Robert Tillmanns (April 5, 1896 in

Barmen Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form the city of Wuppertal. Barmen, together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the first electric ...

– November 12, 1955 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 ...

) was a German politician. From 1953 to 1955 he was Federal Minister for Special Affairs of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

Life and work

After the

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

in 1914, Tillmanns took part as a soldier in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He studied political science from 1919 to 1921, earning a doctorate at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

. From 1922 to 1930 he served as head of economics at the German National Association for Student Services and in 1925 operated under the umbrella of the German National Academic Foundation. From 1931 he worked as a council member in the Prussian Ministry of Culture, from which he was dismissed for political reasons in 1933. He then worked until 1945 in mining industry management in central Germany. After the war he was Secretary General of the Agency of the

Evangelical Church in Germany The Evangelical Church in Germany (, EKD), also known as the Protestant Church in Germany, is a federation of twenty Lutheranism, Lutheran, Continental Reformed Protestantism, Reformed, and united and uniting churches, United Protestantism in Ger ...

until 1949. Tillmanns was married to since 1925 Naegelsbach Herta (1904–1995) and had three daughters.

Politics

After the Second World War Tillmanns, together with Jakob Kaiser and Ernst Lemmer, founded the CDU in Berlin and the Soviet occupation zone. From 1949 to 1952 he was first the deputy chairman and from 26 April 1952 until his death chairman of the CDU in Berlin. From 1950 he was a member of the National board of the CDU and the deputy national chairman from 1955. In 1952 he help found the Evangelical Working Group of the CDU/CSU, and was its National Chairman since 1954.

Parliamentary membership

From 1946 to 1947 he was member of the state parliament of

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

. From 1949 until his death he was Berlin's deputy 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 ...

Public offices

After the elections in 1953, Tillmanns was appointed on 20 October the Federal Minister for Special Affairs in the Federal Government led by the Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, and during his tenure was a member of the "Cabinet of Elders" in the Bundestag. He is one of the few federal ministers who have died in office.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tillmanns, Robert 1896 births 1955 deaths Members of the Bundestag for Berlin Members of the Bundestag 1953–1957 Members of the Bundestag 1949–1953 Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany