The Fibag scandal was in 1961/1962 a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

political scandal around

minister of defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

Franz Josef Strauss Franz Josef Strauss ( ; 6 September 1915 – 3 October 1988) was a German politician. He was the long-time chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) from 1961 until 1988, member of the federal cabinet in different positions between ...

, which, together with the Starfighter scandal and the

Spiegel scandal The ''Spiegel'' affair of 1962 () was a political scandal in West Germany. It stemmed from the publication of an article in ''Der Spiegel,'' West Germany's weekly political magazine, about the nation's defense forces.. Several ''Spiegel'' staf ...

, led to Strauss' dismissal as defense minister and halted his political career at least temporarily. In 1961, the weekly magazine ''

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'' reported that Franz Josef Strauss,

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman and politician who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of th ...

's cabinet, had advised his American colleague, Thomas Gates, to contract the company Fibag (Finanzbau Aktiengesellschaft) for construction of several thousand apartments for the American military in Germany. He was accused of corruption, because Hans Kapfinger, a friend of Strauss', was a share holder of the company. After a motion by the SPD a parliamentary commission was formed in order to investigate the accusations. In 1962, this commission came to the decision that Strauss was not guilty of misconduct, which was criticized heavily by the FDP, partner of the CDU/

CSU CSU may refer to: Universities and university systems United States * Columbia Southern University, in Orange Beach, Alabama * California State University system * Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado * Connecticut State Univers ...

coalition in the government.

External links

Article in ''Süddeutsche Zeitung''
{{Authority control Political scandals in Germany 1961 in West Germany 1962 in West Germany Franz Josef Strauss