Norbert Blüm (21 July 1935 – 23 April 2020) was a German politician who served as a federal

legislator A legislator, or lawmaker, is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people, but they can be appointed, or hereditary. Legislatures may be supra-nat ...

from

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, chairman of the CDU North Rhine-Westphalia (1987–1999), and Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. Blüm was the only cabinet member who served in his function for all sixteen years of

Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as chancellor of Germany and governed the ''Federal Republic'' from 1982 to 1998. He was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to ...

's time as

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

of Germany. He served as a member of the

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 1972 to 1981 and again from 1983 to 2002. Blüm was part of the left wing of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Early life and education

Born in

Rüsselsheim am Main Rüsselsheim am Main (, ) is the largest city in the Groß-Gerau district in the Rhein-Main region of Germany. It is one of seven special status cities (implementing several functions that counties normally provide) in Hessen and is located on t ...

, Blüm attended the ''

Volksschule The German term ''Volksschule'' () generally refers to compulsory education, denoting an educational institution every person (i.e. the people, ''Volk'') is required to attend. In Germany and Switzerland it is equivalent to a combined primar ...

''. In 1950, aged 15, Blüm joined the CDU. This year he also joined the

IG Metall IG Metall (; IGM; German: , "Industrial Union of Metalworkers'") is the dominant metalworkers' union in Germany, making it the country's largest union as well as Europe's largest industrial union. Analysts of German labor relations consider i ...

. That's why he often was nicknamed ''Herz-Jesu-Marxist''. He trained and worked locally as a toolmaker for

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Gr ...

from 1949 to 1957. He was engaged in the factory as a youth representative. During this time, he was a founding member of the local Boy Scouts affiliation, the

Deutsche Pfadfinderschaft Sankt Georg The Deutsche Pfadfinderschaft Sankt Georg (DPSG, ''German Scout Association Saint George'') is the largest of Scouting and Guiding in Germany, Germany's many Scouting organizations. The Roman Catholic Church, Catholic association has about 95,00 ...

. In 1961 he passed his ''Abitur'' at an

Abendgymnasium An ''Abendgymnasium'' or "evening gymnasium" is a German class of secondary school for adults over the age of 18 which allows them to gain the ''Abitur''. They were started in the 1920s as an opportunity for working class adults to improve their ...

in Mainz, thereby obtaining the university entrance qualification. He studied German language and literature, history, philosophy and theology at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

and

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

until 1967. One of his teachers was

Joseph Ratzinger Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as po ...

. In 1967, he received his

doctorate of philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

(PhD) in Bonn with the dissertation ''Willenslehre und Soziallehre bei

Ferdinand Tönnies Ferdinand Tönnies (; 26 July 1855 – 8 April 1936) was a German sociologist, economist, and philosopher. He was a significant contributor to sociological theory and field studies, best known for distinguishing between two types of social gro ...

. Ein Beitrag zum Verständnis von " Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft"''.

Career

Career in national politics

Blüm was a member of the

for the CDU from 1972 to 1981 and again from 1983 to 2002. From 1977 to 1987 Blüm was chairman of the

Christian Democratic Employees' Association The Christian Democratic Workers Association (''Christlich-Demokratische Arbeitnehmerschaft'') (CDA)Gerd-Rainer Horn, Emmanuel Gerard, ''Left Catholicism: Catholics and society in Western Europe at the point of liberation, 1943-1955'', Leuven Univer ...

. He was a member of the CDU federal executive committee from 1969 to 2000. He was vice chairman of the federal CDU from 1981 to 1990 and again from 1992 to 2000.

Career in state politics

From 1981 to 1982 Blüm served as Senator of Berlin.

Minister for Labour and Social Affairs, 1982–1998

Blüm was Federal Minister for Labour and Social Affairs from 1982 to 1998. As minister, he was responsible for reforms and changes in the pension system. His greatest political success was the introduction of

long-term care insurance Long-term care insurance (LTC or LTCI) is an insurance product, sold in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Germany that helps pay for the costs associated with long-term care. Long-term care insurance covers care generally not covere ...

(''Pflegeversicherung'') in 1995, after those reform plans were hotly and controversially debated in the Bundestag. Blüm served as chairman of the CDU of the state of

from 1987 to 1999.

Political positions

Blüm adhered to Christian values and belonged to the left wing of the generally centre-right CDU. Blüm was strongly influenced by the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

social philosopher

Oswald von Nell-Breuning Oswald von Nell-Breuning (8 March 1890 – 21 August 1991) was a Roman Catholic theologian and sociologist. Born in Trier, Germany into an aristocratic family, Nell-Breuning was ordained in 1921 and appointed Professor of Ethics at the S ...

, one of the founders of the modern

Catholic social teaching Catholic social teaching (CST) is an area of Catholic doctrine which is concerned with human dignity and the common good in society. It addresses oppression, the role of the state, subsidiarity, social organization, social justice, and w ...

who lectured in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. Nell-Breuning taught Blüm about the main three pillars "subsidiarity", "solidarity" and "charity". During his time in office, Blüm held out and pushed back against demands by fellow CDU politicians to raise the federal retirement age from 65 to 70. A popular quotation attributed to him is "Die Rente ist sicher" (loosely translated as: "Pensions are safe"), based on the governmental slogan he wielded in 1986: "Eins ist sicher: Die Rente" ("One thing is safe: pensions"). This quotation quickly gained notoriety in Germany and became a popular target for

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

, as well as a cynical reference that would be used by his opponents and critics for years to come. The politician was a fervent supporter of human rights. On a trip to Chile in 1987, he accused former dictator

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...

of torture. Blüm once said that "politics is a struggle". "Whoever is in search of harmony must look for another profession. (...) But if you want to change something, you cannot please everybody." Core issues of his politics were

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

and the fight against

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...

. For Blüm, "the little people" were important, which is why he tried to prevent a division of society into rich and poor with his politics. He saw social peace threatened by the

Agenda 2010 The Agenda 2010 is a series of reforms planned and executed by the German government in the early 2000s, a Social Democrats/ Greens coalition at that time, which aimed to reform the German welfare system and labour relations. The declared objectiv ...

that was later passed by the German government. Blüm was an outspoken critic of

Scientology Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by the American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It is variously defined as a scam, a Scientology as a business, business, a cult, or a religion. Hubbard initially develo ...

. As a consequence, he was targeted by Scientology advocates, who would claim that the organization was a victim of religious

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

in Germany. Despite his good relationship with Helmut Kohl, Blüm criticized his handling of the

CDU donations scandal The CDU donations scandal was a political scandal resulting from the illegal forms of party financing used by the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) during the 1990s. These included accepting hidden donations, the non-disclosure of cash d ...

. After his departure from the Bundestag in 2002, he continued to comment on political issues publicly. Because of his criticism of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

in the Middle East conflict, he was sometimes accused of

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

, which he rejected. In 2016, he criticised the CDU's refugee policy because of the cold-hearted discussion about refugees. During the refugee crisis, the former minister visited the Greek refugee camp

Idomeni Idomeni or Eidomeni (, ) is a small village in Greece, near the border with North Macedonia. The village is located in the municipality of Paionia (municipality), Paeonia, Kilkis (regional unit), Kilkis regional unit of Central Macedonia, Central ...

in 2016 and heavily criticized the EU's treatment of refugees ("This kind of brutality is unworthy of European culture"). Out of solidarity he slept one night in the

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for in ...

. In 2016 he opposed an unconditional

basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive a minimum income in the form of an unconditional transfer payment, i.e., without a means test or need to perform Work (hu ...

, on which

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

held a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

at this time. It would be "unfair" and an "attempted escape from welfare state responsibility".

Personal life

Blüm married Marita Blüm (née Binger) in 1964. The couple had three children, a son and two daughters. Blüm was a practising

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. After

blood poisoning Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is compo ...

in 2019, Blüm became paralysed in his arms and legs. He commented in a guest article for the German weekly ''

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

'' in March 2020 about his new life in a wheelchair due to his paralysis, in which he compared his position to that of a puppet whose strings were pulled so that its parts dangled incoherently in the air: "Like a thief in the night, disaster broke into my life in the form of insidious blood poisoning". Blüm died in Bonn on 23 April 2020.

Other activities

* Member of the Advisory Board of the Hans Böckler Prize of the City of Cologne * Green Helmets, Member of the Board of Trustees *

Bonn Minster Bonn Minster () is a Catholic church in Bonn. It is one of Germany's oldest churches, having been built between the 11th and 13th centuries. At one point the church served as the de facto cathedral for the Archbishopric of Cologne, because it is t ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees * St. Maria zur Wiese, Member of the Board of Trustees *

, Member (since 1949)

Awards

* 2000:

Münchhausen Prize The Münchhausen Prize was instituted in 1997, the 200th anniversary of the death of the historical Baron von Münchhausen. It is awarded in May each year in Bodenwerder, the Baron's hometown, for special talent in the art of speaking or presentat ...

* 2001:

Leipzig Human Rights Award The Leipzig Human Rights Award is an honor given by the European-American Citizens Committee for Human Rights and Religious Freedom in the USA, which recognizes "efforts towards human rights and freedom of expression in the USA" and actions agains ...

* 2005: Leopold Kunschak Prize

Notes

References

External links