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Born at Reideburg, Saalkreis , near Halle, in what later became East Germany, he served in the Army from 1943 to 1945, as well as being a member of the NSDAP, and briefly became an American and British prisoner of war. After World War II, he studied law and economics at the universities of Halle and Leipzig ( 1946Events January January 4 Theodore Schurch becomes the last person to be executed for offences committed under the Treachery Act of 1940 January 7 Allied recognize Austrian republic with 1937 borders the country is divided into four occupation zones Januar- 19491949 is the common year starting on Saturday. see link for calendar) Events January-February January 4 RMS Caronia of the Cunard Line departs Southampton for New York on her maiden voyage January 4 February 22 Series of winter storms in Nebraska, Wyoming,) and joined the East-German Liberal Democratic Party (LDPD) in 1946.
In 1952Summary of notable events in 1952 . Events January events January 8 West Germany has 8 million refugees inside its borders. January 24 Sudden heavy snowfall in Algeria. January 24 Vincent Massey sworn in as first Canada-born Governor-General of Canada., Genscher left East Germany for the West, where he joined the Free Democratic Party (FDP). He passed his second state examination in law in HamburgHamburg is Germany's second largest city (after Berlin) and its principal port. The official name Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg recalls its membership in the mediaeval Hanseatic League and the fact that Hamburg is a city state and one of Germany's sixteen in 1954 and became a solicitor in BremenBremen [ˈbreːmən] is a city in northern Germany (official name: Freie und Hansestadt Bremen referring to its membership in the medieval Hanseatic League) situated along the river Weser. Bremen is one of two towns belonging to the stat.
In 19651965 was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). Events January-February January 4 United States President Lyndon Johnson proclaims his " Great Society" during his State of the Union address. January 14 Prime Ministers of N, he was elected to the German parliamentThe Bundestag ("Federal Diet") is the parliament of Germany. It was established with West Germany's constitution of 1949 (the Grundgesetz) and is the successor of the earlier Reichstag. Originally convened in Bonn in 1949, since 1999, the Bundestag has as for the first time, a seat he would hold until 19981998 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year of the Ocean''. Events January January 1998 A massive ice storm, caused by El Nino, strikes New England, southern Ontario and Quebec, resulting (when he no longer ran for office). After serving in several party offices, he was appointed Minister of the Interior by Chancellor Willy Brandt ( SPD) in 1969; in 1974, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs (and Vice Chancellor), which he remained until he resigned in 1992 for health reasons. With these 18 years in office, he is frequently called the longest-serving Foreign Minister in the world.
In the SPD-FDP coalition, he helped shape Brandt's policy of deescalation with the communist east, commonly known as Ostpolitik, which was continued under Helmut Schmidt after Brandt's resignation in 1974.
Still, Genscher was one of the FDP's driving forces when, in 1982, the party switched sides from its coalition with the SPD to support the CDU/ CSU in their Constructive Vote of No Confidence to have Helmut Schmidt replaced with Helmut Kohl as Chancellor. Despite the great controversy that accompanied this switch, he remained one of the most popular politicians in Germany.
He is mostly respected for his efforts that helped end the Cold War, to lead to German reunification, when, in eastern Europe, the communist government toppled; for example, he visited Poland to meet Lech Walesa as early as 1988. One event remembered by many is his September 30, 1989 speech from the balcony of the German embassy in Prague, in whose court yard thousands of East German citizens had assembled to flee to the west, when he announced that he had reached an agreement with the communist government that the refugees could leave. After the first few words, the speech drowned in cheers.
Since his resignation from all political activities in 1998, he has been active as a lawyer, in a public company, and in bona-fide international relations organizations. He founded his own Hans-Dietrich Genscher Consult GmbH in 2000.