Gerhart Baum

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Gerhart Baum
2018-05-10 Gerhart Baum-7676.jpg
Baum in 2018
Federal Minister of the Interior
In office
8 June 1978 – 17 September 1982
ChancellorHelmut Schmidt
Preceded byWerner Maihofer
Succeeded byJürgen Schmude
Parliamentary Secretary of State for the Interior
In office
15 December 1972 – 8 June 1978
ChancellorHelmut Schmidt
Preceded byWolfram Dorn
Succeeded byAndreas von Schoeler
Member of the Bundestag for North Rhine–Westphalia
In office
19 November 1972 – 16 October 1994
ConstituencyState Wide Party List
Personal details
Born (1932-10-28) 28 October 1932 (age 88)
Dresden, Germany
Political partyFree Democratic Party (FDP)
Alma materUniversity of Cologne
ProfessionLawyer
Websitegerhart-baum.de

Gerhart Rudolf Baum (born 28 October 1932) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and a lawyer.

Political career[]

Baum in 1979

From 1972, Baum served as Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior under minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, in the governments of Chancellor Willy Brandt and his successor Helmut Schmidt.

From 1978 until 1982, Baum was Federal Minister of the Interior. During his time in office, he liberalized routine loyalty investigations of candidates for public‐service jobs, a controversial practice intended to control radical activity that had led to a profound and disruptive debate about the extent of democracy in West Germany.[1] In 1981, with the backing of the Economics Minister Otto Graf Lambsdorff, he asked the German car industry to agree on goals to tighten emissions standards and cut fuel consumption on a voluntary basis.[2]

Following the collapse of the social–liberal coalition, Baum – alongside fellow FDP ministers Genscher, Lambsdorff, and Josef Ertl – resigned from the government on 18 September 1982.

Life after politics[]

Between 2000 and 2001, Baum and two other lawyers together represented about three-quarters of the Air France Flight 4590 crash victims' families. In May 2001, they reached a monetary settlement for compensation from Air France.[3] According to people familiar with terms of the settlement, it was between $100 million and $125 million (114.1 million euros and 142.6 million euros), an extraordinarily high sum for a plane-crash settlement in Europe at the time.[4]

From 2001 to 2003, Baum served as UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Sudan.[5][6]

In 2006, Baum presented a press freedom award to Berliner Zeitung for its resistance to an unpopular takeover by David Montgomery’s Mecom Group.[7]

In 2009, Germany's national railway company Deutsche Bahn commissioned Baum and former Justice Minister Herta Däubler-Gmelin with investigating allegations according to which the company had, in violation of privacy laws and corporate guidelines repeatedly and on a large scale compared personal data of its employees with those of suppliers, in a bid to uncover possible corruption.[8]

In 2016, Baum joined members of the Green Party, lawyers, a journalist and a doctor in bringing suits against Germany's 2009 antiterrorism law before the Federal Constitutional Court, arguing that covert surveillance, particularly in private homes and in the intimacy of bedrooms or bathrooms, could entangle innocent third parties. In a 6-to-2 vote, the court ruled that the antiterrorism laws were partly unconstitutional and demanded tighter control over surveillance.[9]

Other activities[]

  • Kunststiftung NRW, member of the board of trustees
  • Stiftung Menschenrechte, member of the council[10]
  • Green Helmets, Member of the Board of Trustees[11]
  • Theodor Heuss Foundation, member of the board of trustees
  • United Nations Association of Germany (DGVN), member of the presidium[12]
  • Stichting Volkswagen Car Claim, president of the advisory board[13]

Recognition[]

  • 2009 – Erich-Fromm-Preis

Selected works[]

  • Die Finanzkrise und ihre Folgen für die Bevölkerung. Anforderungen an einen verbesserten Verbraucherschutz, in: Robertson-von Trotha, Caroline Y. (ed.): Herausforderung Demokratie. Demokratisch, parlamentarisch, gut? (= Kulturwissenschaft interdisziplinär/Interdisciplinary Studies on Culture and Society, Vol. 6), Baden-Baden 2011
  • Die Grundrechte im Spannungsverhältnis von Sicherheit und Freiheit, in: Robertson-von Trotha, Caroline Y. (ed.): 60 Jahre Grundgesetz. Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven (= Kulturwissenschaft interdisziplinär/Interdisciplinary Studies on Culture and Society, Vol. 4), Baden-Baden 2009

References[]

  1. ^ John Vicocur (19 January 1979), Bonn Eases Loyalty Checks for National Employment The New York Times.
  2. ^ John Tagliabue (25 August 1981), Auto Exhaust Standard is Disputed in Germany The New York Times.
  3. ^ Germans Reach Deal In Concorde Crash The New York Times, 14 May 2001.
  4. ^ Daniel Michaels (15 May 2001), Relatives of Concorde Victims Accept Monetary Settlement: Airlines, Insurers May Pay As Much as $125 Million The Wall Street Journal.
  5. ^ Situation of human rights in the Sudan United Nations, Report of the Special Rapporteur, Gerhart Baum, submitted in accordance with Commission resolution 2001/18.
  6. ^ UN Human rights rapporteur in Sudan BBC News, 11 March 2001.
  7. ^ Katy Duke (4 May 2006), German paper hailed for fighting Montgomery takeover The Guardian.
  8. ^ Susanne Amann (14 May 2009), Repairing Spying Scandal Damage: New Era of Openness Dawns at Deutsche Bahn Der Spiegel.
  9. ^ Alison Smale (20 April 2016), German Court Rules Antiterrorism Laws Partly Unconstitutional The New York Times.
  10. ^ Stiftungsrat Stiftung Menschenrechte.
  11. ^ Board of Trustees Green Helmets.
  12. ^ Presidium Archived 18 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine United Nations Association of Germany (DGVN).
  13. ^ Advisory Board Stichting Volkswagen Car Claim.
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