Fritz Rudolf Körper (November 14, 1954 in Rehborn) is a German politician and member of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

(SPD). He was a member of the German

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

from 1990 to 2013, parliamentary state secretary to the Federal Minister of the Interior from 1998 to 2005 and Deputy Chairman of the SPD parliamentary group from 2005 to 2009.

Education

After graduating from high school in 1974, Körper studied

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

theology at the Johannes Gutenberg University in

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

, which he completed in 1982 with the theological examination at the

Evangelical Church of the Palatinate Evangelical Church of the Palatinate (Protestant Regional Church) () is a United Protestant church in parts of the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, endorsing both Lutheran and Calvinist orientations. The seat of the church i ...

Political career

Fritz Rudolf Körper has been a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) since 1973. From 1990 to 2010, he was chairman of the

Bad Kreuznach Bad Kreuznach () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach (district), Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a spa town, known for its medieval bridge dating from around 1300, the Alte Nahebrücke (Bad Kreuznach), Alte Nahebrücke, ...

SPD district association, and from 1990 to 2013 he was deputy chairman of the Rhineland SPD regional association. He was an elected member of the Bundestag from 1990 and remained in office until 2013. Here, he held the position of domestic policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group from 1994 to 1998. From 1998 to 2005, Körper was parliamentary state secretary to the Federal Minister of the Interior

Otto Schily Otto Georg Schily (born 20 July 1932) is a former Federal Minister of the Interior of Germany, his tenure was from 1998 to 2005, in the cabinet of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and wa ...

. From November 28, 2005, to October 2009, Körper was deputy chairman of the SPD parliamentary group for domestic policy, law, sports, culture and media, and rules of procedure. From the beginning of the 17th parliamentary term (2009-2013), he was a member of the Defense Committee. He also served eight years on the Parliamentary Oversight Panel, which monitors the work of the

Federal Intelligence Service The Federal Intelligence Service (, ; BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Chancellor's Office. The BND headquarters is located in central Berlin. The BND has 300 locations in Germany and foreign cou ...

(BND), the

Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungsschutz (LfV) at the state level, the fed ...

(BfV), and the Military Counter-Intelligence Service (MAD). Körper had entered the Bundestag in the

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and 2009 federal elections via the state list of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

and before that always as a directly elected member of the Bundestag for the constituency of Kreuznach. In the 2013 Bundestag election, he ran again for the constituency as well as in 12th place on the state list, but was unable to win a Bundestag mandate again. Since January 1, 2014, he has led and managed an international firm based in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and Mainz, which, among other things, represents the political interests of companies and advises and supports its clients in business development.

Awards

* 2006: Badge of Honor of the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief in Gold * 2009:

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

, Cross of Merit 1. Class * 2014: German

Fire Brigade A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and ...

Cross of Honor in Silver of the DFV

References