Rudolf Seiters (born 13 October 1937 in

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

) is a German

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

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 The German Chancellery (german: Bundeskanzleramt, , more faithfully translated as ''Federal Chancellery'' or ''Office of the Federal Chancellor'') is an agency serving the executive office of the chancellor of Germany, the head of the federal go ...

. From 1991–1993, he was the

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

. From 1998–2002, he was the

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

of the German

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Comm ...

, or Parliament. Since 2003, he has been the President of the

German Red Cross The German Red Cross (german: Deutsches Rotes Kreuz ; DRK) is the national Red Cross Society in Germany. With 4 million members, it is the third largest Red Cross society in the world. The German Red Cross offers a wide range of services withi ...

Life and jobs

After graduating from the Gymnasium Carolinium in Osnabrück in 1959, Seiters graduated from the

University of Münster The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of stud ...

with a degree in

Jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning ...

, finishing his first examinations (roughly equivalent to

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

) in 1963, and his second examination (

professional degree A professional degree, formerly known in the US as a first professional degree, is a degree that prepares someone to work in a particular profession, practice, or industry sector often meeting the academic requirements for licensure or accreditatio ...

) in 1967. From 1968–1969, 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 Papenburg (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Papenbörg'') is a city in the district of Emsland, Lower Saxony, Germany, situated at the river Ems. It is known for its large shipyard, the Meyer-Werft, which specializes in building cruise liners. Ge ...

. In 2000, he was given an honorary doctorate from the

Bundeswehr University Munich 200px, Entrance to the university Bundeswehr University Munich (german: Universität der Bundeswehr München, UniBw München) is one of two research universities in Germany at federal level that both were founded in 1973 as part of the German Ar ...

Party

Since 1958, he has been a member of the CDU. From 1963 until 1965, he was the Borough-president of the Osnabrück-

Emsland Landkreis Emsland () is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany named after the river Ems. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Leer, Cloppenburg and Osnabrück, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (district of Steinf ...

chapter of the CDU youth organization

Junge Union The Junge Union Deutschlands (''Young Union of Germany'') or JU is the joint youth organisation of the two conservative German political parties, CDU and CSU. Membership is limited to individuals between 14 and 35 years of age. Junge Union clai ...

. Then, from 1965–1968, he was the president of the state chapter in

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

and from 1968–1971 of the newly founded

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

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 1972–1998, 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

. There, he served from 1971–1976 and from 1982–1984 as an Executive Officer (''Geschäftsführer'') of the CDU/

CSU CSU may refer to: * Channel service unit, a Wide area network equivalent of a network interface card * Chari Aviation Services, Chad, by ICAO airline code * Christian Social Union (UK), an Anglican social gospel organisation * Christian Social ...

parliamentary fraction and from 1984–1989 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.

Cabinet posts

Seiters was named on 21 April 1989 as the Federal Minister for Special Affairs and the Head of the Office of the

. 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

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

ian town of

Bad Kleinen Bad Kleinen (until 1915 Kleinen) is a municipality in the Nordwestmecklenburg district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located on the north bank of the Schweriner See. Bad Kleinen is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. Geography T ...

, both the wanted terrorist of the

Red Army Faction The Red Army Faction (RAF, ; , ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang (, , active 1970–1998), was a West German far-left Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla group founded in 1970. The ...

(RAF),

Wolfgang Grams Wolfgang Grams (March 6, 1953 – June 27, 1993) was a member of the Red Army Faction (RAF), a German far-left terrorist organisation. Life Wolfgang Grams was born in Wiesbaden, Germany. His parents, Werner and Ruth Grams, were expelled f ...

, and a

GSG 9 , formerly (), is the police tactical unit of the German Federal Police ''( Bundespolizei)''. The state police (''Landespolizei'') maintain their own tactical units known as the '' Spezialeinsatzkommando'' (SEK). The identities of GSG 9 member ...

agent,

Michael Newrzella Michael Newrzella (September 15, 1967 – June 27, 1993) was a German police officer and member of GSG 9, the counter-terrorism and special operations unit of the German Federal Police, who was killed by the Red Army Faction. Newrzella partici ...

, 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 The Third Kohl cabinet led by Helmut Kohl was sworn in on March 12, 1987. The cabinet was formed after the 1987 West German federal election, 1987 elections. This cabinet oversaw the German Reunification. It laid down its function on January 18, ...

and the Cabinet Kohl IV.

Awards

* In 2008 Dr. Seiters received the Dr. Rainer Hildebrandt Human Rights Award endowed by

Alexandra Hildebrandt Alexandra Hildebrandt (née Weissmann, born on 27 February 1959) is a German human rights activist and museum director of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. In 1995, she married the museum's co-founder and former director Rainer Hildebrandt, and the ...

. The award is given annually in recognition of extraordinary, non-violent commitment to human rights.

References

External links

Photo and short biography in German
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seiters, Rudolf 1937 births Living people German Red Cross personnel German Roman Catholics Government ministers of Germany Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Heads of the German Chancellery Interior ministers of Germany Members of the Bundestag for Lower Saxony Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002 Members of the Bundestag 1994–1998 Politicians from Osnabrück Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany