 he worked as a consultant at the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in Berlin. Still as a referendary in Bonn, he had joined the Nazi Party on 1 April 1933 and also the SA. He continued his career as a law firm employee and in 1939 obtained an attorney's certificate and worked as a tax lawyer. He left the NSDAP in May 1941 (a rather rare occurrence). In the same month and perhaps in connection, he married his wife, Brigitte Schröder née Landsberg, needing - she was half-Jewish - with an extraordinary permission by his Armed Forces superiors.
He held federal office as Minister of the Interior (1953–1961) and as Minister of Foreign Affairs (1961–1966) in the cabinets of ChancellorKonrad Adenauer and of Ludwig Erhard. From 1966 to 1969 he served as Minister of Defence under Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger.
In 1969 Gerhard Schröder ran for the Office of the Federal President (supported by CDU and NPD), but he was beaten by Gustav Heinemann, the nominee of the SPD (supported by FDP), at the third ballot with 49.4% to 48.8% of the votes of the Federal Assembly.
In the years following his active political activity, Schröder maintained a private discussion circle of former politicians, diplomats and economic officials who philosophized about the global problems of the new era but no longer intervened politically in day-to-day business. He supported the Reagan administration and endorsed the SDI program.
His last appearance in the Bundestag was on 17 June 1984, when he held the ceremonial address of the commemoration ceremony of the June 1953 bloody uprising.
Schröder died on 31 December 1989 in his house on Sylt. After his death, the German Bundestag honored him on 12 January 1990 with a state act in the plenary hall. Gerhard Schröder was buried in the cemetery of the island church of St. Severin in Keitum, Sylt.
Speaker:Heinrich Hellwege until 2 November 1949; until 21 December 1949; Hans Mühlenfeld until 15 March 1953; Hans-Joachim von Merkatz from 17 March 1953
Members:
Ahrens
Bahlburg (from 13 September 1951 Non-attached, from 24 January 1952 DP-Gast, from 10 September 1952 Non-attached)
Campe (from 23 January 1950, until 8 January 1952)
(from 22 March 1952)
(from 19 January 1950 Non-attached, from 28 March 1950 DRP-Gast, from 16 September 1950 Non-attached, from 29 April 1953 WAV)
Dorls (from 13 December 1950 WAV-Gast, from 17 January 1951 WAV, from 26 September 1951 Non-attached, am 23 October 1952 Mandatsaberkennung)
(from 7 September 1949 Nationale Rechte, from 5 October 1950 Non-attached (DRP), from 26 March 1952 DP-Gast, from 11 February 1953 Non-attached)
(from 29 February 1952)
(from 5 October 1950 FDP-Gast, from 20 December 1950 FDP)
(from 15 September 1949 Nationale Rechte, from 6 September 1950 Non-attached, from 13 December 1950 WAV-Gast, from 17 January 1951 WAV, from 26 September 1951 Non-attached, until 21 February 1952)
Thadden (from 15 September 1949 Nationale Rechte; 1950 DRP, from 20 April 1950 Non-attached)
Clausen (from 23 January 1952 FU-Gast, from 3 July 1953 Non-attached)
(CDU/CSU-Gast)
Freudenberg (from 5 December 1952 Non-attached)
(Non-attached, from 4 May 1950 WAV-Gast, from 13 October 1950 BHE/DG, from 21 March 1952 Non-attached, from 26 March 1952 DP/DPB-Gast, from 26 June 1952 Non-attached)
Berg (from 27 June 1955, from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Blank (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Blücher (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Luchtenberg (from 18 September 1954, until 9 April 1956)
Manteuffel (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
(until 14 May 1956)
Mende
Middelhauve (until 10 September 1954)
Neumayer (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
(until 20 September 1955)
Preiß (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
(from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
(from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Scheel
(from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Stammberger
Starke
(from 13 January 1954 Non-attached, from 6 February 1957 GB/BHE)
(from 15 May 1956)
(from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 23 June 1956 CDU/CSU)
(until 17 September 1954)
Wirths (until 16 June 1955)
DPS:
(from 4 January 1957, Guest of FDP-Fraktion)
(from 4 January 1957, from 8 January 1957 Guest of FDP-Fraktion)
(from 4 January 1957, Non-attached, from 8 January 1957 Guest of FDP-Fraktion)
Speaker: until 15 March 1955; 15 March 1955 till 26 April 1956; from 26 April 1956]]
Members:
(from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
Czermak (from 14 July 1955 FDP)
Eckhardt (from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
(until 13 October 1953)
Finck (from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
(from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
(from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 FDP, from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Kraft (from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
(from 20 August 1954 CDU/CSU)
Oberländer (from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
(from 15 October 1953, from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)