Rüdiger von Wechmar
Rüdiger Freiherr von Wechmar (* November 15, 1923 in Berlin, † October 17, 2007 in Munich) was a German journalist and diplomat, in the 1970s, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations.
Life and career
Rüdiger von Wechmar, the only son of a professional officer Irnfried Wechmar and his wife Ilse von Binzer spoil. von Trotha (1895-1980), grew up in Berlin's south end. The family has its origin in the Thuringian Günther -Wechmar. The Following family tradition, he made a military training in Before the Fall, the Nazi equivalent of the cadet schools in the imperial period. As a 17- year-old with Notabitur reported Wechmar in 1941 volunteered for military service and two years was used in the Afrika Korps under General Rommel, in the regiment, which had just led his father. As a prisoner of war he was brought to the United States. During this time he was one of 500,000 German prisoners there. In the three and a half years of captivity he came through the mediation of the U.S. YMCA a correspondence course in journalism at the University of Minnesota.
Back in Germany, he began a career as a journalist, first with the news agency UPI, for which he reported about on the Nuremberg Trials. In Bonn in 1950 he was a co-founder of the National Press.
In 1958, he appeared as a press officer at the Consulate General in New York in the Foreign Service a. In New York, he was also an employee at the Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations.
In 1963 he retired from first to become a foreign correspondent of the then newly founded Second German Television ( ZDF) in Eastern Europe, based in Vienna. Through the support of his friend Walter Cronkite he could get to know you the television business at CBS Evening News. He became in 1968 an official, first as Director of the German Information Center in New York, then in 1969 under Conrad Ahlers deputy government spokesman.
1973 was appointed by the government spokesman Wechmar the rank of civil servant Secretary and remained until the end of the term of office of Chancellor Willy Brandt whose government spokesman until he was in 1974 Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic to the United Nations. He represented the Federal Republic in 1977 and 1978 the UN Security Council, for two months as its president. 1980/1981 he was chairman of the UN General Assembly.
1981 to 1983 he was Ambassador in Rome, 1983-1988 Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in London. In 1988 he was elected for the FDP as a " driving force " in the European Parliament. After five years of abstinence, the Free Democrats were thus able to move in 1989 to the European Parliament for a legislative period again.
Rüdiger von Wechmar was married twice. In 1947, he married Rosemarie Warlimont, with whom he had two children. In 1958, the couple separated. In New York he met Susanne Woldenga know, got married and had a child with her. He last lived in Munich. The 83 -year-old died at a hospital following a stroke.
Member of Parliament
From 1989 to 1994, Wechmar Member of the European Parliament for the FDP.