Gerhard Woitzik (15 November 1927 – 29 January 2023) was a German politician of the Centre Party and was the

party leader In a governmental system, a party leader acts as the official representative of their political party, either to a legislature or to the electorate. Depending on the country, the individual colloquially referred to as the "leader" of a politica ...

Early life

Woitzik was born in Fünfteichen near Breslau. He was a soldier during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He came to the

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

as a

Heimatvertriebene The German Expellees or ''Heimatvertriebene'' (, "homeland expellees") are 12–16 million German citizens (regardless of ethnicity) and ethnic Germans (regardless of citizenship) who fled or were expelled after World War II from parts of Ge ...

. There he graduated from 1947 an administrative apprenticeship. He came to the upper administrative office of the Rhineland in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Political career

Woitzik was chairman of the Centre Party, from 1974 to 1986 and from 1996 to 2009, having a basic attitude of Christian social conservativism. Whether he or Alois Degler from 2009 to 2011 was chairman of the party was controversial. On 19 February 2011, the Bundesstelle der Zentrumspartei was newly elected and Woitzik was confirmed as party chairman. Woitzik had belonged to the municipal council of Nievenheim since the 1950s and was mayor of the municipality until its incorporation into Dormagen in 1975. Afterwards, he was a member of the town council in Dormagen, serving as vice-mayor until 2004. Since 1999 he was also a member of the Kreistag of Rhein-Kreis Neuss.

Personal life and death

His son, Hans-Joachim Woitzik (born 1957), also belongs to the Centre Party, and since 2004 has been the chairman of the party in the town council of Dormagen. Gerhard Woitzik died on 29 January 2023, at the age of 95.

References

1927 births 2023 deaths People from Oława County People from the Province of Lower Silesia Mayors of places in North Rhine-Westphalia Centre Party (Germany) politicians {{Germany-Centre-politician-stub