Karl-Wilhelm Berkhan

Karl- Wilhelm Berkhan or Willi Berkhan ( born April 8, 1915 in Hamburg, † March 9, 1994 ) was a German politician ( SPD).

He was from 1969 to 1975 Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Defence and 1975-1985 military officer of the German Bundestag.

Life and career

Berk was born in 1915 in Hamburg -Eimsbuettel. According to the medium maturity Berkhan first learned the trade of machinist and attended the Technical College Hamburg. After that, he was a mechanical engineer in the industry. In 1939 he was drafted into the Reich Labour Service. From 1940 to 1945 he was a pilot in the Air Force, most recently as First Lieutenant. After the war he was briefly a detective and attended from 1945 to 1947, the Vocational Training Institute Hamburg. From 1947 he was Commercial senior teacher in Hamburg. From 1947 to 1953 he studied education at the University of Hamburg. Berkhan been friends since the period of study with Helmut Schmidt. On Brahmsee, the Property Schmidt, Berkhan and Schmidt were neighbors. From 1956 he was a professional teacher ( teacher ).

Party

Even during the Weimar Republic was Berkhan at the Young Socialist Workers. After 1945 he participated in the reconstruction of the SPD in Hamburg. From 1949 he was county chairman of the SPD Hamburg -Nord.

Member of Parliament

From 1953 to 1957 Berkhan was a member of the Hamburg Parliament.

From 1957 until his resignation on 19 March 1975 he was a member of the German Bundestag. Here he was from 1967 to 1969 Chairman of the Working Group " security issues " of the SPD Parliamentary Group and Vice Chairman of the Defence Committee. Berkhan is always drawn as directly elected representative of the constituency Hamburg- Altona in the Bundestag.

From November 11th 1959 to November 29, 1961, he also was a member of the European Parliament.

Public offices

On October 22, 1969 Berkhan was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Federal Minister of Defence in the run by Chancellor Willy Brandt federal government. After his election as Supervisor, he retired military on March 19, 1975 from office.

March 19, 1975 to March 19, 1985 Berkhan was military officer of the German Bundestag. He was not originally been the first choice of the SPD for this office. As, however, the actual SPD candidate Werner Buchstaller against the CDU candidate Leo Ernestine could not prevail (both did not get the required majority of the members of the Bundestag ), nominated the SPD faction Berkhan. He then received 418 of 464 votes cast, as the CDU had now waived its own candidate and voted for the most part for Berkhan. As a military officer warned Berkhan that the discussion about the interior guidance of the Armed Forces should not be an end in itself. The troops practice must be approximated to the ideal claim. The amendment to the defense Supervisor Act 1982, the Office of the Commissioner was incorporated as an organizational unit in the federal administration.

Publications

• The Commissioner of the German Bundestag. Observations of the fifth incumbent. In: New Journal of Military Law, born in 1976, No. 6, pp. 177-180.
• The Commissioner of the German Bundestag. In: Udo Kempf, Herbert Uppendahl: A German ombudsman. The Bürgerbauftragte of Rhineland-Palatinate in consideration of petition authorities in Europe and North America, Opladen 1986, pp. 76-89.